Paris restaurants

[HOG]

My husband a nd I will be spending  11/12 May in Paris, in  the 7th arr.  We wish to have dinner with  two  guests, in this or the next  (6th) preferably. Both guests are  residents and we habitues of the city; l'Astrance will have to wait until  later visit  (impossible to get table for 11May  I would assume) but would like to try new (to us at least ) place. Have been frustrated  in  trawling through Gault Millau  by Saturday closing of likely sounding establishments.Any inspiration, please?    

Does anyone know of LE BELLECOUR (rue Surcouf)? It seems promising (Michelin star, G et M 14/20) and its territory (the Lyonnais) is, with the south-west and  Provence , a favourite. Also,  does LES BOOKINISTES (quai des Grands Augustins)  strike a  gastronomic chord with anyone?

 

If  it helps, restaurants we know and have enjoyed to a greater or lesser degree in the area are: La Bastide Odeon, Helene Darroze , L'Affriole, Chez Maitre Paul.

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[Bux]

We ate in les Bookinistes quite a few years ago. I think it was recently after it opened. We enjoyed our food immensely, but it was so long ago that I'm afraid to offer a real recommendation. At that time it was even open on Sunday. Paris is a wonderful place, but as an American, it's hard sometimes to understand how and why so many restaurants are closed on weekends. Looking through the list, most of the places I know are closed on Saturday.

Let me offer two very guarded suggestions. One is Petrossian, where we didn't particualrly think Conticini showed his talents very well in the tasting menu. Truthfully, we hated eating those "teasers" from glasses. That the table was set with a formal setting of fish knives, sauce spoons, and all that were impossible to use in extracting the food, some of which really neeeded to be cut, from this highball glasses certainly drained our enthusiasm, but we left thinking that this food might be very good if plated more conventionally. I was particularly fond of all of the appetizers that used Petrossian's smoked fish. Admittedly this is a duck and run recommendation. Would I return, yes, but it's not a requirement for my next trip. His food has intrigued me more than it has satisfied.

Another recommendation is for a place at which we've not eaten. If you're still reading, it's Van Laer's Maxence on blvd. Montparnasse on the periphery of the 6th, not far from the 7th. We were in Paris for the Salon du Chocolate last fall and had a taste of his terrine of hare with chocolate. We loved it. The chocolate is bitter or course and the taste quite suppressed. We tried to make a reservation but Maxence was closed the one evening we had free. It was a holiday. I believe Van Laer first attracted attention at le Bambouche in the 7th and that still seems to get good word of mouth and press.

When we run out of luck or on weekends, Sundays in particular, I often turn to brasseries. Last summer we had good luck at les Grandes Marches on the place Bastille which really has simple contemporary restaurant food and chic contemporary decor, but the owners (the Flo Group) think of it as a contemporary version of a brasserie. It is somewhat remote from the 7th arr.  Perhaps we can get a good updated rcommendation for les Bookinistes.

[Patrice]

I ate in Les Bookinistes in November and I had a very good meal.  But ,Wiliam Ledeuil, the former chef of Les Bookinistes, just opend his own restaurant: Ze Kitchen Galerie.  His new restaurant is next door to Les Bookinistes...

I read some very good things about this new place.

You should maybe check it out.

[PaulaJ]

We have enjoyed several dinners at Bellecour,7e.

It is a small, pretty restaurant...very much a family

operation...moderately priced...menu is small but

you will find several interesting selections, a few

leaning towards Lyon. Reserve in advance.

[Beachfan]

I've enjoyed l'Affriole on a few occasions, but it doesn't often seem to get a recommendation here.  Any comments from non-fans?

PS Sorry if I've added a side track to the thread.

[Bux]

I've enjoyed l'Affriole on a few occasions, but it doesn't often seem to get a recommendation here.  Any comments from non-fans?

PS Sorry if I've added a side track to the thread.

Not particularly a side track. I assume that if someone starts a thread entitled Paris Restaurants, they want to hear about interesting Paris restaurants.

I don't know the restaurant, but the name keeps popping up on  lists of good restaurants even if it doesn't make the short lists of great destination restaurants.

I mentioned Bamboche in the 7th. I believe it's closed for lunch, but open for dinner on Saturday. The April 2002 GaultMillau reviews it quite well noting that on the basis of a recent meal, they'd up the rating from 15 to 16.

[BarbaraM]

I hope this gets to you before you leave. One of my favorites in the 7th is Violin 'd Ingres. Catherine Constant is always a caring, lovely front of the house person and her husband is always at the stove. We have eaten there on at least 6 occasions and have never been disappointed.

[Bux]

Unfortunately Violin d'Ingres, along with so many other restaurants is closed on both Saturday and Sunday. It's getting hard to find a "gastronomic" meal in Paris on the weekends. In New York no one goes out to eat on the weekends because the restaurants are so full. [Apologies to Yogi Berra] In Paris they're just not open.

[HOG]

Thank you for note about Violon d'Ingres - I had  had to set this aside for the  obvious reason; another treat for another day in  Paris. To bring an end to this  long question would like to add that we booked  just before departure (3 May to Mont Saint Michel , 5-11 St Martin de Re, 11-12 Paris)  LA FERME DE ST SIMON  (6 rue Saint-Simon, 7eme).  Was reminded of this by small piece in Le Monde of 24 April  which reaffirmed  G et M view  of M. Vandenhende's  as a fine exponent of the classic virtues  of his mentors Verge and Lenotre: we enjoyed exemplary  lamb  with exquisite stuffed vegetables and superb desserts  (the chef is 'd'abord patissier'- Le Monde).  The restaurant rooms are  decorated  with that slightly overstuffed  French  luxe  which befits  a chic but serious quartier  such as this and which I  do like; it  felt cossetting ,

an impression borne out by the   service  led by Gerard Vachier the m d'h  - admirably professional but with a smile . Sensible prices  and a good cellar.

[Bux]

Thanks for the follow up. It's nice to get that kind of after the fact feed back.

[cabrales]

But ,Wiliam Ledeuil, the former chef of Les Bookinistes, just opend his own restaurant: Ze Kitchen Galerie.  His new restaurant is next door to Les Bookinistes...

I read some very good things about this new place.

You should maybe check it out.

Ze Kitchen Galerie is mentioned in Ed Behr's The Art of Eating (No. 60, Winter 2002 (not typo), received some time ago):

"Last December [2001], I ate at a sixth arrondissement restaurant called Ze Kitchen Gallerie, which had opened three months earlier. The technique in the kitchen was excellent,b ut the overstated style was more Californian than French. Mussels, called 'mariniere', were strangely bathed in orange juice. At the same restaurant, a server first proposed a half-sweet wine . . . ad then a highly oaky white wine. We chose neither, but more assertive California-style food may go better withmore assertive California-style wine."

[Michael Laiskonis]

I, too enjoyed Les Bookinistes a few years back. While I haven't been to any other Guy Savoy owned restaurants, would Les Bookinistes be indicative of the others? And is Ze Kitchen Gallerie all Ledeuil, or in partnership again with Savoy? I remember seeing something in Gault Millau a few months back, but I don't remember...

[Patrice]

Savoy has no parternship in Ledeuil new restaurant.