Chez Omar

Paris, France

Open since 1979 on rue de Bretagne in the Marais. No reservations, cash only, always packed. The couscous royale with merguez, lamb, and chicken is the main event. You wait at the zinc bar or on the sidewalk. When a table opens, you sit, you eat, you leave. Paris couscous at its most no-nonsense.

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Sausages served here

Merguez

Tunisia

Merguez is a fiery red sausage from North Africa, made from lamb (or a mix of lamb and beef), seasoned with harissa, cumin, coriander, fennel, and garlic. The deep red color comes from the harissa paste and sometimes additional paprika or chili. Thin-skinned and heavily spiced, it is grilled fast over high heat until charred on the outside and juicy within. Born on the street grills of Tunisia and Algeria, merguez crossed the Mediterranean with North African migration and became one of France's most beloved sausages, a fixture of Parisian markets, Lyon boucheries, and summer barbecues from Marseille to Brussels.

grilledlambspicy