Bistro de Lyonnais
Dec 29th, 2006, 11:56 AM
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Bistro de Lyonnais
Recently on the Martha Stewart Show she went this restaurant run by Alain Ducasse. I assume it is in Paris.
Anyone who has dined there please give me your impression of it and an idea of what a meal for two would run there.
Happy New Year!
Anthony
Anyone who has dined there please give me your impression of it and an idea of what a meal for two would run there.
Happy New Year!
Anthony
Dec 29th, 2006, 01:03 PM
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Aux Lyonnais was the very first restaurant we ever dined at in Paris - some 30 years ago. We thought it was fantastic (we were young, everything about Europe impressed us then). I still remember the Coquille St Jacques aux Lyonnaise. I eventually found a recipe for it that I do at home on special occasions.
Over the next 15-20 years or so, we went back there & watched it decline quite a bit. We loved the interior, so we held out as long as we could until it finally closed.
In Oct. '04, after we read that Alain Ducasse purchased it, we made reservations and were quite excited to see what he had done to the inerior & the food. We checked out the menu a couple of days in advance, and much of it did not seem exciting to us - the Coquille aux Lyonnaise were not on the menu, but Tripe & a few similar dishes were. I am a very adventursome diner and I'll try most anyting, but I had a hard time finding something I would order. We dine out in France about 40 times each year, and very little at Aux Lyonnaise "grabbed" us.
When we dined there, the place was packed with Americans. Very little French was spoken. A mid-60s aged couple from Texas sat next to us & asked us "what's good here". We had to translate much of the menu for them. Waiters were busy translating the menu for other guests.
I would not go back - way too touristy for me & the menu either had some items I don't normally order (like the tripe) or things that were not exciting.
Stu Dudley
Over the next 15-20 years or so, we went back there & watched it decline quite a bit. We loved the interior, so we held out as long as we could until it finally closed.
In Oct. '04, after we read that Alain Ducasse purchased it, we made reservations and were quite excited to see what he had done to the inerior & the food. We checked out the menu a couple of days in advance, and much of it did not seem exciting to us - the Coquille aux Lyonnaise were not on the menu, but Tripe & a few similar dishes were. I am a very adventursome diner and I'll try most anyting, but I had a hard time finding something I would order. We dine out in France about 40 times each year, and very little at Aux Lyonnaise "grabbed" us.
When we dined there, the place was packed with Americans. Very little French was spoken. A mid-60s aged couple from Texas sat next to us & asked us "what's good here". We had to translate much of the menu for them. Waiters were busy translating the menu for other guests.
I would not go back - way too touristy for me & the menu either had some items I don't normally order (like the tripe) or things that were not exciting.
Stu Dudley
Dec 29th, 2006, 01:58 PM
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I have been there, and I hated it. Admittedly this wasjust after it had appeard in the New York Times Travel Section, but the restaurant was full of North Americans rather than French, and the service, while acceptable was definitely 'for tourists.' Busy, loud, full of smoke. And this was in March.(We went because our friend were interested in a Ducasse restaurant)
We prefer small bistros, like
WADJA 10 rue de la Grande Chaumiere (6th) Metro Vavin 01 46 33 02 02
CHEZ MARCEL 7 Rue Stanislas 75006 PARIS. Metro : Notre-Dame des Champs. 01.45.48.29.94
Both good food, small, much more authentic than Aux Lyonnais.
A good place for just lunch is the Taverne Henri IV, 13 place du Pont-Neuf 1st Arr Tel: 01 43 54 27 90 Metro: Pont Neuf. Great location right at the Pont Neuf, good wine (and beer) selections, good food, great ambience.
We prefer small bistros, like
WADJA 10 rue de la Grande Chaumiere (6th) Metro Vavin 01 46 33 02 02
CHEZ MARCEL 7 Rue Stanislas 75006 PARIS. Metro : Notre-Dame des Champs. 01.45.48.29.94
Both good food, small, much more authentic than Aux Lyonnais.
A good place for just lunch is the Taverne Henri IV, 13 place du Pont-Neuf 1st Arr Tel: 01 43 54 27 90 Metro: Pont Neuf. Great location right at the Pont Neuf, good wine (and beer) selections, good food, great ambience.
Dec 29th, 2006, 02:21 PM
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My husband and I were at Aux Lyonnais in May (see my trip report Part 1 for a description of what we ate and the cost) and we loved it. The food, wine and service were very good. We sat next to two young men who were business associates - one a native of Paris who was an Alain Ducasse fan and the other an American. The crayfish quenelles are said to be the signature dish.
Dec 30th, 2006, 09:51 AM
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Here is what a respected food writer wrote last year about this restaurant in the New York Times; he estimates the price of dinner for two to be 100 euro with wine and tip for two persons and suggested advance reservations:
"This is the Lyon-style bistro of Alain Ducasse, one of the world's best-known chefs (his partner here is Thierry de la Brosse, who owns another bistro, L'Ami Louis, in the Marais). Uncomfortable seating and climate control aside, this provides a very good eating experience. In fact, many people will prefer it to Mr. Ducasse's overdone three-star (Michelin) extravaganzas at the Plaza Athénée and elsewhere. There is a 28-euro prix fixe at Aux Lyonnais, but the best offerings are à la carte.
Here, the gutsy food is prepared with great attention, and the service is better than average. (You have to figure that Mr. Ducasse's staff is reasonably well trained.) I've eaten my way through the menu and have yet to find a nondessert dish that I didn't adore. Eggs cooked in cream with mushrooms and shrimp were universally beloved (one of my companions, who ate this back in October, is still talking about it); a stew of winter vegetables (served in January) was a surefire remedy for midwinter blues, containing chestnuts, salsify, turnips, shallots, onions, potatoes, a load of butter and a bit of good stock.
There is sabodet, a variation of a classic Lyonnaise dish of salami and potatoes, here stewed in sauce gribiche; it is enormously satisfying. On one visit I shared a pot of braised pork belly (bacon), something for which Mr. Ducasse is justifiably famous.
The place is drop-dead gorgeous, an 1890 bistro that does not feel contrived, with cement tile floors, walls painted amber (they look smoke-stained but my guess is this is a mock-up), zinc moldings, iron-mounted tables, and so on. It is not the movie-set look of Le Grand Colbert (which you have seen in movies), but it is one of the bistros of your dreams, or at least of mine. The wine list focuses on the Rhone region; I strongly suggest you order the pink sparkler Bugey Serdon, which one doesn't see too often in the north of France (and almost never in the States). It's fruity, enjoyable and cheap."
"This is the Lyon-style bistro of Alain Ducasse, one of the world's best-known chefs (his partner here is Thierry de la Brosse, who owns another bistro, L'Ami Louis, in the Marais). Uncomfortable seating and climate control aside, this provides a very good eating experience. In fact, many people will prefer it to Mr. Ducasse's overdone three-star (Michelin) extravaganzas at the Plaza Athénée and elsewhere. There is a 28-euro prix fixe at Aux Lyonnais, but the best offerings are à la carte.
Here, the gutsy food is prepared with great attention, and the service is better than average. (You have to figure that Mr. Ducasse's staff is reasonably well trained.) I've eaten my way through the menu and have yet to find a nondessert dish that I didn't adore. Eggs cooked in cream with mushrooms and shrimp were universally beloved (one of my companions, who ate this back in October, is still talking about it); a stew of winter vegetables (served in January) was a surefire remedy for midwinter blues, containing chestnuts, salsify, turnips, shallots, onions, potatoes, a load of butter and a bit of good stock.
There is sabodet, a variation of a classic Lyonnaise dish of salami and potatoes, here stewed in sauce gribiche; it is enormously satisfying. On one visit I shared a pot of braised pork belly (bacon), something for which Mr. Ducasse is justifiably famous.
The place is drop-dead gorgeous, an 1890 bistro that does not feel contrived, with cement tile floors, walls painted amber (they look smoke-stained but my guess is this is a mock-up), zinc moldings, iron-mounted tables, and so on. It is not the movie-set look of Le Grand Colbert (which you have seen in movies), but it is one of the bistros of your dreams, or at least of mine. The wine list focuses on the Rhone region; I strongly suggest you order the pink sparkler Bugey Serdon, which one doesn't see too often in the north of France (and almost never in the States). It's fruity, enjoyable and cheap."
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