Brasserie Balzar (near St Michel/Sorbonne)

It's fashionable to talk about how this place used to be good, but i think it's still good. We went for a simple dinner on our last night, and it reminded me why i've been going for 20 years. Simple, perfect roast chicken, escargots, glass of red, tarte tatin - what's not to love? i might not go every single trip, but I won't stop going!

Robe and Palette (near Pompidou)

Great little place with Burgundy angle, have been for both dinner and lunch and equally good. Very casual, no reservations, just go and try to get a table. The food for lunch includes big charcuterie platters on thick wooden planks, very old school and super selection of meats and savory cured veggies and such. Wine list is nothing special, just table wine really, but nicely chosen so goes fine with the level of food.

perfect resto for the night between big fancy meals in Paris, or for lunch ahead of or after a Pompidou visit.

Le Meurice

Went back to this 3 star Michelin near Tuileries for first time since 2006, when we ate here on our first night in Paris. Boy it was good then. Still excellent, though as with a lot of these fine dining superstars there was a lack of spontenaity that takes some of hte fun out of it.

Great wines, great food, though maybe a little much on the foam - when will this foam thing be over? - and we ended up skipping out on the final dessert course, as it was just too much time for a jet-lagged crew.

At the end of the day, for a massive price tag and a 3 star experience, I'd rather do something a little less formal, though for a splurge when in the mood for somethign formal, it's fantastic.

Vavin cafe near Luxembourg

Simple cafe, what sets it apart for a coffee or a beer outside is the location on an intersection of several secondary streets. You get lots of street life, both pedestrian and car/bike, but not the constant growl of traffic that you get from a lot of other outdoor spots. Great place to read the paper and kick back.

Bedford Arms (pub near St Sulpice)

Great little pub with room for < 50 people after dinner, right in the heart of the St Sulpice area party scene, nice spot for a Guinness.

Racine

A casual place along the lines of the Robe and Palette. Food was good though not inspired. We sat in the room at the back with a group, which on the one hand was great as we could be loud and not worry about it, but on the other hand felt a little disassociated from the rest of the place. Also had an American waiter, which took away from the whole thing a little bit.

I would give it another try to see what eating in the main dining room was like. it did come pretty highly recommended.

Fumoir (next to Louvre to east)

Only stopped in here for a drink before dinner, but it's a good scene with a big bar for a before-dinner stop. Lively, not touristy, or at least didn't seem it, and wasn't so packed on a Thursday night as to be uncomfortable. Probably not great with a big group, but for 3-4 people looking for a couch and a beer, it fits the bill. Would be good after a couple hours late afternoon at Louvre too.

Chez Camille (Marais)

This is a perfect lunch stop when shopping the Marais, located just a few blocks from Place des Vosges. Classic menu for lunchtime bistro, from steak frites to beef tartare but also solid salad line up. Big enough that it's not too tough to get a seat. Food is right up the middle, not fancy but everything we had was good including a couple pasta dishes - group of 6 so we had a good sample. Recommend the duck confit and the terrine/pate charcuterie plate.

Le Beouf sur le Toit

Erik visited this big boisterous brasserie, one of the Flo Group that bought Balzar, with a big boisterous group of rugby players. The meal was substantial, the wine flowed, and many other tables were operating at the same high volume level. I wouldn't recommend this for a romantic dinner, or a dinner with the kids, but for a group that wants some hearty fare in a casual environment, it works just fine.

Senderens (8ieme)

9, place de la Madeleine
01.42.65.22.90

We'd been meaning to try Senderens, "the restaurant formerly known as Lucas Carton," for much of the time we've been here, but only this week were we able to score a table. So August in Paris has its advantages after all...

Because the table was worth scoring. The restaurant serves food equal to any one or two star that we've eaten at, but because the chef, Alain Senderens, refuses to deal with the Michelin rules, it's served in a much less formal atmosphere (and has no stars). Rather than white tablecloths, starched napkins, and multiple forks at every setting, it's plain tables, simple settings, and full emphasis on the food. The service is quick, pleasant and efficient, informal compared to the big temples of dining but perfectly good from our point of view.

What kind of food is it? Highly elevated bistro is what I'd say, though I'm sure that would make many fans of the place cringe for giving it too low a comparison point. The vegetables are so fresh and perfect that you can almost picture the shoppers at the morning market, and the spices are inventive without getting too far afield from French cooking. My cod was about perfect, as was Maryam's lobster (lobster and peaches, v nice combo).

They also serve a lot of wines by the glass, and in fact suggest a different wine with each dish, which is a fun way to go. Each of mine was perfectly matched (well, from what I could tell, anyway).

And the desserts were superb, a nice diversion from typical French fare, with a tart of spicy lemon and orange marmalade and ginger ice cream... my kind of dessert.

Location is hard to beat also, on place de la Madeleine, which means the logical after dinner walk is down to Place de la Concorde where the moon sits between the dome of the Assemblee Nationale and the Eiffel Tower...

Expensive but not insane, it's a great option as a temple of dining that hasn't been completely overrun by the Michelin starmaking machine.

Cafe Marly (Louvre)

it really is right in the Louvre, in the Richelieu wing facing the pyramid.

We stopped in for a quick lunch at Cafe Marly the other day and thought it lived up to the many recommendations we've received. In almost any other setting as touristy as this one, I'd expect something pretty awful (and all the food court restaurants in the Carrousel du Louvre are just that). But Cafe Marly is a very nice cut above.

We had tomato/mozzarella salad, ham/melon appetizer, that kind of thing, and it was all done very nicely, the kind of food you'd be perfectly happy with in a much grander setting. Though I suppose the Louvre is hardly un-grand! The cloisters are deep enough that there's some refuge from the sun on a boiling hot day, as well.

Many friends have also recommended it for hot chocolate and coffee in the winter months, though that was the furthest thing from our minds as the thermometer flirted with 100 degrees F the other day...

Benoit (2nd)

Benoit
20 rue St Martin
01 42 72 25 76

Benoit is the perfect Paris bistro, or so we've decided. We ate there several years with local friends, and have been meaning to go back the whole time we've been here. But we kept delaying, thinking that since we'd already been, why go back so soon? Ah, but we were mistaken. Though there may be other bistros that equal its combination of elegant food and casual ambiance, I doubt there are many that surpass on either dimension.

Set on the pedestrian rue St Martin off Rue De Rivoli, you'd expect it to be almost a tourist trap, but somehow it isn't. Yes there are plenty of tourists there, but it's not oppressive, perhaps because the management appears to take everything in the stride while putting forth a terrific traditional menu, including a nice big cassoulet (white bean stew) and impressively meaty pork roast. Plenty of good wines by the glass, and a cheese selection that while not so broad was plenty interesting, with the strongest cheeses something akin to smelling salts.

It's not the cheapest bistro around, but boy for a good meal it's a reasonable value at about $75/head including wine for one of us. Reserve well in advance though, it's hard to get in.

On the List

Have easten at but need to write up:
*Aux Lyonnais
2nd Arr, M: Grands-Boulevards, Tues-Sat noon-2pm and 7:30-11:30pm, 32 rue Saint Marc, Tel. +33(0)1-42-96-65-04
*Hiramatsu (16th) --it truly lived up to its hype.
*Le Palais et La Robe
*Chatlet de Isle (Bois de Bologne)
*Allard (6th)
*Le Petit Retro (16th)
*Senderens (8th) 9, pl de la MadeleineParis, France 01 42 65 22 90 --Wonderful! Quite comparable to Le Table de Joel Robuchon. Homard & Peche Appetizer was amazing.
*Relais du Parc (16th) The restaurant that made Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon famous. Perfect place for a nice summer evening or lunch in the outdoor courtyard.
*Chez Nenesse (3rd)17, rue de Saintonge, 01 42 78 46 49 I loved the poisson avec rhubarb. Zagat says: This “tiny” family-run “favorite” in the Marais is “like eating at home”, with its “reassuring” Classic French cuisine; homebodies call it “a cozy retreat in winter (ask for a table near the stove)”, and praise the “personable staff.”

Want to get to:
L'Ambroisie (4th) 9, pl des VosgesParis, France01 42 78 51 45
Bistro: Chez George (2nd) 1, rue du MailParis, France01 42 60 07 11
404 (3rd) 69, rue des GravilliersParis, France01 42 74 57 81
Hotel Bristol
Chez L'Ami Louis (3rd) , rue du VertboisParis, France 7500301 48 87 77 48

Le Bistrot d'a Cote (17ieme)

This is a classic little bistro on a fairly quiet street in the heart of the 17th. We sat outside on a nice June night and were happily surprised by the lack of traffic and streetnoise. Food is great straightforward stuff, like a whole Bresse chicken (which they served in two separate servings, and which was so big that it had to be split between two people!). Everything about this place clicks nicely; nothing fancy, and that is a big part of its charm.

10, rue Gustave Flaubert
75017 Paris
01.42.67.05.81
closed sat lunch, sunday and monday

Taillevent *** (8ieme)

15, rue Lamennais, near Arc de Triomphe down Avenue Friedland

Many people, including the collected wisdom of Zagat reviewers, rate this as the best restaurant in Paris, which by extension would make it one of the best restaurants in the world. No-one doubts that it has one of the best wine lists in the world. With a set up like that, we were bound to be disappointed.

But we weren't. The food was excellent, the service was friendly and casual, and the decor was uniformly elegant and just modern enough to prevent the place from feeling either fusty or fussy. There was a certain lack of spontenaity about the whole thing, but I suppose that is what happens when you have held your three Michelin stars for 30 years. If it ain't broke ...

We had the menu Degustation for the table, after deciding that was probably an easier way to sample most of the entrees and plats than ordering everything and passing plates. After a perfect tomato gazpacho, we had a foie gras creme brulee that was as unique as it was fantastic, then a tasty red snapper. Main course was a perfectly done round of lamb, possibly the richest I've ever had. Dessert was a combination of perfect rich chocolate fondant, a kind of raspberry parfait (without question the wrong word, but you get the idea), and a separate plate of petits fours for each person at the table. ("petits fours to make sure" chuckled the waiter as he placed the plates)

Throwing ourselves on the mercy of the sommelier, we had a Meursault premier cru to start, then switched to a Bordeaux St Emilion for the lamb, both perfect choices.

Taillevant is almost the perfect splurge restaurant (about 200 euros per person including nice wine). The only tiny nit I'd mention is that the crowd feels a bit like bankers out for deal closing dinners, which lends the room a different kind of feel from a place like Astrance, where everyone is clearly there to ogle the food. I guess that is just the price you pay for being number on the Zagat, Michelin, and every other list!

Le Cinq *** (8ieme)

In the George V Four Seasons hotel on Georges V

It's hard to imagine a better place for a business lunch in Paris than Le Cinq. The other side of that coin is that it's not necessarily the best place for a holiday lunch - it's hard to get away from it all when suits surround most tables.

Le Cinq is beautiful, though, the perfect combination of the slightly zen Four Seasons aesthetic and the always eloquent over the top French zest for decoration. For example, rather than simple flower arrangements, there are a couple dozen 3-4 foot high vases with various similarly scaled long stemmed flowers at each end of the dining room, and rose petals scattered liberally around the centerpieces of many tables.

The food is as great as you would expect from a restaurant with this pedigree, and happily didn't leave us feeling too weighed down for the rest of the day. I had perfectly done green asparagus with truffles and a parmesan sauce for a starter, followed by a simply grilled red snapper on a bed of fennel, followed by an epic cheese plate (which in turn caused us to skip dessert) - oh and then they brought out the coffee menu, something I can't claim to have seen anywhere before. Anyone for Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee?

I've long since given up choosing wine in fine Parisian restaurants, since every deputy assistant to the deputy sommelier knows more about matching food and wine than I will ever know. And since the sommelier at Le Cinq is Enrico Bernardo, regularly recognized as the world's best sommelier, we left ourselves in the hands of the wine staff. Good call. By the glass, we had a nice white Bordeaux followed by a Meursault. I don't usually put that much stock in matching food and wine, but boy I tell you these combinations were something special, clearly something that the staff had thought about beforehand, and perfect for the lunch. (OK, you have now figured out that my business lunches aren't all that serious these days :-))

It's very expensive, as you would expect. But probably a lot less expensive at lunch than it would be at dinner....