Request: Paris dining recommendation
 

Going to have 3 dinners in Paris the 12th-14th.

My hotel informs me it's secured the reservations I wanted Thursday and Friday at Violon d'Ingres and Chez Maitre Paul but has struck out on all my Saturday night choices.

Anyone have any secrets to share on where to get a good quiet romantic dinner on Saturday night on the Left Bank? Under, say, 1000ff total for two with a tolerable bottle of wine.

HTTP://WWW.IHT.COM/IHT/DINE/index.html

Not on the Left Bank, but Table D'Anvers is very good. I have had dinners and lunch. i am not sure about the dinner price the, though.

Arpege is very good, but may break the bank.

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Thanks, USAFAN - I'd already been directed to that site (and have her book, although it's in Baltimore at the moment and I'm not; I'm fairly certain I'll get a decent meal that night but was hoping to get an eyewitness report or a secret recommendation.

Naxos: as the nudge, nudge guy says, "wot's it like?" Problems with Arpege - unlikely to get a table on Saturday night barring cancellations and great luck on my part; also, the price <I>without</I> wine would likely exceed my budget for the meal <i>with</i> wine!

Try La Truffière in the 5th arrondissement, at 4, rue Blainville very close to the sympathetic Place de la Contrescarpe. Very good food and intimate athmosphere, and you should be able to make it for FFR 1,000.

A couple of other nice ones, but on the wrong side and a bit more 'populaire' are La Bastoche at 7, rue St-Antoine and the more brasserie-type Le Grand Colbert at 4, rue Vivienne, next to Jardin du Palais Royal. You get very good food at decent price in both these places but La Truffiere is really my favorite (used to live right next door for my year of studies in la ville de lumière). Bonne chance for getting a table and Bon appetit!

I always recommend La Bucherie, on rue de la Bucherie, on the Seine, directly across the river from Notre Dame. Call ahead and get a window table. Good food, reasonable prices, nice wine list, and great views of the cathedral, especially after dark as the boats come past and light up the cathedral. A friend who had gotten a degree at the Sorbonne recommended it to us many years ago when we first went to Paris, and we have eaten there everytime since.

Djlawman

My family and I loved the restaurand JULIEN which serves the best cassoulet I have ever eaten. Enjoy Paris

How about Rotisserie d'en Face (r. Christine), which is Jacques Cagna's downscale place, Les Bookinistes (quai des Grands-Augustins), which is Guy Savoy's, or les Brezolles (near St-Sulpice). I've liked them all. I haven't been to L'Epi Dupin or Bastide d'Odeon, but I've heard good things about both.

Merci a tous. Compte a venir.

Anyone else on UA 914 on 10/11 or UA 915 on 10/23? I'll probably be in Y as my traveling companion is a no-status on an MP ticket.

Isn't it wonderful to measure a trip to Paris in terms of how many dinners are to be enjoyed?

Not on the Left Bank, but one of my favorites is Au Trou Gascon (40 rue Taine in the 12th, Metro Daumesnil, still one Michelin star?). Fabulous food and drink from the Gascon region. Foie gras, cassoulet, sheep's milk cheeses, rich Madiran wine, too many Armagnacs to choose from. Lovely romantic table settings and superb service.

Would be remiss if I didn't throw out my visit-every-time favorites, under 300FF pp:

Les Fontaines, 9 rue Soufflot, 5th
Bistro, primo food, regional wines by the carafe. In the front room, you can view the Pantheon over one shoulder, and the Eiffel over the other.

Brasserie Balzar, 49 rue des Ecoles, 5th
Mussels, leg-o-lamb, tartetatin to bring tears to your eyes. Terrific waiters.

[This message has been edited by tartetatin (edited 10-06-2000).]

Try Bistrot d'a Cote in Neuilly (a couple of stops west of the Arc de Triumph on the Metro. Here is a site featuring some of Michel Rostang's restaurants:
http://www.michelrostang.com/

Joseph is the host, and he and the entire
staff is wonderful. The food is great - be sure to have the crepes for desert.

It is on Rue Boutard, which is right off of
Avenue Madrid (which is off Charles DeGaulle). A short walk from the Neuilly sur Seine Metro stop. Enjoy your trip!

Mark

msb's post reminded me that there's also a bistrot d'a cote (or at least used to be) on the boulevard st. germain.

Another nice one is Chez Rene, 14 Blvd. St. Germain. Nice country French cuisine. Moderately priced. Good house wines.

Also recommend Androuet--anyone else ever eat there? All cheese restaurant. Everything on the menu is cheese, or has cheese in it. Salads with great cheese. Cheese plates. Cheese soup. Desserts with cheese in them. Had a filet there with a brandy and roquefort sauce on it, sauce prepared at tableside, that may have been the best steak I ever had. It IS a great place. (A friend told me when she visited about 1 1/2 years ago that it was closed, but that appears to be incorrect. See post below! (Alas, as well, we have not been back to Paris in several years!)

Djlawman

[This message has been edited by Djlawman (edited 10-09-2000).]

There is a small chain called Bouchon de Francois Clerc with three or four locations, the one in the 17th is the best in my opinion. Food is very good but the best part about them is that they sell their wine at the same prices you will pay in a wine store...little if any markup and their wine list is very extensive and very good. I am living here in Paris for a couple of years (tough assigmnent!) and head there often. Couple of other higher end places are the Jardin in the 8th (one Michelin star and runs around 600FF per head), Spoon, Food and Wine , only open Mon - Fri, affordable cuisine of Alain Ducasse, Georges , located at the top of the Pompedieu center (around 500 FF per head but their wine list stinks) and Hotel Vernet in the 8th (two Michelin stars) runs around 800 FF per head. One thing to be sure of is that as long as you stay away from "Indiana Tex-Mex" you will probably have a very good meal no matter what you choose

Androuet was one of my favorite things in life. Sorry to hear they've closed. Especially sorry I didn't make it the last time I was in Paris.

However, I was in Paris 1 1/2 years ago and it was open!

Violist, perhaps you can confirm or deny this terrible rumor while you're in town.

Les Bookinistes, which I did enjoy (though more for the company I was with), probably would not fall into a "romantic" catagory for me as it reminded me more of a French restaurant in NYC--perhaps because it was filled with people speaking English. I would also question whether you'd get out of there under 1,000ff. As for the "tolerable" bottle of wine, I wasn't too impressed with their list (off vintages at the lower price points, though not gems or terrible either--perhaps this is where to go to find a "tolerable" bottle of wine!) or my selection from it. Given your taste and the suggestion of a "tolerable" bottle of wine, I'd say take your chances somewhere else.

Sometime's my favorite thing to do in Paris--especially Left Bank romantic wise, is to just wander the streets until you find something suitable.

Have a great trip!

You could also try http://www.zagat.com thought I didn't find the guide terribly useful the last time I was there.

[This message has been edited by the scribbler (edited 10-09-2000).]