Felice

Cookbook author Mark Bittman searches for the best steak frites in Paris in an article in today's NY Times and I can't say that I would disagree with his list. His favorites include Le Relais de Venise, which was listed above, le Sèvero, Le Bistro Paul Bert, Chez Georges and Au Boeuf Couronné, which I have yet to try but have heard is great and this article only makes me want to try it more. Steak Frites: Seeking the Best of a Classic

La Palette in the 6th has a beautiful terrace overlooking a quiet street, however the owner can be rather unfriendly (bordering on rude) if you doesn’t know you, but if you can over look that it’s a great place for a glass of wine in the summer. They don’t really have tapas, but you can get small plates of charcuterie and cheese. For tapas I love Da Rosa on rue de Seine, the view isn’t that great, but they have amazing products like cured Spanish ham, all sorts of olives, brushcetta, delicious tarama, foie gras, smoked salmon etc.

I think this is all the more reason to support small producers and to buy cheese from your local fromagerie rather than the supermarket. Thankfully most neighborhoods in Paris still have butchers, cheese shops, fish mongers and the like, but it seems that more and more of these shops are disappearing and who knows how many will be left in years to come as people become more and more accustomed to the convenience of having everything in the same shop.

This is a new feature on the eGullet France Forum that will stretch our antennae out to capture items that may not be reported in other media. Feel free to use it for things as diverse as new and renovated restaurants, chef sightings and transfers, changes in menu and venue, and other industry and community news.

I have been to La Cave many times and have always made a reservation. I don't think I have been in the last two years though, so maybe something has changed.

I think this is a great list as well and if I had to choose some of my 'favorites' in Paris, many of these would be on that list.

I don't know the history, a French-French person should answer, but a lot of places are closed Saturday at lunch and open in the evening due to experience and traffic. ← I was puzzled by this as well when I first moved here and asked my then boyfriend, a French chef who had worked at some of the best restaurants in Paris, and he said it's because the starred restaurants are just as busy on Monday as they are on Saturday. Since they never have more than one seating and aren't counting on Saturday nights to turn their tables at least twice as they do in the US it really doesn't matter which nights they close.

Lavinia, LeGrand and La Cremerie are all great places to sample wines by the glass. Augé doesn't have a wine bar but they have just begun their Spring/Summer tastings where they invite 15 or so winemakers for a free tasting in front of the shop. The next tasting will be wines from Languedoc on April 28th. You could also try Willi's Wine Bar, Juveniles, Fish (all of which are very anglophone but also very good). Verre Volé is definitely a favorite. Another on my list to try is Le Bistrot des Halles in the 1st.

Yes thanks Laidback A 'two-top' is restaurant speak for a table for two.

I was looking for someplace new to go on Friday and decided on Caius, a restaurant that was listed in the Fooding's 'trop bon' category that has gotten other favorable press but hasn't really been discussed here. The food is certainly French but the chef, Jean-Marc Notelet, uses a lot of interesting spices and ingredients that you don't often find. The blackboard menu is 38€ for entrée, plat, dessert with 6-7 choices of each. I started with very good raw tuna marinated with seasame served over a bed of tiny greens, none of which I had heard of before and none of which I can remember unfortunately. My friend had a risotto with petit gris (little gray snails). The waiter recommended a chicken served for two that was stuffed with spinach and corriandre sautéed in honey which was very tender and delicious. Dessert for me was roasted caramelized pineapple and with a creamy coconut ice cream.

A friend has a VERY tiny restaurant in Paris where he only does one seating a night and turns away more people than he can actually serve. I had a friend in town this weekend and called to make a reservation for Friday night the week before but unfortunately he was already booked. He told me he would call me as soon as he had a cancellation which he says happens just about every night. By Thursday night there were still no cancellations so I had to make other plans. Finally at 7:30 on Friday night he called, saying two people had just cancelled, but by then it was too late. I had already made another reservation and was meeting friends at the restaurant at 8pm. Sadly this table probably sat empty for the night because it is not in an area that gets a ton of foot traffic. He only serves 16 people a night, so cutting out 2 is a big deal. I could imagine if this happened over and over again (which I think it does), you might get a little cranky. That said, I agree that shaming the customer isn’t a great business practice and of course there are times when it is unavoidable to cancel and unfortunately a lot of people wouldn’t have even bothered. If I were the original poster I would just realise the guy was cranky for whatever reason and would give them another try.

Merci Ptipois, I will try Lao Viet next. Have you tried Sukhothai?

I went to Rouammit last night and loved it. Their card says they serve Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine. We started with a salad of julienned vegetables, shrimp and chopped peanuts, Thai nems, and then I had the Pad Thai. Everything was fresh, delicious and very inexpensive--three courses, coffee and a drink came to 20€. Rouammit is tiny but they share the kitchen with a much larger restaurant next door called Huong Lan. 103-105 Avenue d'Ivry, 13th.

I really liked Le Bambou as well. For Vietnamese I also like Song Hunong, 129 avenue de choissy. Have you tried Lao Siam on Rue de Belleville?

I was just reading about a new lycée hôtelier (hotel restaurant high school) in the 14 which has two restaurants that are open to the public Monday-Friday for lunch and on Tuesday and Thursday nights for dinner. You can find the menu on their website, however I didn't see any mention of price. Lychée Hôtelier Guillaume-Tirel 235 boulevard Raspail 75014 Paris http://lyc-jean-quarre.scola.ac-paris.fr/extranet.html

I just received a card in the mail announcing that La Librairie Gourmande is moving as of Monday March 19 to 90 rue Montmartre, 2nd Paris, metro Sentier, Etiennne Marcel, or Grand Blvd.

She might want to take a look at this thread, which has a lot of good information, including information on cream. Expat Substitutions As for stock, I haven't seen very much canned stock, but haven't really looked so it's possible that it's available.

Congratulations I remember you were trying to set up a stage in France some time ago, is this the stage or are you returning? I am not really sure if we have members in Avignon but I am sure that everyone here would love to hear about what it's like for an American to work in a French kitchen. Bon courage....

Fish is definitely very welcoming of kids and will even make something special if you ask (I used to work there so I know ). The menu is mostly fish but they always have several choices that are non-fish including a pasta dish. They have a two and three-course menu and do not serve à la carte.

Although I rarely see children in restaurants in Paris in the evening, I think most most places are pretty open to children for lunch and wouldn't think twice about any of the places you mentionned.

Bonne Maman, the French jam company, has created a ‘boutique éphémère’ in an art gallery in Montmartre which will be open until March 21. You will find their latest jams along with demonstrations by guest chefs. Village des Abesses à Montmartre Autour du Pot - Bonne Maman - Espace Ephémère 44, rue Lepic - 75018 PARIS Open Wednesday- Sunday www.autourdupot.com

People might be interested in reading Taillevent's blog, with this entry by Jean-Claude Vrinat answering questions about why they might have lost their third star. http://taillevent.com

I was just looking at Legrand's site and it seems that they now have free tastings on Saturdays, although not all. The next one is Feb 24 Domaine Feuduccio (Italie, Abruzzes) The March list isn't available yet. Legrand Filles et Fils 1 rue de la Banque 75002 Paris

Hi Joe, I would be very happy to go to any of the places on your list and think I have been to all of them more than once, which is not something I do unless I really like the place. As far as reservations go, I don't think I have ever made them more than a week in advance and can't remember having any problems. I'm sure people would take your reservation now, but I don't really think it's neccessary. If you do make reservations this far in advance, don't forget to cancel them if you can't make it. I was at Spring recently and one of the tables didn't show, which is really a shame in a tiny place that has to turn away so many people. Luckily someone came in off the street so in the end it was okay. Since you are running the marathon you might be interested to know that a bunch of Paris's best chefs--and incidently two from restaurants on your list--(Yves Camdeborde, Thierry Faucher, Thierry Breton, Rodolphe Paquin, Bertrand Bluy, Flora Mikula) all ran in the NYC Marathon last year and there is a short article in this month's Regal about it.

Details of scheduled tastings can be found on the website -watch the moving window on the right hand side of the introductory screen and when you see Paris 16, click very quickly. The webmaster probably thinks this a very clever feature but it's really a bit annoying - it almost says "if you are not smart enough to figure this out, then you should not be here". ← Thank you Kerriar, I've found it