JayP

Both solid replies.... that's what I love about the forum, people seem to get the spirit of a question. I live in Chapel Hill NC now, and we have some truly nifty nouvelle Southern places that give a sense of place in the food, and aren't in most cases particularly expensive, and then we also have inventive and wonderful high-end stuff that is well worth eating if you live here and need variation, but frankly can be equalled in five or six places around the country... the quirky local stuff, market food, food trucks, or something that specializes in lifting local traditional food are the sweet spots I think for a quick visit. Unless you're going somewhere that there is one special restaurant that should be on most bucket lists.

need suggestions for two do not miss dinners and a breakfast, and I'm not so much interested in local variant of the French Laundry as I am something distinctive and special that really is unique to the city. Extra points for anything in the central part of the city even vaguely close to USC. But I will get in a cab and go anywhere for the right idea....

Mick, thanks much for taking the time to conjure it up so evocatively. I will do that exact walk... and maybe the trip out to arcachon, as well... this was exactly the kind of information I need... am there no and in fact will hit La Tupine in an hour or so... cheers. -- jp

Dave, thanks, but I think you misunderstood. I have to be in Bordeaux city for work for a couple of weeks. I won't want to travel outside the city very far for dinners and lunches. I am of course aware that there is more to France than Bordeaux of all places. But I needed Bordeaux-specific help. cheers, --jp

Haven't been in the city in awhile, but have to return for work in July and I just remember it being pretty overrun where I was before... Any recommendations about nice spots away from the main crowds would be lovely. Thanks much

Lantern in chapel hill....google it, one of the best in the nation, and def an interesting, different atmosphere. and they're really consistent... Bon Soiree may be closed, but if not, worth the effort. Also Fearrington House near Chapel Hill. While here, hit the original home of nouvelle southern, Crook's Corner (honeysuckle sorbet in season, kind of distills the idea).... which is best patio dining in the Triangle, though do it on a second night, sounds like you want the high end, and they're not quite that... just special. Magnolia Grill in Durham, meanwhile, remains a kind of yardstick for doing fine dining with a southern twist properly.

Not so sure about Parkers in Greenville or anywhere else. But yes, Ayden is the pinnacle. Most say go to the Starlight, and don't miss it. But the jewel is Bum's across from the courthouse. The 'cue rivals Pete's at the Starlight and the sides are classics of the genre, particularly the dense flat cornbread and the collards (they care so much they have their own collard patch... and Ayden is the home of the Collard Festival, or course.) Wilburs in Goldsboro, NC is another jewel, and believe it or not, The Pit in Raleigh, which looks like a big city fake version, but if you walk around back and take a whiff of the smoke pouring out of the place you'll know you're in the for real thing... I had relatives up last month who live in the farmland between Grifton and Ayden, and they were blown away by The Pit.

But do the hushpuppies have onion? always the key question in the south, and far too seldom the answer is no....

Hohoho. My facility for even Romance languages is modest at best. Well, no, it's flat awful. And I was never able to connect a single Vietnamese spoken word with the written version.... so of course, while I'm sure she gave me the name, it flew right past. She did give me to understand, though, that it was a farily local item.

I was in a pretty well-known restarurant in Hue in '95 for about the third time eating their unusually good crepes, when the daughter of one of the cooks showed me the dumplings she was eating, and gave me one. They weren't on the menu and smelled horrific, but were def. tasty. Though powerful. Thinking about trying to re-create them at home.

Ah well, may have to settle for solid foods, and make the soup myself when I return to the US. had a fish soup last year at kind of a place in the 6th that looked just a fraction too touristical to trust, and sure enough, it didn't sit well with me.

Will be in town in October and looking for some solid places for fish soup...doesn't have to be the greatest in the city etc, but just looking for a few places -- near the 6th wouldnt hurt -- that are solid bets for high quality. Essentially building a list for breaks from high-end eating, though I surely won't object to high-end for the soup. thanks much

It was something special, no question.

Thoughts on both raw and cooked for each?

All great suggestions guys, I'm sure, I will def. take many of them. Not courageous, John, I'm sure there are other words that fit better, some of them partly jocular ("stupid" ), some not so jocular and perhaps not particularly admirable. "Bored", for example, since once you have done it, it's never quite the same covering things back home. And it is deeply interesting. For others, not me, it's ambition. But yeah, courage for many of them (google Dexter Filkins' stuff on the 2nd battle of Fallujah) and there are a dozen others out there with icewater instead of blood, though now even Filkins says it's impossible to report here for westerners. One word that does fit, though, is hungry. Your reviews of bistros that I've been soaking up here will certainly double my pleasure on my scant days in Paris, they're done in quite a nice style, the bits of humor modulated just right, and humane even where there is bad news to break. Clearly you recognize that even a restaurant that is an utter failure still requires terrible amounts of work. Indeed, I was happy to find this web site, it seems so sane and dignified compared to much of the free-for-all stuff on the web. Sorry to hijack my own topic, Now, back to our sponsor... thanks much.

That beer is in a class by itself. Many of the other belgian beers, even the best ones, seem to be variations on a theme, this one went it's own direction away from the white beers. It is like some of the west coast high end stuff. wish I could afford it aw my regular.

Thanks, the list of markets will be helpful for sure. I guess what I'm looking forward to is an area to make my base that has good food shops and good bistros, and I will make forays from that. When I settle on one, this market list inevitably will point me to a good stop for that, too.

Good thoughts, Pierre, thank you much. I will certainly move around on the metro some, but I just enjoy walking in Paris so much and being surprised by little things that I didn't want to spend my short time swooping around to various target destinations. So essentially I wanted a good base neighborhood and then will make a couple of "swoops." And I suspect you are dead on about restaurant choice... that is why I made only one reservation and hope to eat more typically -- nicely, but more typically -- for the rest of my choices. Good stuff, logical thinking, thanks again.

I need to beg for a synthesis of many of the cateorgies of information available here from folks who have much of it in their heads. I’m only going to get 40 hours in Paris as a layover and am trying to figure out which neighborhood to stay in to make the most of my time. I have a reservation at Drouant for one night, but just want to wander and rely on serendipity for the other dining choices. And instead of tourist sites, I’d rather immerse myself in a couple of areas that are good for simply seeing what people who are interested in food buy and how folks live. I’m sure the information I seek is in here – I have read huge chunks of it in several days of exploring the forums, but my lack of facility with paris maps and neighborhoods makes a lot of the geography just run together for me. I’m looking for a cheerful two days of recuperation back in society after my third tour in Iraq as a reporter. I have had to suffer greatly (yes, the unmentionable MREs, but also 40 tins of tuna and a hotel cook that I can't avoid due to security issues who has plied me with such beautiful dishes as a baked combination of sliced carrots, beets and cocktail cherries, and another of white bean, canned peas and ketchup.) Thanks for any help you can offer.