At Table 22, chef Noël Mantel, who trained with Alain Ducasse, serves delicious Provençal-inspired dishes like risotto with veal sauce and roasted rack of lamb, along with an assortment of small plates including fried zucchini flowers, potatoes sauteed with chorizo, and socca, a crepe made with chickpea flour. A recent redecoration traded tired Provençal decor for a more modern look that retains a seaside theme. [$$$]

Situated just steps from Cannes’s lively Marché Forville, the city’s covered food market, chef Guillaume Arragon’s bistro has won a large following of local regulars for its market-driven seasonal menu. Try the fish soup, which is made with a locally landed catch of the day, or the succulent rack of Sisteron lamb with a black-olive crust. [$$$]

In a town with a taste for bling — social, sartorial, and gastronomic — this restaurant near the delightful Marché Forville charms by being sophisticated but also as friendly as its chefs, Magali and Steven Trucco. Their menu draws inspiration from the traditional Provençal kitchen and local produce, but takes it in a more modern, light, fresh direction. Examples of what to expect here include red mullet with stuffed zucchini flowers, sea bass with artichokes prepared two ways, veal filet with vegetable-stuffed conchiglioni pasta, and a dramatic hollow chocolate sphere dessert with strawberries and vanilla cream.

Owner Jean-Luc Pelé, trained as a pastry chef and chocolate maker, makes his bread with high-quality sustainable-agriculture flour from the Beauce region, between the Seine and Loire rivers in northern France. Whether you’re looking for a pastry to have with a cup of tea in your hotel room, a baguette for a beach picnic, or a quiche for a light lunch (either to stay or to go), this bakery is the place. [$]

Since 1992, Turin native Laura Merlo has been serving seriously good Italian food to an eager crowd of locals and visitors at this rustic trattoria near the Cannes train station. Her specialties are the dishes from her native Piedmont — vitello tonnato and risotto with truffles from Alba — but the menu covers all of Italy and includes everything from a perfect burrata to spaghetti alle vongole. Have dinner in the busy dining room or out on the sidewalk terrace. [$$]

Over two decades ago, Nicole Rubi put a refined spin on simple Niçois staples at her tea room-turned-restaurant tucked away in a corner of Nice’s Old Town. In 2010, she translated her concept to Cannes’s star-studded Croisette, setting up an intimate candlelit terrace at the iconic Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic with a menu identical to the original outpost. Plates are on the pricier side for the spruced-up market fare, but you’re paying just as much for the atmosphere (and nearly guaranteed celeb sightings) as you are the perfectly pan-fried zucchini flower fritters and street food-inspired farcis, or stuffed vegetables. [$$$$]

This stylish modern French bistro with oak parquet floors and contemporary art on white walls offers affordable dining and an appealingly cosmopolitan menu that’s a perfect expression of how people like to eat in Cannes. To wit, dishes like marinated salmon focaccia with herb cream; chicken gyoza; tuna with a panko crust, a shallot condiment, and Asian noodles; and chicken breast in morel sauce satisfy the demand for calorie-conscious cooking that’s also full of flavor.

Since rents are lower in the area of Le Cannet, just north of Cannes, it’s become a popular place for young chefs setting up shop on their own. Chef Claude Sutter’s excellent traditional French cooking has attracted a loyal crowd of regulars and in-the-know travelers with dishes like risotto with carrots, baby peas, and mint pistou; asparagus soup with orange zest; cod with polenta and Bolognese sauce; veal rolls with black-currant sauce; and vanilla mille-feuille with strawberry coulis.

Join the trendy crowd of 20- and 30-something locals with cocktails at La Môme’s buzzy Art Deco-style bar, tucked a few blocks back from the Croisette. Start with raw bites like beef carpaccio before moving to the terrace to dine on one of chef Mathieu Gourreau’s more recognized dishes, such as the winter truffle risotto or char-grilled beef with homemade chimichurri or barbecue sauce. [$$$]

With the arrival of new chef Christophe Poard from Paris, this hotel restaurant with a sleek modern dining room overlooking lush gardens serves the most inventive modern cooking in Cannes, including an excellent four-course vegetarian menu. Otherwise, don’t miss the delicious red mullet roasted with olive oil and lemon or the ricotta gnocchi with summer truffle jus. [$$$$]

The newish neighborhood restaurant sits on its own near the covered Gambetta Market. This is the kind of place that reminds you why you came to the South of France in the first place — to share a good bottle of wine (with a list of more than 400 to choose from) and linger over home-cooked dishes like hearty lamb knuckle or the Provençal street food specialty la panisse (chickpea flour fries). The trio of friends running the restaurant will point you toward the right dish du jour scrawled across the chalkboard menu — many of which include market-fresh vegetables. [$$]

This backstreet wine bar in a former garage with 1930s decor is worth seeking out for its excellent pours by the glass and a regionally themed small-plates menu, including Provençal cheeses and some seriously good jambon. [$$]

Chef Christian Sinicropi holds two Michelin stars at this elegant, airy dining room in one of the town’s most storied luxury hotels, the Art Deco Martinez. He is the distinguished dean of Cannes chefs — having cooked at La Palme d’Or for more than 20 years — and he champions local produce and flavors with dishes like shrimp-filled sausage with lamb tripe, turbot cooked in fig leaves, and a superb two-course citrus dessert that includes frozen lemons and a citrus souffle.