A pair of requests:
hotelFor an upcoming visit, I'd like to find a 4* hotel with a decent restaurant on the right bank, between the Pyramid and the Opera Bastille. Not looking for a 3* unless it has the room size, service, facilities, and ambience of a 4* ... in which case it would be a 4*, I'd imagine. Not looking for left bank. (If someone could move the Scribe to métro St Paul, that would be the perfect solution.) Suggestions?
dinner at the bar: In the States, solo travelers can always find, in every city, restaurants where it's perfectly acceptable and comfortable to sit at the bar and order dinner, more often than not from the same menu as the people sitting in the dining room. I haven't found this in Paris -- am I looking n the wrong places? I've found a wine bar or two that almost fits this bill (there is/was a place called Au Franc Pinot on Ile St-Louis that was actually terrific -- unfortunately it changed hands a few times and my last experience there -- admittedly several years ago -- was distinctly awful). I'm definitely not looking for one of those 6ième places where they scrunch everyone together at a common table -- rather, looking for a comfortable (and preferably quiet) place to sit at a bar for dinner. More suggestions?

1) Pavillon de la Reine, 28 pl. Vosges, Paris 03 (Sorry - No restaurant)
2) Villa Beaumarchais, 5 r. Arquebusiers, Paris 03

and

3)Holiday Inn,10 pl. République, Paris 11
4)Holiday Inn Bastille, 11 r. Lyon, Paris 12
.. but not exactly "near your location".

BTW, I like the Left Bank better. However, if I have to stay near Marais/Bastille, I would stay at Pavillon de la Reine.
http://www.pavillon-de-la-reine.com/version_anglaise/frame_gene/F_gene_accueil.htm

Read today's NY Times .. What's doing in Paris
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/03/travel/WDPARI.html

Hmmmmm ....

The first place that comes to mind is the Pavillon de la Reine at 28 Place des Vosges in the 3rd. This hotel is four star and is a member of the Small Luxury Hotels group:

http://www.slh.com/france/paris/hotel_parpav.html

The location is fantastic and it is supposedly quite nice (some family friends stay there every year and love it). I have heard some of the "standard" rooms are a tad small, but this is Paris after all. It was renovated this year.

The only drawback, based upon your criteria, is that there is no restaurant - roomservice is available 24 hours, though.

I also thought about the Regina on the Place des Pyramides across from the Tuileries, but I think that is too far west for you. There is also the Hotel du Louvre on the Place André Malraux across from the Palais Royal (owned by the Tattinger family of the Hotel Crillon fame), but I have always found this hotel very impersonal, despite it's fantastic location.

Zut! I was composing my reply while USAFAN posted his - sorry about the duplicate information.

About the "dinner at the bar" query - this is, indeed, more problematic in France than in the U.S. As you probably know, the best place to dine alone in France is one of the more traditional and busy brasseries like the Vaudeville, the Grand Colbert, the Balzar, etc.

One place I like to go when I am alone and feel like eating at the bar is Willi's Wine Bar on the rue des Petits Champs (behind the Palais Royal and across from the old Bibliothèque Nationale). The bar is quite small (maybe 10 stools?) but you get the same menu and wine list as at the tables. Food is consistently good, wine is great, and the staff are generally friendly. You can easily (and comfortably) sit here with the paper or a good book and enjoy a good meal and one or three glasses of wine.

I'm going to think about this some more and ask around - I'll post back if I have any other ideas.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by blairvanhorn:
Zut! I was composing my reply while USAFAN posted his - sorry about the duplicate information.</font>

Blair..., I have to admit, your posts have a lot more lyric, I write (on a WINTEL PC), you compose on an APPLE, right? As we all know, you have lots of fans here, and I am one of them.

What do you think about Jeu de Paume 54 r. St-Louis-en-l'Ile - Paris 04
Telephone 01 43 26 14 18
Fax 01 40 46 02 76

I searched at Patricia Wells regarding restaurant with bar and found this:
Market
15, avenue Matignon
75008 Paris
Tel: 01 56 43 40 90 Fax: 01 56 43 40 92
http://www.patriciawells.com/paris/ptables.htm

Thanks for the info, esp the reports from those who have stayed at the various places and the room service info for Pavillon de la R. (The web site of the latter is extremely economical in providing useful information.) Now I'll go to work trying to find a reasonable rate there. You also answered my wonderings about the Hotel du Louvre -- it is well located, but I have found other hotels in the Concorde chain to deliver something less than expected for the price.

I'll certainly check out Willi's. For anyone else checking out places for solos to eat, I've had consistently good luck at the restaurant in the Café de la Paix at the Grand Hotel (pl de l'Opéra). I can also suggest, but with less enthusiasm, the casual restaurant at the Méridien Montparnasse. In the evening, they have an extensive buffet and there's as much English spoken as French, so solo non-francophones need be intimidated neither by language nor unfamiliar menu items.

I'll second blarivanhorn's recommendation for Willi's (http://www.williswinebar.com/menu.html). Although, it can get a bit overun with English speaking visitors (sometimes loud), we enjoyed it greatly when we were there last year.

USAFAN, thanks for the kind words. I happen to be a fan of yours because you always provide speedy, helpful and accurate information.

Speaking of fans, I know we both love the Poilane bakeries. Did you read that Lionel Poilane, the current owner and son of the founder, was killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of Brittany Thursday night? He was piloting a helicopter between Saint-Brieuc and his private island off of Cancale - very sad.

Back on topic:

I think the location of the Hotel du Jeu de Paume on the Ile Saint Louis is unique and I have heard good things about this property (though most of the rooms are very small). I personally wouldn't stay in this neighborhood because there really isn't much in the immediate vicinity for good restaurants and cafes - the Ile Saint Louis is great for a few hours of sightseeing, especially the architecture, but it is usually overrun with tourists crowded into the overpriced shops. It just doesn't have the flavor of a "real" Parisian neighborhood.

I haven't tried Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Market restaurant. I hadn't read Patricia Wells comments before, either, but I pass by the place a few times a week and I have thought that it looks like a restaurant transplanted from Manhattan's Upper East Side to Paris - some of Wells' comments on the place seem to confirm this impression.

Wideman, I agree about the Pavillon de la Reine's own web site: it's pretty sparse (except for the awful music!). The SLH web site I linked to gives much more info and even had some promos, I believe.

I also read some "rants and raves" at Fodors (http://www.fodors.com/rants/rrread.cfm?destination=paris@117&class=Hotels@20003&entity_id=51283&property=PAVILLON%20DE%20LA%20REINE@57343&sort=name&pg=5) - some people weren't too keen on certain of the "duplex" rooms.

BillMorrow is right about Willi's sometimes seeming like an ex-pat colony. You can usually avoid this by eating a bit later in the evening (i.e. after 8:30).

Although I am a bit tired of the Costes brothers' cafe scene in Paris, a good bet for solo dining in a great setting at any time (open until 1:00 AM) is their Cafe Marly in the Louvre Museum (Richelieu wing).

[This message has been edited by blairvanhorn (edited 11-03-2002).]

Blairvanhorn:
Sad story about Poilane. Did not know it, found this article: Top French baker Poilane, wife feared dead.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035773911742&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Found another top notch Bakery: Boulangerie Paul. Rue Poncelet, Paris 17, near Wagram/Ternes. I saw Paul also in the expo building at Maillot.
Looked at Willi's on BillMorrow's link. Looks great. I bookmarked and earmerked it for my next Paris visit. Some pictures are hiding behind "contacts"
http://www.williswinebar.com/contact.htm

I have stayed at Pavilion de la Reine several times, as well as Jeu de Paume. I am a great fan of both. The Pavilion de la Reine is on the Places des Vosges, where I can sit in the central park and enjoy having a bit of open space in Paris. The hotel is small and very welcoming. There are great museums within walking distance, such as the Picasso. A number of Michelin rated restaurants are within an easy walk. Upmarket hotels are expensive in Paris, and this hotel is no exception.

I found the Jeu de Paume a more affordable yet still very pleasant. Again, I enjoyed the ambience. I liked the location - again, it is an easy walk to good restaurants (on the Left Bank, in this case).

If you're willing to eat Alsatian food, Alsaco is a wonderful restaurant (reasonable, good food and good wine list) with a good sized bar where one can either enjoy a glass of wine with flammekueche or have a full meal. It would be quieter on weeknights, since it gets pretty busy on weekends.

Alsaco
10 rue Condorcet
75009 Paris

Tel: 01 45 26 44 31
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday all day

I don't mean to hijack your thread, wideman, but I thought I would post the following article from yesterday's IHT about Lionel Poilane as we had discussed this a few posts above:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Remembering a remarkable baker
Patricia Wells International Herald Tribune
Friday, November 8, 2002
.
In Paris, in France, in the world, the name Lionel Poilane is synonymous with the huge, healthy loaves of country sourdough bread that, each day, more than 3 percent of Paris's 10 million residents consume, spreading them with butter or jam, pairing them with oysters or delicious French raw-milk cheeses.
In his lifetime, Poilane, who died last Friday in a helicopter accident, became much more than a famous baker: He was a modern businessman, a philosopher and best of all, a good friend.
Over the past 22 years I spent a lot of time with Poilane, both as a journalist and a neighbor. With each encounter, I left enriched and inspired. He shared with me a passion for music, for quirky jokes, for one-liners that always got a laugh.</font>

http://www.iht.com/articles/76255.html

First off, thanks to all who provided suggestions and tips.

To answer my own question, I found the Hotel Victoires-Opéra on the rue de Montorgueil, just up from Les Halles. The rue de Montorgueil is a pedestrian street that's a perfect place to watch and mingle with Parisians, and it's centrally-located on the right bank.

Though I'd have preferred staying at Pavillon de la Reine, the price difference was too great -- Hotel Reservation Service (http://www.hrs.com) offered an excellent rate of €135/nite at Victoires-Opéra. I won't be going until February, but will report back.

Edited to fix typos.

[This message has been edited by wideman (edited 12-27-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wideman:
...that's a perfect place to watch and mingle with Parisians....</font>
Yes, ys, yes, it's near Rue Saint-Denis, venue of "Irma la Duce" ... http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif
Want to see pictures from rue Montorgueil?
Look here, our friend blairvanhorn posted this link:
http://www.wanadoo.fr/bin/frame.cgi?u=http%3A//photosvilles.wanadoo.fr/

Here's a nice link that lets you look at an address and addresses on both sides and across the street and up and down the street. Also lets you "walk" up and down the street looking at each builiding in turn. I always use it when I want to get a preview of a new place I plan to visit/stay in Paris.

http://wfc.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi?

Wideman: Just catching up on this thread - that looks like a really nice hotel!

When I first moved to Paris, I lived two blocks up the rue Montorgueil
and to the left on the rue Bachaumont
(you might know the restaurant Aux Crus de Bourgogne at number
3 rue Bachaumont, which is pretty good).

I've always liked that neighborhood, though we moved just before
it became piéton - that project seems to have been quite a
success and the neighborhood is more lively than ever. You'll have to
sneak breakfast pastries back to your room from Stohrer which
is practically across the street at number 51 - the best pain aux raisins
in Paris!

I'm looking forward to your review of the property. Have a great time.

For anyone who might be waiting for a report on the Victoires-Opéra, I'm afraid that next week I'll be home recupering from pneumonia rather than enjoying Paris & checking out this hotel.

Feh.

Wideman,

I'm sorry, that's bad news indeed. I hope you feel better and make it to Paris sometime soon.

Take care.

wideman:
Get well soon! Paris is waiting for you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by USAFAN:
Blairvanhorn:
Sad story about Poilane. Did not know it, found this article: Top French baker Poilane, wife feared dead.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035773911742&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/ News

Found another top notch Bakery: Boulangerie Paul. Rue Poncelet, Paris 17, near Wagram/Ternes. I saw Paul also in the expo building at Maillot.
Looked at Willi's on BillMorrow's link. Looks great. I bookmarked and earmerked it for my next Paris visit. Some pictures are hiding behind "contacts"
http://www.williswinebar.com/contact.htm</font>

Boulangerie Paul is pretty good, you can find them all over Paris. You may also want to sample the desserts at Le Notre. The bread and viennoiserie is just so-so.

As far the the Poilane family, I know a rather depressing story about them (wife is friends of people close to the family). Not sure if this wonderful bakery will stay in the family.

I eventually did stay at the Hotel Victoires-Opera (rue Montorgueil);
a trip report (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/003810.html) (with a few links to piccies)
is in the usual place.

[This message has been edited by wideman (edited 06-15-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wideman:
First off, thanks to all who provided suggestions and tips.

To answer my own question, I found the Hotel Victoires-Opéra on the rue de Montorgueil, just up from Les Halles. The rue de Montorgueil is a pedestrian street that's a perfect place to watch and mingle with Parisians, and it's centrally-located on the right bank.

Though I'd have preferred staying at Pavillon de la Reine, the price difference was too great -- Hotel Reservation Service (http://www.hrs.com) offered an excellent rate of €135/nite at Victoires-Opéra. I won't be going until February, but will report back.
</font>

Thanks! The HRS helped me a good deal more in locating a 'cheap' hotel to stay at while I look for better lodging. Expedia and orbitz were absolutely awful in this. (It's insane, but 80 EUR was the best I could do.)