Paris Bistros/Bistrots/Restos Open on Sunday

[lizziee]

Other suggestions for Sunday lunch in Paris

Cap Vernet - one of Guy Savoy's bistros - good oysters, unpretentious.

Le Pre Catalan - can be very pricey, but last year we ordered "one for twos" and our bill was 140 euros without wine. My full notes are here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...ST&f=10&t=12206

Le Soleil - We ate here about 6 years ago. It is located at the main Paris flea market at Saint Ouen. I don't have notes on what I ate, but I remember the food as adequate, bistro fare. The atmosphere is fun and even includes a chanteuse.

Benoit - In 2000, we ordered beef tongue pate, escargot, cassoulet, cheese - solid, bistro food. The chef used to work at L'Orangerie in LA for a number of years and his brother owns the Moustache Cafes also in LA.

Robuchon's new restaurant is suppose to be open 7 days a week. This won't work until March when it is suppose to open. From what I can gather, there will be no reservations. Robuchon is to team up with Philippe Braun (Laurent) and 3 other chefs who will work in rotation from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.

[foieboy]

May I add one other to the list, where I ate in November--L'Argenteuil, 9 rue d'Argenteuil in the 1st, just off Ave. de l'Opera, not far from Pl. Vendome. Homey place off beaten track gets high praise from GM. Small room. Very good food; just don't go expecting to find a chef riding his haute horse.

[Louisa Chu]

Benoit - In 2000, we ordered beef tongue pate, escargot, cassoulet, cheese - solid, bistro food. The chef used to work at L'Orangerie in LA for a number of years and his brother owns the Moustache Cafes also in LA.

Vraiment? The chef/owner - a bit older, taller and gruffer? He used to work at L'Orangerie? I never ate there but it doesn't seem his style.

[Louisa Chu]

Benoit - a few blocks south of pompidour - just lovely

Centre G. Pompidou?

Yes, almost across the street from the Hotel de Ville - directly across from the Monoprix, another landmark.

Benoit

20 RUE SAINT MARTIN

75004 PARIS

01 42 72 25 76

[Louisa Chu]

Rue Grenelle also has a market on Sunday mornings

Market's on Boulevard de Grenelle - not rue de Grenelle. Under the Metro tracks.

[lizziee]

Benoit - In 2000, we ordered beef tongue pate, escargot, cassoulet, cheese - solid, bistro food. The chef used to work at L'Orangerie in LA for a number of years and his brother owns the Moustache Cafes also in LA.

Vraiment? The chef/owner - a bit older, taller and gruffer? He used to work at L'Orangerie? I never ate there but it doesn't seem his style.

His name was Patrick and Thibaud, our waiter, introduced us. My husband was struggling with his very limited French to "talk" to the chef and Thibaud started laughing. He, then, explained that Patrick speaks English perfectly and that is how we discovered that he had worked in the States. You are right, though, that L'Orangerie and Benoit are as dissimilar as can be.

[Louisa Chu]

Thanks Lizzie. Going there for lunch soon and hope to talk to him about that experience and the contrast. Another attempt after a disastrous dinner there - too much rich food for my sister and our dog. The chef never offered to speak English to us - I guess because we spoke Doglish as he has two as well.

[lizziee]

loufood,

As this was 3 years ago, I am assuming that it is the same person. Was the dinner disastrous because the food was poor or that your sister and dog got sick because the food was so rich?

There is something wonderful about having a dog at your feet.

[jordyn]

Le Pre Catalan - can be very pricey, but last year we ordered "one for twos" and our bill was 140 euros without wine. My full notes are here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...ST&f=10&t=12206

I just looked at this for an upcoming trip to Paris, and according to Michelin Pre Catelan is only open on Sundays during the warmer months (from May 6 to October 26).

[Louisa Chu]

Was the dinner disastrous because the food was poor or that your sister and dog got sick because the food was so rich?

There is something wonderful about having a dog at your feet.

Exactement. My sister suffered la crise de foie. And I suspect our dog the same. The chef had given her a bowl which I thought at first was water but then saw was something like pot au feu. Though our dog eats real food - not dog food - it was not good as she'd had a whole dinner already. And she was not quite at our feet as she's a bit big - shepherd/lab mix - but wonderful nonetheless.

[Louisa Chu]

The brasserie is a traditional fall back place for Sunday.

What defines a brasserie? And cafes, bistros, restaurants, etc.

[Bux]

The brasserie is a traditional fall back place for Sunday.

What defines a brasserie? And cafes, bistros, restaurants, etc.

I'd love to fall back on the old, I know one when I see it. I think the divisions and classifications were much more distinct years ago than they are now. Nowadays chic little restaurants open up and call themselves bistros although they are made in a very opposite mode. Patricia Wells did a very good job of defining bistro, brasserie and restaurant in The Food Lover's Guide to Paris but even she admitted there was overlap. A traditional bistro, often a mom and pop sort of place, offered traditional dishes. There was usually a selection of wines in carafe. Service was informal, papper on the table was common, neither the china, tableware nor glasses were fine. Tables were usually close together. A zinc bar was almost, but not quite, de rigeur whether or not this sort of restaurant got it's name from the cries of occupying Russian soldiers crying "bistro, bistro"--quick, quick, for a drink across the bar.

The brasserie, was a beer hall to some extent. Brasserie means brewery and most were connected with or sponsored by a brewery. When you go to Lyon, be sure to stop in and look at Brasserie Georges. It's south of the Gare Perrache and almost cut off from the main part of the city by the elevated road that serves the station. I've never eaten there and can't vouch for the food, but we've had coffee and were fascinated by the collection of beer memorablia from its past. It's a classic art deco interior, although evidently the brasserie itself is much oolder than that. A brasserie usually had a cafe in front on the street and was a place that served food at odd hours as well as later into the evening and usually served on Sudays. It was also the sort of place one could eat less than the three courses expected a more formal restaurant or bistro. As may be expected by the beer connection, most featured choucroute. In Paris, at least, they tended to be reliable places for oysters.

A restaurant, I guess, was anything else. Cafes were often parts of brasseries, but otherwise not really places to offer much in the way of meals. They were for drinks and snacks.

[Matthew Grant]

I know this has been asked and answered before but it was quite a while ago. Any recommendations for good eating and cool drinking establishments for a Sunday night in Paris?

[MobyP]

Yes yes yes -

I suddenly remembered - there's a phenomenal cook who used to be Alice Water's right hand man - wrote some of the cookbooks and also in the kitchens - he moved to Paris a year or so ago, and has a dinner club on Sunday nights.

His name's David Tanis - the club is called Chien Lunatiques:

Chien Lunatique

I believe it only runs on Sunday nights (when almost everything else is closed). He's a monster cook. I do think you have to reserve. I missed it this last trip, but I want to try for the next one.

[Jonathan Day]

As I post this, their website indicates spaces available as follows:

Thursday Dinner 8 May 8 p.m. /50 euros

:space still available:

Wednesday Dinner 14 May 8 p.m. /50 euros

:space still available:

Sunday Gala Lunch 1 June 2 p.m. /75 euros

:space still available: wine included

[Sandra Levine]

That's what Alice Waters did pre-Chez Panisse.

[Bux]

There are those who abhor present day brasseries, especially those taken over by the Flo group, but for what they do well, choucroute, andouillette and oysters at those brasseries that serve them, I enjoy a good brasserie and find them useful on Sunday nights. Michelin lists those restaurants open on both Saturday and Sunday in a separate list at the beginning of the Paris pages.

[mogsob]

Assuming I'm not too late . . .

Le Dauphin

Benoit

Grizzili Cafe

Vieux Bistro

Brasserie de I'lle St. Louis

Le Languedoc

Le Reminet

Rotisserie du Beaujolais

Aux Charpentiers

La Fontaine de Mars

Chez Andre

L'Assiette

Brasserie de la Poste

[Bux]

Le Dauphin

Le Dauphin is restaurant I'm always hesitant to recommend, but it's one to which we return for some very solid, sometimes exceptional, cooking at very reasonable prices. The modest wine list arranged by price is a service to budgeters. In most neighborhoods in Paris this would surely be a local favorite, but here in this quartier, it attracts a lot of tourists and that can have an efffect on the service. It's not that they are impolite to the clueless tourists, but that the servers are often run ragged. Worse yet, they tend to segregate the tourists and Mrs. B's request for "non fumer" insures we will sit with the tourists. I'm not sure which dishes I'd recommend in the spring unless the weather is like what we're experiencing right now in NY--40 degrees F in May. We've been there in the generally cooler month and have enjoyed the pig cheeks, lievre a la royale and cassoulet. They also seem to specialize in grilled meats. Part of my reluctance to recommend is simply the worry that some people expect every restaurant in Paris to offer the meal of their life and miss the beauty of the unstarred French cooking, not that the other extreme--those who spend large sums on lavish accommodations in a luxury hotel and then spend their mealtimes at the budget restaurants selected by price alone--are going to appreciate the better local places either.

[bushey]

Is Le Dauphin in the 1er arrondisement?

A few years ago when we were staying in the 1er near the Louvre, I was determined to eat lunch there our first day (after flying all night and trying to shake off the jet-lag sleepies). I had read somewhere that they had a great salad frisee, which is one of my favorite lunches. We'd never been in that part of the city before, so we went out exploring. We walked up and down the street looking for the address and finally figured out it must have been the building that was undergoing major renovations.

Finally, tired and hungry we walked into another brasserie-type establishment and had a delicious, simple lunch accompanied by a pichet of the red wine special of the week, from the southwest, if I recall. But I've always wanted to go back and try Le Dauphin.

[mogsob]

Le Dauphin

Le Dauphin is restaurant I'm always hesitant to recommend, but it's one to which we return for some very solid, sometimes exceptional, cooking at very reasonable prices.

For convenience factor, it makes the Sunday list (where the pickings are slim, as you know). I wouldn't choose to dine there any other night of the week. That said, the last time I was at Le Dauphin, about a year ago, I had an exceptional rack of lamb, which was promptly followed by a soggy baba au rhum.

I will also note that Lebby, who is a pretty good authority on bistros, gives Le Dauphin his highest rating.

[Bux]

Le Dauphin is in the 1st very near the Louvre and it may be convenient for many even on a weekday. It's by no means a destination restaurant, but it's the sort of place at which many will form their opinion of French cooking--if they're lucky. It's not unusual for a good bistrot to do some things exceptionally and others far less so. I'm not sure these places (some of the ones on mogsob's list for example) have an American equivalent. At least in NYC, it's hard to find a three course meal with wine at those prices even thought at the top of the scale, Parisian restaurants are more expensive than most in NYC with the exception of AD/NY perhaps. That lack of a NY counterpart, is part of what makes them so Parisian to me.

[raisab]

I am being lazy here, I will be in Paris Sunday. I need a new resto to try. Any suggestions on a low to moderate priced resto? I will look in archives also, but if anyone has a suggestion, it would be kindly appreciated!

Edited July 19, 2004 by raisab (log)

[Bux]

The brasseries come to my mind on Sundays.

[John Talbott]

Open for lunch on Sat & Sun

Mon Vieil Ami, 69 St Louis en l'Ile, 01.40.46.01.35

Petit Pontoise, 5th, 9 rue de Pontoise, nr Reminet, 01.43.29.25.20

Coordinates in guidebooks

L'Equitable has reinstituted its Sunday menu at 30E

Le Reminet, 3, rue des Grands-Degres, 5th,

La Mediterranee, 2 pl de l'Odeon, 6, 01.43.26.02.30

L'Ardoise, 28 rue du Mont Thabor, 1st

L’Etoile Marocain, open 7/7 inc all holidays

J’Go

Moulin de la Galette