Oysters in Paris.

[Bux]

I don't know if we're discussed this before, but with the imminent arrival of fall, it seems a good topic. Where do you go, where would you go and where do you recommend others go for good oysters in Paris?

Some of the best oysters I've had in recent times, have been at Le Dome, but not every visit has been equally successful. I've also enjoyed the funky Baron Rouge, a bar where you're likely to end up standing on the street and eating your oysters on the hood or fender of a parked car if all the nearyby building ledges are taken.

[Beachfan]

I enjoyed them at Boffinger, but perhaps it was the Art Noveau talking.

[anil]

Agree about La Dome, Also try http://www.coupoleparis.com/

When are yougoing next ?

[Bux]

Agree about La Dome, Also try http://www.coupoleparis.com/

When are yougoing next ?

We'll be in Paris on October 16.

La Coupole was a favorite haunt for us in 1964. We spent several months in Paris and most of that in small hotels on the left bank. One about a block south of blvd. Montparnasse overlooked the Edgar Quinet market. The rue de Montparnasse had two or three quiet creperie restaurants that were totally unlike the ones there now. The street was also a favorite of hookers. The gare Montparnasse was an old fashioned train station and not the tower it is now. For years I could not bear to return to that neighborhood. Now I prefer le Dome, not because it hasn't changed, but because I didn't know it as well.

[jaybee]

Oysters in Paris, chesnuts in blossom, what have you done to my heart.....

Cap Vernet

82 avenue Marceau, 8th arrondissement, Tel: 01 47 20 20 40

Sébillon 66 rue Pierre-Charron, 8th arrondissement, Tel: 01 43 59 28 15

Le Pichet 68 rue Pierre-Charron, 8th arr., Tel: 01 43 59 50

L'Alsace 39 avenue des Champs-Elysees, 8th arr., Tel: 01 53 93 97 00

Auberge Dab 161 avenue de Malakoff, 16th arr., Tel: 01 45 00 32 22

Le Ballon des Ternes 103 avenue des Ternes, 17th arr., Tel: 01 45 74 17 98

Le Dôme 108 boulevard du Montparnasse, 14th arr., Tel: 01 43 35 25 81

La Coupole 102 boulevard du Montparnasse, 14th arr., Tel: 01 43 20 14 20

Le Zeyer 234 avenue du Maine, 14th arr., Tel: 01 45 40 43 88

Brasserie Wepler 14 place de Clichy, 18th arr., Tel: 01 45 22 53 24.

[anil]

.............

We'll be in Paris on October 16.

.............

Miss you'll by a day.

I cannot comment about Coupole from yonder years.. '64 ? Wow !!

I thought Balzar and Collins were that never changed

[Bux]

.............

We'll be in Paris on October 16.

.............

Miss you'll by a day.

I cannot comment about Coupole from yonder years.. '64 ? Wow !!

I thought Balzar and Collins were that never changed

We actually arrive on the 16th. We'll be there through the weekend.

Balzar is a brasserie that doesn't serve oysters. I don't know Collins. Could that be a typo--not that I know half the places in Paris.

Sometime ago we had a simple meal at le Vaudeville and almost everyone around us was having oysters. I don't see it on any list of recommended oyster houses, but it's such an attractive art deco marble interior and as I believe it's part of the Flo group, should have the same oyster purveyor as the rest of their brasseries. Flo, Julian and others are on most lists of places for oysters. Maybe le Vaudeville is just a quieter place.

[anil]

My reference to Balzar was based on your comment about Coupole in '64

Not much changes there

[peterpumkino]

I went to Cap Varnet about five weeks ago and the oysters were amazing. Then I went again last Saturday night - disaster - the place was empty at 21:00, the food was terrible but, worse of all, the oysters were awful!!!

[Bux]

anil - my first visit to Balzar was fairly recently. Although I had no point of reference it appeared as if was intact from at least a couple of generations ago. As it's not far from the Sorbonne and areas of the left bank that see heavy tourism, I was not all that surprised to hear as much English as I did. Having heard, but not verified, that it encourages bus loads of tourists, I wondered if one might have heard as much English thirty or forty years ago. I wouldn't rule it out.

There appeared to be a few local regulars sitting near us and certainly plenty of Parisians. It was a Sunday night and brasseries are among the few places open for dinner. Adam Gopnik reported on the staff revolution that took place when Balzar was sold to the Flo Group, but our waiter seemed to be an old brasserie stereotype ready to flirt with or insult (but with a wink) the customer in French or broken English if necessary. Perhaps the new owners found the right "types" to serve just as they preserved the decor.

[robert brown]

Jaybee, you beat me to the punch. The big oyster place in Nice, Le Turin, gets deliveries two days a week. Thus I try to eat there in the evening of a delivery day (Tuesdays and Saturdays in this case). So I wonder, regardless of the restaurant, if it would behoove you to call and ask when they get their oyster deliveries.

[Bux]

I would expect the top places in Paris to get deliveries six days a week. Is that unreasonable?

[robert brown]

Desireable and not unreasonable. But actual? Le Grand Cafe de Turin sells oysters 'til the cows come home, however. Then again, Nice isn't Paris. (But I would still ask).

[anil]

anil - my first visit to Balzar was fairly recently. Although I had no point of reference it appeared as if was intact from at least a couple of generations ago. .......

All you say is quite true, however if you see slobs and self absorbed local

looking folks -- they are the academics Sorbonne has changed, that

many visiting types are allowed. In Sorbonne all are outsiders and tourists except a handful.. Oh that's another academia in drift kind-of-a-story

[cabrales]

I like oysters that the French nicknamed Papillons, among many others, when available. The Papillon are sometimes available at (1) Goumard (expensive for oysters), (2) Petrossian (ditto), and (3) La Mediterranee, a very reasonably pricedrestaurant which I like in part for its wonderful murals and J Cocteau paintings and which I have mentioned on the board:

http://www.la-mediterranee.com/carte.htm#Entrees

To see the murals, click on "The Place" among the selections in the left-hand-side margin and then click on the thumbnails:

http://www.la-mediterranee.com

I rarely like a place for its decor, but this restaurant is an exception. Also, the food is very reasonably priced and some dishes are nice. That being said, Cap Vernet would be my recommendation.

[Bux]

To see the murals, click on "The Place" among the selections in the left-hand-side margin and then click on the thumbnails:

http://www.la-mediterranee.com

A handsome place, but the website is very strange in that it's almost entirely in English with the exception of the menus which are in both French and English. It's particularly strange to see:

Lirac (Côtes du Rhône), Domaine Les Garigues 1997

Côtes de Provence, Vieux Château d'Astros 1997

Bandol, Domaine de l'Olivette 1996

Cassis, Clos Ste Magdeleine 1996

Sancerre Pinot Rosé, L. Crochet 1996

listed under BLUSH WINES. Isn't the proper English term, at least in America, "rose" pronounced as if it was written rosé? Apparently the site is one of those that are never updated and it was only intended to be seen by anglophones. Prices are all in francs.