Felice

I now live in Paris, but if there is one thing that I miss from back home it's my Whole Foods Market. They are not just another organic food shop and have great products. I'm sure things vary from place to place, but my local one even had the best sushi place in town making fresh sushi to-go, to order. They have all sorts of organic chicken, meat, wild fish and beautiful vegetables--some organic, some not, but they tell you which are and how they were grown. They had French butter, great yogurt, cheese, etc. Definitely the best supermarket I have ever shopped in.

I am going to a little town in Calvados this weekend called Lingevres for a quick getaway to a working farm. When doing some quick research on the area I found that we are near Isigny Sur-Mere and apparently you can visit a nearby dairy, where they make cheese, crème fraiche, and butter. Does anyone know of any others in the area? Isigny-ste-mere We will have breakfast and dinner on the farm, so I don’t think we will need restaurant recommendations, but would love to hear any food related suggestions for things in the area, specialites, etc. It’s also close to Bayeux and Caen.

But they are not promoting "shoe string" restaurants. The Bristol, Astrance, and Les Ambassadeurs certainly don't qualify as "shoe-string" kind of places. That said, a good portion of the restaurants listed do provide great value for your money by serving exceptional food at prices that everyone can afford. And many, if not most, of the places chosen are "honest bistro-type" places: Chez Michel, La Cerisaie, L'Ourcine, La Regalade, Le Beurre Noisette, etc.

Did you read the entire article? I didn't think they were taking potshots at 300 euro meals and the Michelin at all, they just want to be able to offer something else--the ability to serve high quality, cuisine d'auteur, without having to serve it in a place that looks like the museum. And if that means they won't get a Michelin star, so be it. But this doesn't mean they want to do away with those kind of places. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to eat like that, I know that I can't. I love the fact that in Paris I can have wonderful food without spending an enormous amount of money. This didn't sound like a marketing ploy at all to me. I think it's written by people who are passionate about French cuisine and want to make sure that it progresses. Plus, I've read Omnivore's monthly publication, which I assume you haven't, so I know that it's not just "another marketing ploy".

I guess they wanted to highlight lesser-known chefs. I assume Parisian chefs get enough press as it is. That's what I love about France, you can be in a little town, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and come across an amazing restaurant with innovative food. Not so easy in the States, I would think. I would love to try some of the places they list outside Paris and will definitely be buying their guide once it comes out.

As mentioned, the pull-out guide included in the Nouvel Obs is not available online, however I later noticed a little blurb at the end of the article that said that the collection of restaurants for the article was written by Luc Dubanchet, Sébastien Demorand and Andréa Petrini and is actually an "avant-gout" or preview of a new guide "beaucoup plus etoffé" being put out by Omnivore called Carnet de Route. It's due out at the end of September. The restaurants included in the Nouvel Obs article from Paris are: Angl'Opera Aux Lyonnais Mon Vieil Ami Le Pre Verre Le Comptoir du Relais Ze Kitchen Gallerie Chez L'ami Jean Le Bristol Flora Spoon, Food, and Wine La Table du Lancaster Les Ambassadeurs Chez Jean Le Verre Vole Chez Michel Le Villaret Le Refectoire La Muse Vin Le Temps au temps Le Bistrot Paul Bert L'Avant Gout L'Ourcine La Cerisaie La Regalade L'Ami Marcel Banyan Le Beurre Noisette L'Astrance Le Bistral La Famille Le Baratin

According to my Pudlo guide Pierre Herme re-opened on August 24, Stohrer on August 15, and Angelina's, Lenotre and Laduree don't list a closing at all.

I just wanted to add the list of restaurants that Zurban has listed under their ongoing summer section “Open this Week” 8th Flora Danica Danish restaurant specialising in all things salmon with a pretty terrace. 142 avenue des Champs-élysées, Metro: Charles de Gaulle etoile. 10th La Modonnina Popular neighbourhood Italian place, off the Canal. 10 rue Marie-et-Louise. Metro: Goncourt, République. 11th Jacques Melac Great wine bar in the 11th serving charcuterie and basic Auvergnat cuisine. No reservations so go early! 42 rue Leon-Frot, 11th. Metro Charonne. 13th Sukhothai: Authentic thai in the 13th. 12 rue du Pere-Guerin, Place d’Italie. The rentrée is almost here, which means that most restaurants that have been closed for the summer break are either opening or will be opening back up next week.

I think you can buy anything and everything you need for baking, including hard to find items, at G. Detou on rue Tiquetonne, a little street in the 2nd near rue Montorgeuil. I have a friend who loves to bake and I know he goes there for hard to find items. It's just a short walk to Dehillerin. G. Detou 58 rue Tiquetonne - 75002 Paris Tel : 01 42 36 54 67 Open 8-19h. Closed Sundays

I nice place to sit outside and have a glass of wine with something light to eat is Da Rosa, the gourmet épicerie on Rue de Seine. They serve small plates of their amazing cured Spanish ham, cheese, foie gras, various tartines, salads, caviar and other of their upscale products which are for sale in their shop on rue de Seine. It’s definitely not cheap, but it’s a very pleasant place to spend a summer evening.

You could add Chez Ramulaud to the list as well. I have a friend who loves it, but it's another one I have yet to try. I know it's been talked about here though. And Les Amognes seemed to get very good reviews a few years back but I haven't heard anything about it in some time. Sorry, now you have too many choices

Hi Freckles, There are so many great choices in the 11th. If you could wait a week I would suggest Le Sot y Laisse. The food is very good and the service was wonderful each time I went. But they are closed until the first week of Sept. If you haven’t been to Le Temps au Temps, that would be a good choice. The menu (3 courses) is only 25 € if I remember correctly and the food was amazing for the prices I tried La Muse Vin last week, a wine store/bistro which has interesting wines, good food, and a fun atmosphere. Le Refectoire—trendy, innovative food, not really the atmosphere that you’re looking for though. You could try Le Villaret for us, since there have been so many mixed reviews here. It’s the most expensive on this list. Le C’Amelot—no choice, but wonderful Astier—a bargain, good food. Amazing cheese tray. I haven’t tried Le Vieux Chêne or l'Ecailler du Bistrot , but they are both on my list of places to try.

I love Damman's as well and normally go there because there's never a line, which isn't the case at Berthillon's. For some reason I'm not an Amorino's fan. Another I've tried that was quite good was on rue Mouffetard; it's the one where they shape the ice cream into a rose. I think it's called Octave. but there's another on rue Mouffetard as well, so I could be mixing them up.

There’s a very interesting article that’s worth reading in Le Nouvel Observateur this week about what is being called" la jeune cuisine francaise" and the restaurant scene in France and how chefs are forgoing Michelin stars for a younger, more inventive cuisine. The article opens saying: “They’ve decided to finish with service à la cloche, 300 Euro menus and the dictatorship of Michelin. Their motto: we can achieve exceptional and even inventive cuisine without all the excessive trappings of haute cuisine.” (my quick translation) They then go on to talk about these new chefs throughout France, who aren’t interested in chasing after Michelin stars and who prefer “lively, fun atmospheres to crystal glasses”. The article also talks about Generation C, a group of well-known chefs espousing this philosophy, and Omnivore (which John Talbott has mentioned previously) a newish culinary publication written by “ reporters gastronomique “ and not “critiques”. Anyway, it’s all very interesting and worth reading. The article is available HERE mais en francais. Unfortunately it doesn't include their pull-out section which lists their 140 picks of these type of places throughout France.

I have a book called 100 Lieux de Memoire, 200 ans d'histoire, Restaurants de Paris that I just glanced through for some other ideas. I haven't been, but you might want to try Le Moulin a Vent, an old-fashioned Parisian bistro in the 5th. They say that the decor has remained unchanged since the 1940s. It looks beautiful. 20 rue des Fosses Saint Bernard, 5th. Has anyone been? Also, Brasserie Balzar and Polidor might be good choices as well.

I was just looking through the following book (in Paris) the other day, Au Vrai Zinc Parisien, which was a book full of beautiful old-time Paris bistros. You might want to look through it if you see a book store.

Thanks for this list John. I often just do a google search to see what I find and have come across this site: MMMM many times. It's not an exhaustive list, but they have many addresses plus comments.

I ate at the marché Saint Honoré last night and all of the restaurants were open along the square including Point Bar and Absinthe. I live very close to Le Sot L'Y Laisse and so know that it's closed until the first week of Sept. I drove past Le Bookinistes the other night and noticed it was open, as was Ze Kitchen. Café Constant is open. And today's Zurban lists La Muse Vin (11th) and Louis Vins (5th) as both being open this week.

Probably Le Verre Volé on rue Lancry.

I worked in restaurants, as both a waitress and manager, for many years in the US (Philadelphia) and then moved to Paris, where I live now, and waitressed at a wine bar/restaurant for about two years, so I have experience working with both systems. In France a service charge is always included and the waiter is often paid a monthly salary. The service charge therefore goes towards paying that salary and the waiter does not usually receive a percentage of what he/she serves. Like all employees in France, waiters are also given healthcare, 5 weeks vacation, and retirement benefits (mind you, these are not free and a VERY big portion of my check went towards these benefits each month). Where I worked we were paid the minimum wage which was a bit more than 7.50 an hour. We then pooled the small tips (with the entire staff) that people left and were paid our “tip-out” at the end of the week. On average, I made about 50 € a shift, (including these small “tips”), after charges and taxes. So, it was A LOT less than I was used to making. Even though we were being paid a little less than 8 € an hour, the restaurant themselves were paying about double that to cover all of the social charges. That’s why a lot of restaurants in France work with such small staffs. We had no busers, no runners, etc They just can’t afford to have a big staff the way restaurants do in the US. So, service does suffer. Fine dining, of course is different, but the prices reflect this. For financial reasons, I definitely preferred the American system. There’s also something highly motivating and even fun about working for tips. Sitting down and counting your tips after a really hard night feels great and in France no matter how hard I worked, chances are I was going to make roughly the same amount—not very motivating.

Ahh, I'd love to go there! Of course, I checked cityvox and I believe it said Aux Lyonnais was closed in August. ← Well, unfortunately the person who invited me hadn't checked and it is indeed closed until the end of the month. It sounded too good to be true. We went to some trendy, but not very good place near L'Etoile. Sorry for giving false hopes!

I've been invited to go to Aux Lyonnais tonight, so that's open as well and would be another good choice.

Seems like CityVox isn't very up to date. I just called Au Bon Accueil and they are closing tonight for two weeks. La Regalade has a voice message saying they are closed until Aug. 22 and I was just at Le Comptoir on Wednesday and they are closed from 7-14 and will reopen on Monday the 15th.

Sure, here are last week's: Le Cambodge--which I've been to and it's a great little inexpensive Cambodian place off the Canal Saint Martin in the 10th. Normally you have to get there at 8pm cause if not, you won't get a table as people are waiting outside for them to open. (10 avenue Richerand, 10th) Pizzeria Enzo: Good pizza in the 14th. 72 rue Daguerre, closed Sat and Sun L'Ecume Saint Honore: I've always wanted to try this place actually as it's been written up a few times. It's a poissonnerie that has a little restaurant in back. Might be a good choice for lunch. 6 rue du Marche-Saint Honore. Midi Vins 83 rue du Cherche Midi, 6th. Wine Bar. Closed Sun and Mon. Menu 20 Euros. From the review it sounds like a good place to stop by if you are in the area, but not to make a special trip for. This week's Les Caves Saint Gilles--spanish tapas in the 3rd. 4 rue Saint Gilles. Mum Sabai chic Thai in the 6th. 5 rue Bernard Palissy. Le Kiosque: Cuisine by a student of Ducasse. 1 place de Mexico, 16th. Chez Vincent Popular italien in the 19th. 5 rue de Tunnel.

Yves Camdeborde's Le Comptoir is open this week, but will be closing for a week starting this Sunday. And I know Le Verre Volé is open because I'm going there tonight. I'll see if they are closing. Also, you should pick up a copy of Zurban, a great cultural magazine available in news kiosks each week. They've been doing a section "open this week" en francais, bien sur. John probably has it in his weekly digest. Chez Remaulaud, which is a place I've always wanted to try, was listed last week. I'm not sure what kind of places you are looking for, but I had a drink along the Canal at a place called Point Ephemere last week and thought it was great. It looks like a old warehouse that they've transformed into a cultural center which has art exhibits, dance, and other events. They also have an outdoor restaurant ,but as I haven't been, I can't tell you how it is. It's nice because if they don't have tables left for a drink you can just sit along the canal. This is NOT near the main part of canal Saint Martin though, it's near the metro Jaures. Fun for the adventurous, looking for something different. 186 quai de Valmy, 01 40 34 02 48. Open for lunch and dinner. If I think of any others I'll let you know.