Parigi

Good news: yes indeed it is great. Tragic news: I hear it is closed for the whole holiday week.

This local wimp agrees with all the others. And the Champs is absolutely frightening on New Year's Eve. Since you have an apartment, by all means get your collective weight in foie gras and seafood and bubblies, put on a Callas cd and toast the Nouvel An.

Of your list, the Baratin has good food and great atmosphere. The others have their ups and downs. Personally I find the Baratin most reliable. My problem would be with the bois de Boulogne location. The Bois is huge. On which side are you? In general it is quite far from the restaurants of your choice. In fact it is sort of the suburb. For New year's Eve, public transport will be a mad house and should be avoided. Like a caricature of a Parisian, I don't "do" suburbs at all and don't know the places near you, except Stella Maris. Besides serving good food, it is the kind of cheerful brasserie that will be esp festive for the holiday season. That's where I'd go instead of schlepping cross town... Bon séjour.

Sorriest I discovered this thread late. Near you - Cisternino, 46 Rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, Paris's best épicerie italienne. - Ferme St Hubert, 36 Rue de Rochechouart. Great cheese and dairy products. Daniel Rose steered me there. - Aurore Capucine. 3 Rue de Rochechouart. Wonderful inventive pastries, often using flowers. - Heratchian on 6 Rue Lamartine. Great middle-eastern spice store. On rue des Martyrs, besides - the presidential baggette at Delmontel, I like - Aux Papilles gourmands for the charcuteries and - Seurre for pastries. And of course - Poissonnerie Bleue, 5 rue des martyrs. If you are still in Paris on Friday, don't miss the weekly market on Place d'Anvers in the afternoon. People come from the suburbs to queue up for the cheeses of the gentleman in wheelchair at the north end of the market. Forgive me for this indirect showoff. Here is an article by my husband about the market: http://www.paris-update.com/fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433&Itemid=127 Off topic: last weekend was the Marché des producteurs de pays, with wonderful food producers from the southwest, all converging on the picturesque Village St Paul in the Marais. A quantity of foie gras and aiguillettes de canard later, I thought that was the kind of event I would love to put on the France/Paris calendar. But o I tried. The forum tells us to go list these things on the calendar, then steers us to a page where the word "calendar" is nowhere to be found. What's that about?

I love this thread. I want to print it out and study it next time I have a long train ride. Having grown up in other countries and now living in Paris, I have this take: It seems that different countries/cultures prioritize a given meat feature, and its industry and agriculture will cultivate that feature at the expense of other features. Maybe for this reason, I too, like John T, took years to appreciate French beef, after living in the States. I used to - and maybe still do - miss the texture of American beef most. It is a pleasure to sink one's teeth into a piece of American beef. But I have learned to love French beef for the combo of fat and lean, which enhances the taste. If I may do something as criminal as paraphrasing Nabokov... Which beef do I prefer? My teeth say American, my tongue says French. I don't get the adulation of tenderness in certain countries/cultures. Maybe the inhabitants have no teeth? And all the so-called kobe beef in America now that is all tenderness and no taste, what's that about?

I count on fellow eGers to give you all the starred recs. Have you considered visiting some of the ferme-auberges? They are farms that have a side business of a part-time restaurant. Most of them are open only on the weekend. They do not do sophisticated dishes and have a limited menu, using only ingredients from the farm itself or from neighboring farm assocaites. The freshness of the food is incomparable; the most common ingredients taste so different it's a revelation. In the Lot and Dordogne, many of the ferme-auberges make their own foie gras of course. It is insanely good. Not knowing where you are based, I would guess it is near Lalbenque. My 3 fave ferme-auberges down there are a bit north from Lalbenque, maybe about 1.25 hour to 1.5 hour drive. - Ferme Auberge du Moulin à Huile de Noix. ROUTE DE SAINT DENIS, Martel. Tel 05.65.37.40.69. As the name indicates, it is a nut oil mill. The owner is happy to show you around the farm. - Ferme auberge Calvel, Le Bougayrou, Lacave. Tel 05 65 37 87 20. Book way in advance as the place is always filled with regular locals. - Auberge la Taulado, LA GENEBRe, Les Eyzies-de-tayac-sireuil. Tel : 05.53.29.67.63 - Fax : 05.53.59.64.42. This farm is also extremely near the prehistoric cave Font de Gaumes. Do try to visit it. You'll be so proud of humanity… Sorriest allow me to repeat: the cusisine of these ferme-auberges is not sophisticated but is ridiculously fresh. Service is good but much more casual than a restaurant.Btw, this is my "virgin post". Bon appétit.