Felice

I am very anxious to hear the answers to your question, as this is something I always struggle with when visitors come. Strangely I’m not sure I have found the “perfect” place, so maybe it doesn’t exist. In my mind it would be a place like Brasserie Lip or Balzar, but the food would be great as well, and unfortunately I don’t think the food is that good at either any more. That said, I did take my parents to Brasserie Balzar and Bofinger and they loved them both. I have also taken people to Aux Lyonnais and think that is a very good choice, the room is beautiful and the food has been delicious each time I’ve gone. Last week I had this dilemma once again since I had a friend coming from London and he wanted something traditional and “typically” Parisian—whatever that might be. The first night we went to Chez Denise which was a lot of fun. I was a bit worried that it would be over run with tourists since it was featured in Anthony Bourdain’s travel show, but even at the early seating it seemed that most people were French. The portions are enormous. I started with escargot, then we shared the cote de bœuf and then shared a Baba Rhum for dessert. It reminds me a bit of Bistro Paul Bert however and I think the food is probably better at Paul Bert. The next night we went to La Regalade which was great. I had tried to book at L’ami Jean but they were closed for the holidays. I was very happy to go back to La Regalade, since I haven’t been in a few years. We both thought the food was outstanding, but the service is still a bit rushed. But in order to keep the prices low, they have to turn tables. A place I have considered trying when guests are in town is Chez George in the 2nd. Any thoughts on this?

Chapter 3: A Nous Paris Here is A Nous Paris’s “Best of “ list for 2005 Mum Sabai Le Comptoir Maxan Le Bistral Louis Vins Le Casier à Vin La Cave est Restaurant And what they liked from each place: Best “plat” « Bouillon de volaille, perles du Japon et Mousserons », Le Comptoir « Emiette de tourteau et gaspacho au lait d’amande », Maxan Best dessert Camembert au lait cru, Louis Vin Gateau chocolat, Maxam Best wine Anjou blanc de Jo Pithon, Louis Vin Best « formule » The 40 € menu at Le Comptoir And the menus of 12€-27€ at Le Bistral Best table Le Comptoir (because they change the décor for breakfast, lunch and dinner) Mum Sabai, (a table in the basement where you sit on cushions) An element of Décor The fresco painted on the radiator at La Cave est restaurant The faucets in the bathroom at Mum Sabai Clientel The clients at Louis Vin and Le Bistral Best Waitress La Cave est restaurant Mum Sabai And finally under “a regret” The grumpy welcome at La Cave est restaurant and the slightly rigid service at Maxan.

I've had two galettes so far, one was from a little bakery near my work which is in La Defense, where there are really no bakeries to choose from, and one last night from Gerard Mulot. Needless to say, the galette from Mulot was 100 times better, there was no comparison really and I don't even think there was a price difference. In fact the bakery in La Defense may have been more expensive. Mulot has two types of galettes, a traditional and one with pistachios, which is what I had and it was delicious. I was tempted to try Pain et Passion, but it was out of the way and since I was in the 6th anyway, Mulot seemed like a good second choice.

There was also the Nutella café sometime last year that Louisa posted about and for the Fooding event this past December they had another restaurant éphemere with a different chef each night—Frechon, Alleno, Camdeborde, Piege, Roth. The one night I went they had open tables for Alleno, but the next night which was Camdeborde, they were completely booked. It seems like this is a fairly new phenomena, but I could be wrong since I’ve only lived in Paris for a little more than 4 years.

John Did they give an address for Pain et Passion? I just looked on pagesjaunes and didn't find anything. I have to buy a galette today, so maybe I'll try it.

I wanted to add another place to the list- Le Gallopin, a brasserie near le bourse which dates from 1876. I went the other day for lunch with a friend and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard of it before. It was everything that I wish a place like Lipp would be—a beautiful room, old-school waiters in tuxedos with long white aprons, and—what a lot of places lack--good food. I started with fish soup which was served in its own tureen with a side plate of rouille and garlicky French bread. I then had delicious chicken breasts with mushrooms and cream over dauphinoise potatoes. Not exactly diet food, but very good nonetheless. When I got home I looked in Patricia Wells’ Food Lovers Guide to Paris and was very surprised it wasn’t listed. I then looked in the 2006 Pudlo and saw that it got their “coup de Coeur” for the 2nd arrondissement. It was also listed in another French book I have about historic restaurants in Paris where they note that it is now owned by the former owner of Bofinger. Le Gallopin 40 rue Notre Dame des Victoires

That's probably not a bad idea. I once reserved Le Timbre in the 6th for a big dinner but it was with other people in the restaurant business who knew the owner. We also guaranteed that we would pay for a certain number and had three courses plus wine. You may also find that a lot of places won't want to say "no" to their regular clientel. I have an old Zagats and they have a section that lists private rooms. There are about 200 so I won't list them all (and it's an out dated copy) but it says that the following have private rooms Atelier Maitre Albert Bastide Odeon Beauvilliers Bofinger Brasserie Lipp Closerie des Lilas Dome Flora Fontaine des Mars Gaya Grande Cascade Laperouse Maceo Mediterranee Thierry Burlot

I posted something about Epiphany in the events calendar, but then found this great thread started by Louisa last year, which has Lucy’s wonderful photos. This week’s Zurban claims that Stephane Vandermeersch, who worked under Pierre Hermé, has the best galette this year. Boulangerie patisserie Vandermeersch 278 avenue Daumesnil, 12th

There's also an online version on the fooding site, but it doesn't have the articles that were in the pull-out. Just go to the "guide". www.lefooding.com

If you scroll down to Molto e's post here you will see that jackets are required at the Bristol for lunch.

Part of my complaint to French restos lately is that they cater to the American need to rush thorugh dinner. ← I would like to respectfully disagree. Twice this week I had the experience in restos where the clientele were 100% French businessmen (except for me) where they were in and out in 55-65 minutes. It's not the Americans that are driving that train. ← I don't think so either. I think it's just not possible to pay the bills with only one seating and French restauranteurs are being forced speed up the service and to turn tables. Especially the smaller places which offer a great rapport/qualite prix.

Oui, I went this week, but for lunch, which appears to be quite different from dinner. The waiter described the dinner menu as a "menu gastronomique". He said the chef serves some ten or so courses of his choice for about 40-50 €. For lunch they have two plats du jour and then something titled the “formule garde-manger” (what I had) where you can choose from some 40 different small dishes (ingredients really) divided into 9 categories like "Végétal” which had Asperges de Navarre, radishes by Joel Thiebault, 3 varities of beets, smashed potatoes and even a plate of just “three or two clementines”; “Crustaces et Pelagigues” had small plates of shrimp, oysters, scallops; “Charcuteries” had raw and cooked foie gras, rabbit rillettes, and jambon cru; “Poissons” had wild salmon, anchovies with Ondarroa olive oil, etc. The menu states that all of the products are of the highest qualitiy, small artisanal producers and indeed everything I had was delicious but very simple. The idea is to order lots of little things to put together and share. So, you could order the pears from the “Végétal” section and dip them in the melted chocolate in the dessert section. Or you could order the sun-dried tomatoes and pair them with amazing buffalo mozzarella. I thought the whole thing was very fun and will definitely go back for dinner. The only downside is that it is quite far out. I read that the metro was Porte de Choissy and was assuming I could walk. Luckily I looked up how to get there on the RATP site before leaving and realized that I would need to take a bus from Choissy. The bus drops you off right outside though, so it’s not too bad.

I've never felt the need to respond to anyone's greeting upon entering a store and never expect anyone to respond to me. I often say "bonjour" upon entering a store, but more likely I will wait until I have some sort of transaction with someone. So, before ordering my chicken at the butcher, I'll say "Bonjour monsieur, I'd like X" . If I have a question for someone, I always say "bonjour monsieur or madame" before proceeding. This may seem very simple and natural, but I see a lot of tourists who don't do this. Actually, I was in the butcher shop last weekend and there was a French speaking woman who did not say "bonjour" and just asked for whatever it was she wanted in a rather gruff way, she then paid and left without even a "merci" or "au revoir". It was obvious that the butcher was put off by this and after she left he shrugged, shook his head, and voiced his displeasure by saying how impossible some people can be.

The "fooding awards for 2005" can be found on the Fooding website Here's a basic translation Fooding® d’honneur 2005 Yves Camdeborde of Le Comptoir du Relais Best office cantine Ante Prima Best croque monsieur Pierre Gagnaire of Gaya Best bistro/cave La Cave est Restaurant Best "arroz" Fogón Best "before love" Senderens (Alain Senderens and Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance) Best Japanese "bento" Kaï

I could be very wrong but normally a terrine de foie gras is "foie gras mi-cuit" this is what you get when you order foie gras that comes on toast. It is made from baking the raw foie gras in a terrine (a type of pan). It's sometimes wrongly refered to as paté, at least by Americans. It's mostly duck (or goose) liver with perhaps some spices and a little cognac, but that's it. You can also pan-sear raw foie gras.

When I was home last I went to the Reading Terminal Market, an amazing food market in Philadelphia, and saw so many things to bring back. I think the wine idea is a good one (maybe a red Zinfindel since you can't easily get that here) or it might be interesting to bring an American artisanal cheese. The American products that you get here are pretty terrible, so it's a nice way to show people that we have more to offer than oreos and fluff.

I think this statement is very true. In France, when you enter a restaurant or a shop, it's like entering someone's home and you are a guest and must act accordingly. It's one of the reasons you're expected to say "bonjour" when first entering and "au revoir, merci" upon leaving. Unfortunately, if you don't follow these social norms, you will come off as being impolite and in turn might get poor service. I'm not saying all bad service is due to this, of course, as bad service exists everywhere.

Wow, I''m sorry you had a bad experience. The service was one of the things that impressed me the most at the Bristol. I found it to be very professional, but also warm and genuine.

Yes, merci beaucoup. I have studied French to death and have never heard such a clear explanation of the difference between à and de. Makes much more sense now.

I will post them in the events as they come up. In the past they have had them every month or so, but the monthly events seem a lot more crowded and therefore difficult to get into.

I went to the Fooding festival again last night and the chef was none other than Yves Camdeborde. It wasn’t noted anywhere, but he could be seen racing around from stand to stand. The theme was once again “cuisine de la rue” and Mr. Camdeborde’s interpretation didn’t disappoint. I don’t remember every ingredient as it was not marked as it had been the night before, so forgive me if I get anything wrong. The “hotdogs” were boudin blanc this time, with some sort of artichoke spread; delicious sandwiches of veal tongue with capers and an ingredient I can’t recall; an amazing chestnut soup with tapioca, ladled over crème chantilly with peanuts and piment d’espellette; pasta filled with duck confit and do-it yourself spices, crepes for dessert and the same rose-like flutes of champagne and artisan beer to wash it all down. I took a few photos, but they didn’t come out all that well. Making boudin blanc Do-it-yourself spice balls crepes

Well, after two other attempts I was finally able to get into a Fooding event last night and was so happy I did. It was great. The chef last night was Yannick Alleno of the Meurice and the theme was “reinventing grilled chestnuts, crepes and hotdogs”. I’d say he did a pretty amazing job. We had delicious crepes with three kinds of fillings: chocolate, strawberry or vanilla; a wonderful foamy soup of chestnuts and fennel; the hotdogs were boudin noir on a pain de mie bun with some sort of mayonnaise and an apple ketchup washed down with two different artisan beers; pita bread with grilled lamb, a roasted pepper butter and shaved artichokes; pasta stuffed with duck and mushrooms to which you could add your own spices by wandering through a bunch of dangling spice shaker balls. The chef could be seen going from station to station making sure everything was going well. Champagne was served in funky rose-like glasses. I''m only sorry that I didn''t have my camera for photos. A VERY fun night! So fun, that I am going to try again tonight.

Really? I love the MK2! I have only eaten there once though and it was pretty mediocre. I will have to try the hamburger next time.

The Salon Saveurs starts this weekend. I've never been and was thinking of going on Friday night. Has anyone been? The details can be found in the "What's Happening" thread under events for December

Yes, but the restaurant gastronomique is only open Monday-Friday so if you go on Saturday or Sunday night, you will get the regular a la carte bistro menu, which is great, but it's not the same as the 40 euro dinner menu. I'm not even sure that you can make reservations on Saturday or Sunday night as it's the same principal as lunch. I could be wrong though.