Underhill

We had our worst-ever meal in France (a few years back) at Le Vieux Bistro, near Notre-Dame. The cold leek salad was slimy, the beef in the boeuf bourguignon was gristly, and the service was nearly non-existent. I hope the restaurant has improved since that time, but we won't be going back to find out.

Here's our don't miss, the one restaurant to which we keep returning: Au Petit Marguery, in the 13th. Fine traditional bistro food, warm and friendly atmosphere; everyone there always seems to be having a good time.

We'll be in Honfleur next month and have made plans to lunch or dine at Le Chat qui Pêche, near the harbor. Several knowledgeable people have recommended it, and the menu (on the restaurant's web site) looks interesting. Reasonably near Quimper, in Pont-Aven, is the very good Moulin de Rosmadec.; it has one Michelin rosette.

In the small town of Mur de Bretagne we had a delicious meal at the Auberge Grande Maison, which has a small inn as part of the operation. Is still remember with pleasure the cup of tomato bouillon that began our meal.

A restaurant to which we always return when visiting Provence is Le Feu Follet, in the hilltop (old) town of Mougins. The food is excellent and moderately priced; the abience is very pleasant, especially if you find yourself at one of the patio tables. We've taken our French friends there twice, and they too think it's very good. We especially like standards like the soup with escargots and the house-smoked salmon but are eagerly awaiting this year's menu. In Nice we're quite fond of a small restaurant toward the top of Vieux Nice called L'Ecrin. There's a splendid salad with wonderfully garlicky croutons and dressing, and sometimes we've eaten at the restaurant when the daily special was our much-loved Farcis Nicóise, small vegetables stuffed with a ground meat and rice mixture and topped with a tomato coulis. Washed down with a glass of Bandol rosé, the meal is one to remember. Our friends introduced us to a seafood restaurant much favored by the locals, Café de Turin. It features shellfish plateaux but also offers a wide range of local fish, accompanied by a tasty dark bread. Sometimes there are langoustines, and mussels are usually on the menu. The restaurant is near the Nice modern art museum--and a large covered parking lot is half a block away.

We've had a number of recommendations for La Maison du Jardin and have it scheduled for dinner the night before we fly home from Paris. Thanks for all the fine suggestions.

November would be a nice time to travel in Burgundy, and you can't do better for fine food and wine. The sightseeing is excellent, including noted cathedrals, museums, Roman ruins, and of course famous vineyards. Driving is generally easy, a plus if the winter should turn rainy. If the weather is good, there's all of the wild Morvan region to explore: good walking and hiking. We love Provence, but that region can best be appreciated in spring or early fall. Burgundy conjures up images of old inns with flames crackling in the fireplace, a glass of good red wine, a dozen escargots in garlic sauce, a slice of paté...just right for cool weather.

We had two superb meals at Jean-Pierre Crouzil in the small town of Plancoët in Brittany. At the time the chef-owner of the restaurant and associated hotel L'Ecrin had one Michelin rosette; the following year the guide awarded him a second. I still remember the delectable pavé de boeuf surrounded by a mélange of teeny vegetables and the wonderful farm pigeon. Plancoët has its own source, and the water is marvelous--but hard to find outside the area.

I got a subscription to Gourmet when my husband and I were married and read it happily for many years. But about ten years ago the quality started to decline, the articles got shorter, the writing was less good. Finally, when Ruth Reichel became editor, I dropped my subscription. The four food magazines that I now read regularly are Saveur, Food and Wine, Bon Appétit, and Cook's Illustrated. I rarely cook from Saveur, as so many of the recipes are for Latin and Asian dishes that I'd rather have in a restaurant instead of at home. I occasionally cook from Food and Wine, although some of my favorite recipes came from that magazine (such as poulet à l'estragon). Most of my recipes, however, have come from Bon Appétit--at least those that aren't in Julia Childs's cookbooks. But for technique I prefer Cook's Illustrated, the first and only food magazine that appeals to my husband. Absolutely nothing beats CI's method for cooking halibut steaks: perfect every time.

I would head to northern Provence and settle in the olive town of Nyons, which has a wonderful open-air market and an excellent olive-oil cooperative. The country is beautiful, the people are nice, and it's the area where Patricia Wells lives when not in Paris. There's much to explore in the immediate vicinity and up in the Drôme, and once on the Autoroute du Soleil all of Provence is at your feet.

I wonder whether the cellar contains any of the marvelous half-bottles from the original restaurant. I remember with great pleasure the Pétrus we had, at an unbelievably low price for that wine. And, of course, the Burgundies.

I doubt that you'd need a dinner jacket for your husband; that's definitely not the norm, unless Maxim's still has its formal evenings--and you're not going there. A suit will be fine and will mark him as a gentleman who appreciates a good restaurant. For yourself, the little black cocktail dress will be perfect.

We'll be arriving in Paris around noon and checking in at our hotel, which is opposite the church of St-Germain-des-Prés. We're hoping to be able to get into our room and stow our luggage right away, but if not we'll need to leave it at the hotel and have lunch nearby while we wait. I'd appreciate suggestions for restaurants in the area, as it seems Léon de Bruxelles, just down the street, is perhaps not a good choice.

I had the good luck to hear Alice Steinbach speak at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C. last April. She spent part of the time describing her experiences at the Ritz cooking school beyond what she details in her book, and I have since read and enjoyed the book very much.

We dined a number of times at the Hostellerie du Vieux Moulin, Silva's restaurant/inn in Bouilland. He left for Provence in the spring of 2003; so I suspect that another poster visited the restaurant during the transition from Silva to the new owner, Armand Guggiari. The Michelin Guide, however, gives the restaurant one star now; so with luck, things will be fine when we're there in September. Anyone interested in knowing more about Jean-Pierre Silva would do well to read Eunice Fried's fine book "Burgundy: The Country, The Wines, The People." The chapter on the Vieux Moulin includes a few recipes. I'm very glad to know that at least part of the Burgundian wine cellar accompanied Silva--wonderful choices.