Food for Thought

The iconic French-born, California-based chef Dominique Crenn brings her inimitable culinary approach to Paris for the first time

- LINDSEY TRAMUTA

"IT DOESN'T FEEL like Paris, does it?" Dominique Crenn is grinning ear to ear as she whisks me through Golden Poppy, her new restaurant in La Fantaisie, a just-opened hotel in the 9th. The comment refers to the handiwork of Swedish-born interior architect Martin Brudnizki, who oversaw the design. The smile says everything about how Crenn feels right now, not only as America's most decorated woman chef but also as an artist, activist, and cancer survivor - joyful.

She tells me how much joy she finds in the sunny yellow, her favorite color, used throughout the space, before gushing over the upholstered banquettes stitched with decorative poppies. The use of California's state flower is a nod to the place she has called home for three decades. Her semi-open kitchen got a similar treatment, gussied up with yellow Mibrasa grills and cooktops, the likes of which I've never seen in Paris. But the garden, a quiet idyll, is the most prized feature for a property situated on a bustling market street. It's dotted with a mix of antique furnishings and ruby red Fermob bistro tables, with plenty of space for Lulu, the Chihuahua she shares with her fiancée, Maria Bello, to frolic.