Will Eugénie Béziat become the Coco Chanel of French gastronomy? The young French chef has taken over Espadon, the haute cuisine restaurant of the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, and even though it’s not opening until September 26, it’s all that anyone is talking about. Previously a Paris institution, L’Espadon gradually became nothing more than a very good but rather dull hotel restaurant. Now the entrance to the beautifully lit dining room is a short hallway lined with porcelain bisque plaques that depict rhubarb leaves. Inside, its tables—there are only 30 covers—are dressed in white linen and set with Astier de Villatte faience; the tin-glazed ceramic is a deliberate rupture with the formality of Limoges porcelain. But the primary decorative element is the kitchen, visible through thick-glass picture windows bordered in copper. Five courses made for an exquisitely elegant and intriguingly original meal. Fine seasonal produce, some of which was sourced from the Ritz’s vegetable garden in Versailles, was brightly embroidered with flavors of Béziat’s childhood in Africa as well as her parents’ roots in Calabria and Spain. —Alexander Lobrano