Paris, time to eat modestly and beautifully...

[lola]

MC just called with an hr before she meets an Australian guy for dinner, and he's passing through, wants her to find an authentically Parisian place, ideally within walking distance of Pont Neuf. She had been thinking Le Cochon á l'Orielle, but is having second thoughts based on the meat-based online menu and thinking 22 euro/plat is pricey to ask this guy to pay. (well, go dutch, says I.) So I'll research above, and if anyone has any last minute brainstorms please pass them on.

[lola]

I'm thinking Le Cochon a l'Orielle, Brasserie Balzar, or La Palette on rd Seine. They'll have time to mull it over before the fashionable dinner hour. This is not a time to pinch pennies.

[Jazz]

They’re all good choices, Lola. They might love La Palette on rue Seine (a 15 minute walk from le Pont Neuf. Great site with photos to give a feel for the place,

www.wineterroirs.com/2007/04/la_palette.html

La Palette has lighter fare but is a very enjoyable place to spend some time. Le Cochon and Brasserie Balzar have full meals.


Or, they’ll just wander by a great little place and that will be just fine.

[Deleted]

Boy, that is one area where I never eat and know very little about! There's a Hippopotamus near the square of St. Julien le Pauvre.

[Deleted]

On the other hand, at Châtelet, l'Entrecôte des Halles directly across from the Fontaine des Innocents is not bad.

[lola]

Thank you dear old Paris hands! She's supposed to call me in a few minutes, so I'll give her the options.

(When she and I travel together we have a tough time with options. Picking just one, that is.)

[Jazz]

Just thought of another one, Les Trois Mailletz, about 3 minutes from the Pont Neuf on rue St. Jacques. The food is good, great atmosphere, and if they're there after 11PM (2300), the vaulted cellar and all night live music is wonderful....depends on the night and who is performing.

www.lestroismailletz.fr/

[lola]

I'll forward this for later. Thanks, Jazz!

[Deleted]

I'm wondering if different age groups have completely different tastes in restaurants.

www.zango.fr is extremely popular with the younger crowd, and I have no idea if they even care what food is in their plates (although this is not bad at all).

[Jazz]

On the whole, different age groups do seem to have completely different tastes in restaurants, if speaking generally. Usually focused on price...older, more established people often have more disposable income and the 'normal' breakdown of restaurants takes place. However, this never comes into my awareness. Many times I enjoy cafes or restaurants that seem to be centred on people in their 20’s and 30’s. Or, I’m in an establishment with no one under the age of 70. (except for me) This doesn’t bother me at all, the more varied the clientele, (from one end of the spectrum or the other), the more comfortable and at home I feel. Nor does it appear to bother my companions at the next table. We have all shared great conversations.

It always comes back to…age is a state of mind and we are most attracted to those who share our awareness. This, or, 'my' awareness recognizes that money does not buy quality and richness of experience. Judging a café or restaurant by age, wrinkles in face, expensive prices and avid reviews of the moment, is shallow. Most of the exceptional experiences in my life while traveling have been with people much older, much younger, or, from a different culture…each end of the spectrum is valuable and vibrant.

[cristina]

I think tastes in restaurants are a little bit separate from the restaurants younger people actually patronize. Income comes before taste in most cases.

After visiting my daughter in San Francisco this past weekend, I was struck by how willing she was try anything, even foods that we didn't historically cook at home. She was engaged in her dining experience because I have a little higher standard and, *this part is important*, because I was footing the bill.

Now she will return to eating what she can afford. And I am eating soup for the rest of the week. Despite all of the offset walking, I might have gained a pound or five. Grrr.

btw, we never really broke the bank food-wise in our dining expedition. We could have chosen cheaper wines, though.

Sorry to thread-drift, I know this is about Paris dining, but some concepts are universal, I think.

[Jazz]

A minor thread drift, and related. In my previous post I discussed this…”older, more established people have more disposable income and thus, the ‘normal’ breakdown’. It’s all related to Lola’s daughter, a student, and where she might have a meal in Paris tonight.

Christina, your daughter is fortunate to have you (with your obvious appreciation of food) to take her out and ‘foot the bill’. It sounds exciting for the both of you.

Lola, I'm curious as to where your daughter and her friend finally ended up.

[Deleted]

McDonald's?

[lagatta]

I had far more disposable income when I was 20 years younger, and know many people in the same situation.

[lola]

They ended up at a place the Aussie's friend had recommended, le Chien Qui Fume, and apparently that was just fine. I'm sure MC would have been more comfortable with his choosing the spot, since he meant to pick up the tab. I have a tendency to sit there fretting about whether a place meets the other people's standards.

[Deleted]

I almost recommended Le Louchebem, which is right next door to Le Chien Qui Fume -- both of those are traditional restaurants from the old days of Les Halles, right on the edge of the garden under destruction.

[lola]

Those sound just right, then. For those of us from the colonial US or Australia, I think old and established places are satisfying.

[lola]

So to add this to the list: auchienquifume.com/

La Palette had a recent TripAdvisor reviewer who said he used to go there a lot in his student days and over the years since. This time he was handed the dreaded menu with Union Jack on one side and German flag atop the other, then had to wait for the server who spoke English.

K, if you have any influence, ask them all to stop patronlizlingly switching to English as soon as they note the accent.

PS: K, do you still have a detectable American accent?

[Deleted]

Actually, I don't unless I have just returned from a trip to the U.S. (where absolutely everybody says I have a French accent). But every now and then, people do detect an accent, which they normally guess is somewhere in Benelux or Switzerland. Interestingly enough, my French family lived only abou 40 km from the Luxembourg border, but back when I was an English teacher, one of my students was Belgian and he said instantly "you have a Lorraine accent."

[tod2]

I have found, especially from this past July/August Paris trip, that eating moderately but well takes a bit of research, a bit of travelling to double-digit arrondissements and a bit of luck thrown in.
Moderately for us is not paying over 25euros per person and around 9-15euros for most meals.
We stumbled across several winners this trip and I'm passing them on:

Le Volant
13 rue Beatrix Dussane/16 rue Lourmel,75015.
tinyurl.com/36wqm62

The best Beef B. ever tasted in Paris but what made it special was the wonderful way it was served.
Sizzling copper pots on wooden boards included three different starches to go with the beef.
No tourists on the day we went - just French business men and locals.

Sebillon
20 Ave., Charles de Gaulle, Neuilly
92200
tinyurl.com/32wafob

Come back as many times as you like for the most succulent lamb I've ever tasted - as a matter of fact they expect you to swoon and demand another plate! After just 2 we were done and left room for their special eclair.
The restaurant looks more like a grand old diningroom in a long- ago posh hotel.

These two are from 2009:
L’Entredgeu
83 Rue Laugier 75017 M: Porte de Champerret (01 40 54 97 24)
My current favorite. The chef has a good pedigree, and is cooking up a storm for just 28€ for dinner. The cooking here is hearty and delicious, and with a finesse that separates them from the rest of the field. The room is cramped but very cheerful and charming. One of the best price/value rapport in the city.

Le Vin Sobre
25 rue Feuillantines, 75005
Tel: [phone]

Very near Val-de-Grace. Also a branch at 35 rue Duquesne in the 7th.

tinyurl.com/33jukwm

[MC]

It's lola's daughter. I'm enjoying this thread and taking lots of notes. Thanks for the great suggestions!

At Le Chien Qui Fume, had a nice ratatouille and baked fish, and my friend got to try escargot for the first time, which he was very pleased with. Crème brûlée was delicious. Overall a good experience, but maybe not for the modest and beautiful category - it was a little steep for traveling 20-somethings.

[lagatta]

Bonjour Marie-Claire

Mais il fallait faire une petite folie, non? We've passed along lots of cheaper suggestions here, and you have to discover which restos-u have edible food.

[lola]

Bonjour Cherie. Appelez ta mere.

[lagatta]

My, you are old-school, ma chère lola! Vouvoyer sa fille!

Marie-Claire, j'espère que tout va bien à Paris? Bisous de Montréal.

[lola]

That's what I get for trying to show off. I never was any good with verbs.

[lagatta]

It isn't a grammatical error, lola. Just very formal.

[fumobici]

Well then the "ta" is </pedant>

There is this horrible British woman my father knows who has spent Winters in Umbertide, Umbria for at least a decade and has decided that Italian verb conjugation is "impossible" and uses only the infinitive in all cases!

I've also met Brits there who spend significant amounts of time there and can't speak a word. The mind boggles.

[lola]

Even I could figure out some conjugations after a decade.

[lola]

My daughter went to brunch yesterday at the Cafe Qui Parle, 24 rue Caulaincourt, 75018, and was very impressed. A young family acquaintance who lives in Montmartre now and his colleague took her there, and they practiced their English while she tried to stick to French. It appears not to be too pricey for this thread.

Our friend has always loved American food, so when he visited here we took him for things like milk shakes, pizza, cheeseburgers, and chocolate martinis.

[lagatta]

I don't even want to think what a chocolate martini is!