Paris trip report

[hughw]

We really enjoyed our trip to Paris from Sunday, Feb 18th, until Saturday, Feb. 24th. We enjoyed wonderful weather, met a lot of nice people, and had hardly a single bum restaurant experience. My wife and I have been to Paris a half dozen times and decided that this time would be relaxed and low key. That didn’t keep us from searching out some smaller museums that we had never been to: Jacquemart-Andre, Gustav Moreau, The Guimet, and the Musee Maurice Denis - Le Prieure in St. Germaine-en-Laye.We also decided to concentrate on smaller, modest restaurants, as our experiences the last several trips visiting some of the hot new restaurants like Gaya Rive Gauche didn’t measure up on a quality/value/enjoyment scale to where we often eat at home in New York City, We certainly didn’t write down the menus and don’t remember everything that we ate, but I thought it worthwhile to at least give you our a sense of our visit.

After our arrival on Sunday, we grabbed a simple lunch at a neighborhood cafe then lay in the Sun on the grass in the park between the Louvre and the Tulerie Gardens. For dinner we went to Mon Vieil Ami on Isle St. Louis. We were offered sometype of sparking wind similar to a Proseco on the house, a nice touch. Then, I had probably the best Pate en Croute that I’ve ever had for a starter and my wife some kind of warm vegetable salad which was light and tasty. The main for me was roasted lamb and for my wife dorade, both done to perfection with terrific potatoes and vegetable accompanying them. Desert for me was a chocolate tarte, good but not great, and a nice fruit something for her. All-in-all a very nice first evening with good service and good food. The total bill came to about 105 euros with a bottle of cote-de-rhone.

Monday, we had what my wife claimed was the best meal of our trip. We bought sandwiches from a little boulangerie on the Rue St. Honore an ate them as we walked from Parc Monceau to the Louvre. For dinner we went to La Cerisaie in the 14th. The reviews on this site accurately describe it as a small (22 seat) husband-and-wife run place with diner-like décor in a storefront. Walking by, one would not be tempted to go in, but we were there, we had reservations, and we took the plunge. The wife part of the team gave us a warm greeting, squeezed us into our seats, and explained the menu to us in very good English. I had a nice country pate and my wife had a very unusual and delicious wild mushroom soup with an egg on the bottom for starters. We both ordered the spring lamb main course after wife explained how it had been marinated for seven hours, a good choice as it was the tastiest and most tender lamb we ever had. While we ate, people were constantly coming in and being turned away with no reservations or greeted as the old friends they probably were after becoming regulars here. Again, the bill was about 105 euros with a simple wine.

Tuesday, we worked up and appetite by walking from our hotel near St. Sulpice in the 6th all the way down to the new La Bibliothèque nationale south of the Gare de Austerlitz and across the new footbridge over the Seine, the Passerelle Dauphine de Maurier. We were going to the opera that evening and expected to be in our seats from 7:00pm to after 11:00 so we decided to make lunch special. We went to Benoit which is a one star bistro with somewhat mixed reviews. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was quite good although not memorable. We had the 39 euro (I think it was that amount) lunch menu. Staff was warm and service was good. My only negative is that the handed us the carte and didn't give us the set menu until I asked for it. We planned to go to Bofinger after the opera but bagged it and went home at close to midnight on still full stomachs from our lunch at Benoit.

On Wednesday another simple lunch at a neighborhood cafe. Then dinner at Aux Lyonnaise and found it very disappointing, not nearly as good as a visit a year ago. The firsts were pretty good but my lamb main plate was inedible, all gristle and fat. My wife and her friend had dorade which was OK, and my friend had calves liver which he liked, but generally the food was lackluster, heavy, and uninteresting.

On Thursday, we again had a simple lunch at a cafe, this time the Café du Marche on Rue Cler in the 7th, a pedestrian only street that’s a food lovers paradise. Dinner was at l’Ami Jean, a very undistinguished looking place with bare tables also in the 7th with what is described as Basque food. Be that as it may, each dish was lovingly prepared and creatively presented. My wife had escargots that had been wrapped with pancetta and grilled on skewers which we stuck upright in a marrow bone. I had a wonderful lamb dish after an onion soup that was like no onion soup that I’ve ever seen before. They brought in a large shallow bowl, like a modest size fruit bowl, which had mound of foie gras on the bottom. This was accompanied by the soup which came in what looked like a ceramic vase which they poured into the bowl at the table. We ended with a huge bowl of the best rice pudding ever. This was two star food and two star presentation in a local bar type surroundings. Great. Great. About 110 euros with wine.

Friday, another simple lunch, then dinner at Le Timbre, a tiny 22 seat restaurant off of Blvd. Raspiel in the 6th. The owner, Chris Wright, is really the chief cook and bottle washer. He greets you, pulls out the table to let you get to the banquette, retreats to the open kitchen to cook your dinner, washes the cookware and dinnerware, and is assisted only by a young women who takes your order and serves. Tables are jammed together, elbow to elbow, making you an instant friend of your neighbors. Simple good cooking, period, again at about 100 euro with a 30 euro wine.

To wrap up, these were the kind of places we don’t have in New York. Simple places with good food, no attitude, and for Paris reasonable. Surprisingly. Although we knew La Cerisaie was no smoking but we didn’t see anyone smoking at any of the places we went with the exception of one of the cafes. Thanks to everyone that answered my questions and especially John Talbott.

P.S. Our meal several weeks ago at Eleven Madison Park in New York is probably the best meal that I’ve eaten in the United States with the exception of the French Laundry in the Napa Valley.

[luizhorta]

Would you please post the name and price of the hotel you stayed in? It sounded as a great relaxed week in Paris, I will spend one there next june, after a profesional trip to Austria, and it's exactly this kind of trip you did and so well described that I want. Many thanks.

[hughw]

We stayed at the Hotel Abbaye in the 6th for the third time. Lovely little 25 room hotel on a very quite street 2 blocks from St. Sulpice and the Luxembourg Gardens and less than a 10 minute walk to Blvd. St. Germain near Deux Maggots. The rooms start at 205 euro (internet price) for a standard double, taxes, and a very nice breakfast included. The rooms are fairly small but have good beds and linens, a nice marble bathroom, and flat screen TVs. A card for wireless internet access can be purchased for 4 euro per hour. They have a nice lounge and small bar on the ground floor with a drinks available all day and evening. Their breakfast area opens to a pretty rear garden where in June you probably can eat outdoors. Here's their website: http://www.hotelabbayeparis.com/

[luizhorta]

We stayed at the  Hotel Abbaye in the 6th for the third time. Lovely little 25 room hotel on a very quite street 2 blocks from St. Sulpice and the Luxembourg Gardens and less than a 10 minute walk to Blvd. St. Germain near Deux Maggots. The rooms start at 205 euro (internet price) for a standard double, taxes, and a very nice breakfast included. The rooms are fairly small but have good beds and linens, a nice marble bathroom, and flat screen TVs. A card for wireless internet access can be purchased for 4 euro per hour. They have a nice lounge and small bar on the ground floor with a drinks available all day and evening. Their breakfast area opens to a pretty rear garden where in June you probably can eat outdoors. Here's their website: http://www.hotelabbayeparis.com/

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Thank you!