Courte Paille is not your usual French restaurant. It is a French fast-food chain, and it occupies an important place in our travels in France. After a week or so of eating fine French food, we get a craving for a good basic hamburger, or at least for some plain American food. That’s when we head for Courte Paille, where they serve spit-roasted chicken cooked over a wood fire. The "chef" takes a just-cooked bird, whacks off a couple pieces for your plate, and adds some green beans and a glass of vin de maison blanc - it is the best fast- food meal there is. It’s terrific. It’s French. It’s American, but it will remind you of just how much better the French do things when it comes to food.
Topping it off, a visit to Courte Paille fixes the desire to eat some basic American food, for what is more American than barbequed chicken, and barbequed chicken is what Courte Paille is all about. After a lunch or diner at Courte Paille, we are ready for another week of heady Michelin-starred meals.
Courte Pailles is a much better break from the local cuisine than McDonald’s, which are also all over Europe because, for some reason I do not know, European burgers are not the same as a real American burger (except at the Luxembourg airport Holiday Inn), but Courte Paille is real American food. Just don’t tell the French.
Unusual for restaurants in France, Courte Paille is chain. Look for them in the same places you look for the fast-food line up in the USA - at the edge of town on the main road into town or near major urban area expressway entrances.
We have never been able to find a list of where they are located, but they seem to be about as common as Wendy’s in the USA. There seems to be a tendency for them to be in the vicinity of Novotels (a French hotel chain), but I wouldn’t yet bet on that. We spot them by their distinctive shape - they look like a yurt - a white or light tan, round, free-standing building surrounded by parking with a dark brown conical roof.
Since we don’t know where they are, but we do know we will want to eat there sooner or later, we are always on the lookout for a Courte Paille when driving around France, and we keep finding them.