Perhaps our wires got crossed here. I was talking about Daniel - not L'Arpege.

FWIW - the most deft restaurant I ever saw in terms of dealing with regulars versus newbies and tourists was Guy Savoy. Our maitre 'd IIRC was Hubert (from Germany - he speaks perfect English too). Apparently assigned to most/all English speaking people when he's in the restaurant (we had Hubert - my brother had Hubert - our friends had Hubert). And the way he puts it when you arrive and are seated is - please give me 10 minutes while I deal with my regulars - they know our menu and don't take very long - I will have to take more time with you to give you your best experience. Now how good is that :)? Robyn

Alinea last night. My second visit and again, just superb. One course looked like a small ear of corn still in the husk, and the husk was a little bit on fire. But they had actually partially shucked the corn, took the kernels off, filled the husk with some creamy fillings and then reassembled the ear by putting the kernels back in rows on top of the filling. Just incredible. Still my all time favorite restaurant after another visit. And the staff was wonderful. Knowledgeable and very friendly. Made us feel like regulars. Just great. Can't say enough about it.

If you are in Paris the wknd of Oct the 25th join our little Do.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...er-2014-a.html

Love L'Arpege prefer it to the Savoy.

If I knew there was a meet up I would probably have scheduled my trip around that! Unfortunately we are in Paris mid of October so will have to give the meet up a miss this time.

Talking of fromage...the cheese board at Le Manoir I had on Saturday was something else. Each one described in detail how it's made, where it's from, ways to cook with it, perfect way to finish off a 5 hour lunch :D

I just read through all 12 pages with an eye towards my first ever trip to London/Paris in November. I'm hoping to get a reservation to The Ledbury and one more restaurant (not sure yet) in London, but Paris is the city that brings little more concern.

Like bhrubin, I prefer cooler temperatures. Are there any "best" restaurants in Paris that don't require suits/coats that are worth visiting? I tend to get warm as the meal goes on--I jokingly blame the establishments, but truthfully, it's the 30 lbs I need to lose. I will bring a suit on my trip and wear it begrungingly, but would prefer not to.

And, how important is it to know how to speak French in these restaurants?

definitely multiple. im sure you will get some good recommendations here. i believe there was already discussion of a few such restaurants. depending on where you are staying, concierge might also be a resource. one of the well-regarded mandarin oriental paris concierges used to be at four seasons, and was reportedly active on another forum (not flyertalk) that discussed paris dining. also, some restaurant websites have clear explanations of dress codes.

not very?

Paris is not so tough. We have not worn a jacket at either Atelier de Joel Robuchon location (Etoile and St. Germain), and we were fine at both. I am not planning to wear a jacket for lunch at L'Arpege, either, in October, and have been advised that I should be fine there, as well. Guy Savoy is my biggest question mark, but I likely will bring a jacket and not wear it if it's too warm for me and I can get away with it. The other 3 stars are generally going to require you to wear a jacket and will provide you with one if you don't. (That doesn't work for us since my husband is 6'5", but he is fine wearing jackets since he rarely gets warm.)

Neither of us speak French at all, but we also tend to apologize for that fact when we are in France and not assume that anyone will speak English--and we never have had problems or issues as a result. At Robuchon, the menus are entirely in French, but they spend as much time as you need explaining the menu/offerings to you in English. (It cracks me up when I think of all the time they could save with an English menu, but I do also appreciate the pride of only having French menus in France.) As long as you are patient and willing to take a few risks, you should be fine. At our secret 1 Place Vendome restaurant in the Hotel de Vendome, they also speak almost no English, and we always have a blast knowing that we won't always know what we're getting but enjoying that we often get surprised with things we never might have ordered and ending up loving. So I guess it depends on how adventurous you might be. In the end, however, we've NEVER not gone to a great restaurant and regretted it because we didn't speak the native language.

For London, I didn't wear a jacket and was fine at The Ledbury (which I loved), St. John (which we hated), and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (which we disliked...but didn't try chef's table tasting menu). I'd highly recommend Ledbury, and if you want to try Dinner then I suggest requesting the chef's table if you like a tasting menu; otherwise, you're fine at Dinner without a jacket. At least you'll know they speak English...:-)

You should have a great trip. Since you're from Los Angeles - you may forget what winter is like (and November is pretty much getting into winter in London and Paris). Very cool or cold. Definitely not shorts and t shirts weather. So what do you plan to wear? Think about it.

Also - it's only August. If you think you're carrying 30 extra pounds - try to knock off a few before your trip - so you're not talking about 35 when you get back :(. My husband finds it easier to knock off the 5-10 pounds before a trip than I do (guess it has something to do with male metabolism - or just giving up beer :D). I am lucky if I get to 3. A good thing about a diet before an eating trip is you shrink your stomach a bit. So you wind up indulging without over-indulging.

FWIW - I was looking at sports jackets for my husband today. Summer sales are going on now. I found some on line for like 70% off - as cheap as $70-100! For $70 - you can pick one a size too small - and diet your way into it ;).

It's not super important to speak French at higher end restaurants in Paris - but it's nice to know a few nice phrases (please and thank you and this is great) - and to understand the menu. I still have old menu readers written by a guy named Al Ellison - like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Ellisons-Frenc.../dp/B000K1P7TS

So you can look up loup de mer and realize it's a sea bass - and not a cut of meat from the critters who range around the western US ("loup" = "wolf"). Robyn

Are you calling me fat??? :p

Thank you bhrubin for the specific dining experiences you had--I will definitely look into the ones you mentioned.

LMAO. Indeed it will be cool in November. Last time I was in Paris in November it snowed a bit...and I loved every minute!

That being said, when the temps drop outside, it's been my experience that some places (e.g. the US East Coast and Europe, in particular!) over-heat inside. So November in Paris may be perfect for a heavy coat outside, but for people like me and our friend herein, it may be warmer than usual inside--making that jacket requirement even more burdensome for us.

Mexico City cuisine trip
 

Well, I'm booked with my best friend for Mexico City in late Feb 2015 with dinners planned at Pujol, Biko, and Merotoro, and lunches at Quintonil and Sud777. This should be quite the culinary adventure!

You will be fine in any of those restos.

I have been at L'atalier in my gym clothes and a Dior couture and was fine. It is almost my canteen.

Everyone speaks or understands english in France, they are multi lingual people. No worries here. Just get a jacket, and if you get warm just take it off. Heaters aren't on until mi Nov, so no worries.

Finally made it over to Hedone today and it was every bit as good as the hype. Very nice and quite reasonable for lunch

I'll be in Mexico City around September 2015...just going for the food so I look forward to your reviews so I can add them to my list :D