Lovely pictures! The variety of pork belly preparation boggles the mind.

Hi Patty - welcome home!

just looked through all your pics - my, you have been busy. I didn't realise that you had the calamari risotto at Neva cuisine - how was it? the pic looks good. How did NC compare with the other places you ate at? we really enjoyed meeting you and Mark - the GTG seemed to go past in a flash!

looking fwd to reading more - especially about the baking lesson - it all looks very professional!

Hi Ann,
It was great meeting you both! The calamari risotto at Neva was really good and I enjoyed it more than the one I had at Albion later in the week although that was a very nice meal overall too. There were so many good meals this trip with the highlights being Sola and La Table d'Aki. We really liked Les Saisons and Au Passage too but I'm getting ahead of myself. Food in Reims with the exception of Le Bocal was a bit of a letdown after Paris but the champagne made up for it!

Loved the shots and it didn't look like it mattered about the stars--the food looked luscious!

Please more and some info about the GTG also.

Great photos!! We stayed at Les Crayeres several years ago....the food was wonderful then. Did you eat there?

We'll be in Paris in May so anxiously waiting for the rest of your report.

Judy,
We ate at Le Jardin, the more casual restaurant at Les Crayeres. We thought the setting was lovely, the service was great, the food was beautifully presented but lacked flavor. The dessert however was wonderful. Did you eat at their formal restaurant, Le Parc? Perhaps we should've eaten there instead. In any case, we still had an enjoyable time and it was a very convenient place to eat before our tour at Ruinart.

Thanks everyone for your comments!

GTG coming up next.

Patty, we stayed there for my husband's birthday and ate at Le Parc. We've eaten at many high end restaurants and that was one of the best meals we've ever had....beating out several Michelin 3 stars in Paris! It was, however, over ten years ago and things certainly could have changed.

We'll be interested in your Paris restaurants. Have resevations at Verjus and Le Pre Catalan....still deciding on others. Our apartment is very close to Willi's but too early to reserve.

Great photos...can't wait for more of your report.

Love your pictures! You guys had a great restaurant list ~ and now I have more to add on mine, lol

Can't wait to read more. Thanks for sharing,

Jo

GTG with Mr & Mrs AGM_Cape_Cod, Mr & Mrs annhig, Nikki and Toucan2
First the GTG planning, we initially wanted to dine at Frenchie (ha, ha), then tried La Regalade Saint Honore (nope, big table already reserved and not taking any more groups that evening), then Dans Les Landes (oops, closed on Monday) before deciding on Neva Cuisine (woo hoo, we got a booking)! Mark and I had dined there in November and really enjoyed it. The restaurant is large enough to comfortably accommodate groups but not too large. But first, we decided to meet at Lavinia for pre-dinner drinks only to find that their bar was closed for a private event. Not to worry, we just popped into the place next door instead (sorry don’t remember the name). After drinks, the 7 of us walked to Neva Cuisine where Nikki met us. We had a great time meeting and chatting with everyone and AGM_Cape_Cod brought us all goodie bags filled with delicious homemade candied orange rinds. The menu consisted of 4-5 choices per course with 2 courses at €29.50 and 3 at €37 with supplements for some of the items. Mark had the foie gras followed by the entrecote and I had the calamari risotto (yummy) and sweetbreads and of course, I had to have that choco bomb again I hope everyone else enjoyed their food too. We couldn’t believe how fast the 3+ hour dinner flew by. Even more, we couldn’t believe we were still awake at the end of the evening

Lunch at Au Passage & bakery class at 134 RdT
We met up with Mr & Mrs AGM and Nikki again the following day for lunch at Au Passage. I chose this place because it was very close to the bakery where we were taking the class later. Lunch is a basically a no choice daily changing ardoise except for the main where there are 2 choices. Today’s menu consisted of a trout starter, a choice of merlu or magret de canard for the plat, a cheese course (I forget what they were) and chocolate ganache for dessert. You can have as few as 1 course or as many as 4. The courses were not too big and I think we all had 3 or 4. The price was amazingly low considering the excellent quality of the food, something like €17 for 3 courses. I think it cost the 5 of us just over €100 including a bottle of wine. I vote this the best value in Paris! Dinner is a completely different tapas format and I would like to return to try that too.

After lunch we said goodbye to Nikki and the 4 of us walked over to the boulangerie 134 RdT run by Benjamin Turquier. We had a fun 2 hours making baguettes and croissants and sampling other baked goods. It was also an interesting insight into how a real bakery is operated. We had taken a baguette class last year at La Cuisine Paris which was very good too and more geared toward home baking (they used flour close to US all purpose, regular ovens, pans, etc) so this class in an actual bakery complemented the other class well. We thought the baguettes we made at La Cuisine were good but these were on another level and we’re now even more spoiled. The class was €75 per person. There’s no set schedule. It’s basically whatever time/date you and Benjamin agree on. No early mornings because they’re too busy baking. After the class we stopped at a wine bar in the Marche des Enfants Rouge and chatted some more before wishing Abby and Tomas a fun time in Dordogne.

Verjus Wine Bar
We slowly meandered back toward our hotel and decided to stop in Verjus wine bar for nibbles and drinks (I know, do we ever stop eating)? We ordered the pork belly (very nice), veal meatballs (OK), cheese plate (good) and ricotta cake (loved this). With a bottle of wine, our bill came to €71.

Website for the boulangerie http://www.barapain.com/accueil.htm

Benjamin's email bturquier@hotmail.com

You are putting me to shame Patty, I've not even begun my trip report! Although I did get my pictures together.

It was great meeting everyone. The baking class sounds really great. I'm looking forward to hearing about your other adventures.

Can wait for your pics and report, Toucan!

Lunch at Pottoka
We thought it would be interesting to try some different regional cuisines this time so chose Pottoka and later in the trip FL. Mark had the lamb cannelloni and chicken from the weekday ardoise (€17 for 2 courses or €22 for 3) and I had the scallop tartare and lamb cocotte. We both enjoyed the food but thought it was just slightly oversalted. The portions were big too so we were both stuffed after 2 courses and had to skip dessert (darn, I wanted the try the gateau Basque). With a carafe of wine and 2 coffees, our lunch came to €68. We’d love some more recs for regional cuisines if anyone has suggestions for next time.

Dinner at L’Office
I had high expectations for L’Office as it had been praised by a food writer who I’ve found we share similar tastes with. While we thought what they were doing was very interesting, we found that not all of the flavors worked for us. Dinner options are written on the wall and consisted of 3 choices per course at €27/€33/€39 for 2/3/4 courses. Mark started with the calamari followed by the chestnut ravioli with beef and I had the beef carpaccio and lotte. We both thought my 2 dishes were better than his 2. We shared a cheese plate of cantal & fourme d’ambert and the chocolate with noisette and mandarine dessert. Based on my 2 dishes, it’s definitely some place I wouldn’t mind trying again. During the meal, we were discussing other restaurants and Septime was mentioned (our favorite last trip). The owner overheard us and came right over to our table. He must have had supersonic hearing He said that Grebaut was a good friend of his and thought that Septime has some of the best food in Paris right now. I sensed some friendly rivalry too. Dinner was €110 with 6 glasses of wine.

Lunch at Sola and melting in the Pompidou
Sola was one of the meals I had to cancel last time because we just couldn’t eat another multi course meal. I was still very curious about it so it went back on the list. Lunch is 4 courses (2 entrees/1 plat/1 dessert) for €35 or 6 courses (2 of each) for €50. There’s a choice of fish or meat for the main (they don’t tell you what kind of fish or meat) but otherwise no choice. We decided to go with 4 courses with Mark opting for fish and meat for me. The meal started with a sweet potato amuse followed by seared foie with miso (mmm…). The second starter was smoked egg with calamari and pear. For mains, Mark had brill and I had pork belly and loin (this was delicious). Dessert was vanilla ice cream with chocolate and meringue. No mignardises were served. An excellent meal and you could see the Japanese influence coming through. €110 with 3 glasses of wine, coffee and tea.

After lunch, we crossed the Seine passing Notre Dame. It’s the warmest day since we got here. We made our way to the Pompidou and decided to go in. It was so warm inside (warmer than outside) that we couldn’t stay long. It didn’t help that we’d packed mostly winter-y clothes and were overdressed for the weather. We decided to return some other time and walked back out into the beautiful afternoon.

Dinner at Les Saisons www.restaurant-les-saisons.com
What a great neighborhood bistro! We started with the house made duck rillettes and could’ve eaten pots and pots of these. A 3 course menu for €31 with 2 choices of starter and main as well as a la carte are offered at dinner. Mark started with the perfectly seared foie followed by Basque pork and I took the menu selecting the salmon tataki followed by cabillaud and fruit salad with sherbet for dessert. Simple, well executed food, a great complement to today's lunch. At the neighboring table sat an adorable French bulldog. €93 with a bottle of wine. The owners are a lovely couple, he cooks and she runs the front of house. They’ve been open for 3 months and after I mentioned John Talbott’s blog when she asked how I’d heard about them, she showed me a copy she’d printed pointing to the “my goodness, my gosh, my golly” and saying she didn’t know if that was good or bad. I assured her it was good!

Fun reading your report. I really enjoyed our two get-togethers in Paris. Home since Saturday night and hoping to start my trip report soon.

Welcome back, Nikki! Looking forward to your report.

I'm hungry after looking at your photos.
Like you, I love the wine bars and would love to eat my way through them all. Sorry our trip didn't coincide with the GTG.

Sorry we missed you, cigalechanta!

any photos of the gtg?

Oh yummy! Wish I could have gotten to Paris during those dates.

Lunch at FL, paves at Michel Chaudun and tea at Un Dimanche a Paris
Another restaurant with regional cuisine, this time Picardy instead of Basque. A weekday formule with 2 choices per course at €20 for 2 courses or €24 for 3 is offered plus another 3 course menu with a choice of main at €29 and a la carte options. We both went with the formule with Mark selecting the ficelle picarde (good but very rich, I could only eat a couple of bites) and pork belly (can there be enough pork belly?) while I chose the terrine de canard and tacaud. The pork belly came with a very nice macaroni topped with pied de cochon. We both thought Mark’s 2 dishes were better than mine but they were such big portions I could’ve never finished them. Stuffed again, we skipped dessert. The total came to €60 with a carafe of wine and 2 coffees.

We stopped at Michel Chaudun to buy some chocolate paves and all I have to say is OMG. We were told they only have a shelf life of 10 days like that was going to be a problem

We made our way to the 6th for tea and a pastry at Un Dimanche a Paris. We saw our translator from the chocolate truffle class that we took here in December and chatted with her a bit. It was not quite tea time in the restaurant but not a problem as most of the lunch diners had left. I had a rooibos and a choux pistache fruits rouges and Mark had a refreshing Coca Cola on another warm day. I like the pastries here.

I think everyone forgot to take photos of the GTG except for the food!

Frenchie wine bar and dinner at Albion
We wanted to check out Frenchie wine bar before dinner so left our hotel precisely at 6:30pm to walk over because we knew we had to be there right when they opened. We actually got there just before 7:00pm and they were already open and we and another couple took the last 4 seats at a communal table for 4. So get there before 7:00pm. By 7:00pm it’s standing room only. We ordered the burrata with boudin noir which was really good. With 2 glasses of champagne and a glass of wine, it was €42. Almost everything on the bottle list is available by the glass. Our neighbors had a 7:30pm reservation at the restaurant and were told they had to be out by 9:30pm. I wouldn’t mind going back to the wine bar and trying more dishes as the one dish we tried seemed very promising but don’t know how I feel about the whole eating on their terms thing.

From Frenchie we walked to Albion for dinner. This is a good size restaurant/wine store by the former chef of Fish. Throughout the evening there were many walk-ins including a party of 6 and they were able to seat them (hey, another good place to hold a GTG). I didn’t have high expectations of Albion, I don’t know why, but it pleasantly surprised me. Everything is a la carte and there are enough but not too many choices, maybe 3 per course. Mark had the carpaccio and lamb chops and I had the squid risotto and rouget. I wished the risotto had a little more than a sprinkling of squid but everything was consistently well prepared without trying to be too elaborate. The date cake for dessert was yummy. With a bottle of wine and 2 coffees, it was €91. There are windows on the floor of the restaurant to the cellar below which I noticed everyone including me skirted around. I know you can’t fall through but it’s still freaky.

A Charlotka at Café Pouchkine, lunch at Willi’s and a Paris Walks tour
Can’t believe it’s our last full day in Paris already. The time has flown by. I still hadn’t made it to Café Pouchkine located on the ground floor of Printemps so made a point to head there in the morning. There’s a small counter seating area where we shared a Charlotka with coffee. The pastries here are the most gorgeous I’ve ever seen and the flavor lived up to the visual appeal. I marveled at the tray of viennoiserie too but unfortunately didn’t have room for any. Lunch was unplanned today and since we’d decided at the last minute to try a Paris Walks tour that started at Etienne Marcel metro that afternoon, Willi’s wine bar seemed a good place to stop on the way. The lunch menu consisted of several choices per course with 2 courses at €21 and 3 at €26 but they were fine with me just having a plat. Mark started with the scallop tartare followed by the cabillaud and I had the pintade which I really liked. €76 with a pichet of wine (I feel their wines are somewhat overpriced). Again not something I’d go out of my way for but very convenient for what we wanted. The food is better than Juveniles but I like Juveniles better as a wine bar. Will’s feels like a restaurant to me.

We get to Etienne Marcel and see a big group ahead. As we get closer we realize they’re French speaking and the Paris Walks group is much smaller, about 14 people. One person commented how big our group was only to have our guide Oriel say it was very small. I’ve heard they can have over 50 people but the good thing is that you don’t have to commit in advance and can scope things out before deciding to join. This afternoon’s walk was the Old Les Halles Market District. Over the next 2 hours we explored several passages and Saint Eustache church among other things. We also got an interesting lesson in etymology. It was thoroughly worth the €12 per person. The tour ended at the cookware store E. Dehillerin where I bought some copper canele tins. I love caneles and the tins were so cute I couldn’t resist. Now I’m going to have to learn how to make them! I even remembered to bring my La Cuisine discount card from last time. Apparently it’s reusable over and over because they just handed it back to me.

Patty, thanks for the trip report. We will have to add some of your places to our June trip. What is the La Cuisine discount card? I meant to get to Dehillerin for some silpat but forgot until I saw the one I have at home. Ah well.

What a great food report - thanks for being so thorough with all the info.

Looking forward to the rest!

We got a card for 10% off at Dehillerin for taking a class at La Cuisine Paris last year. Do you want to borrow it? I'd be happy to mail it to you.

Dinner at La Table d’Aki
This is a small 16 seat restaurant located in the 7th but more towards the 6th side recently opened by a chef who worked at L’Ambroisie for 20 years. I had heard about it just before we left so it was a last minute addition and I’m so glad we went there. Dinner is a choice of 3 or 4 courses for €45 or €58. The only difference is one less entrée for the 3 course and you get to choose which of the two entrees you want. Otherwise, it’s no choice. It’s also all seafood. Lunch is a different format with 3 courses I think and a choice between fish or meat for the main and you can choose to have as few as 1 or as many as 3 courses. I had read that chef Akihiro Horikoshi did everything himself including serving but tonight there’s someone helping out (his wife?) or maybe at lunch it’s only him. Service is a tiny bit slow and slightly confused but we had sort of expected that. We chose the 4 course which started with a fish rillette amuse followed by the ravioli langoustine. The ravioli was delicious and I could’ve eaten plate after plate of this. Seared scallops with an olive tapenade was next (also very nice) followed by turbot for the main and a dessert of vanilla millefeuille with pear (yum). The total with a bottle of Sancerre was €146. We chatted with the chef for a bit after dinner and between our tiny bit of French, his little bit of English and some gesturing, we were able to communicate where we were from, how we heard about his restaurant, how much we loved the ravioli, etc. They tried to call us a taxi but no taxi was coming on a rainy Saturday night so we walked a bit before seeing someone exit a taxi and we hopped right in.

Breakfast at the Park Hyatt, lunch at L’Ecluse and train to Reims
I finally slept through the night and woke up at 8:00am this morning so decided to have breakfast at the hotel. I don’t usually eat breakfast because a) I don’t generally wake up in time and b) I don’t want to spoil lunch but today we had no specific plans since we were taking the train to Reims later. It was an extravagant affair in a beautiful room but the coffee wasn’t up to par and at €48 per person not something I’d be doing on my own dime. We walked around and did a little bit of shopping at the Carrousel du Louvre (a sign says “we are open even on Sunday”). Mark was hungry again so we stopped at the L’Ecluse at the Place du Marche Saint Honore where he had the tagiatelle with foie gras and I had a small salad. €40 with 3 glasses of wine. I wanted to stop at Hugo & Victor again but apparently this branch has changed their hours and is no longer open on Sunday. We went back to the hotel, packed, checked out and took at cab to Gare de l’Est. A quick 45 minute TGV ride and we were in Reims.

Maison d’hotes Les Telliers
We walked the 500 meters or so from the train station to our B&B. What a lovely place run by a friendly couple, Renaud and Veronique. There are 2 guest rooms one on the first floor and another on the second. We chose Les Jumeaux on the first. The room is quite large and nicely decorated with a renovated bathroom. At €75 a night including breakfast we thought it was a bargain. The owners gave us helpful suggestions on what to see and do and also made few restaurant and tour bookings for us before our arrival and during our stay. There are 2 cats on the premises but they don’t go into the guest rooms and Mark had no problems even though he is allergic to cats. My only slight quibble is that I think the other guest room was directly above ours and the floors were very creaky so we could hear every footstep even though I’m sure they were trying to be as quiet as possible. Good coffee at breakfast with fresh squeezed juice, yogurt, fruit, croissant, baguette and nice jams. They also provided us with a champagne bucket, glasses, plates and cutlery whenever we needed. They’ve been open as a B&B since 2008. Formerly it was a private house.

More, please!

Website for the B&B www.telliers.fr

Patty - I have no idea how you managed all of that - it is truly formidable!

and remembering what you ate everywhere as well - i thought that I was good at that but you are a past mistress at it.

it is a shame we took no pics of each other, just of the food. I liked Neva, but was a little disappointed with the quality of my beef which had a ligament or something similar running through it, and i noticed that AGM's DH had the same problem; had we not been with a group i think that we would both have mentioned it but didn't like to with everyone else there. but otherwise it was terrific and of course the company was even better!

I document everything with photos and in my journal

Bummer about your beef. You should've said something although I understand what you mean about being with a group.

I just opened my box of Jacques Genin chocolates and noticed it says to consume by March 31st. That's going to be a hardship!

Mephisto saved my husband’s feet
One of the first things we needed to do in Reims was find Mark some new shoes, his feet were killing him! There just so happens to be a Mephisto store here. It was the end of the season and he must have a popular foot size because we had to inquire about a dozen different models before they could find anything in his size. He ended up with a pair of loafers that he wore for the rest of the trip. He swears by them now. We didn’t realize how much more they cost in the US til we got home and he wishes he’d bought several pairs. I told him we can take an empty suitcase next time.

Patty, you've got the skills to pay the bills! Another great report with amazing detail, and, no, I am not shocked, though I am someone who cannot even remember what she had for lunch today. Love the photos too Thanks so much.

Looking forward to eating in Reims with you and Mark next.

Nice report and great pictures. How do you folks stay so slim?

Thanks for the additional comments everyone! We walk 10+ km per day on these trips and I actually end up losing a couple of lbs by the end. I call it my pastry diet Oh and we don't eat anywhere like this at home.

I just had a chance to take a look at the pictures, very nice. The champagne tours look really interesting.

I had the entrecote ae Neva as well, but I didn't have any chewy bits. Sorry to hear that annhig and agm did.

I loved E. Dehillerin (sp?) after walking around in circles a bit to find it. I bought a mandolin because I needed one and because I wanted to say I bought something there I had a very helpful shop agent attend to me.

It looks like I should have popped into St. Eustache though, nice pics!

Thanks, Toucan! The champagne tours were indeed very interesting. I had no idea what went into making it.

I started out with one agent at Dehillerin but they didn't have what I wanted so I browsed through the store and grabbed another agent when I saw the canele tins. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do that cause I was quickly reunited with the first one.

I just realized I lost my entire Reims food part cause I forgot to save it

Museums and sights in Reims
The nice thing about Reims in March is that we had almost every place to ourselves. We visited Notre Dame cathedral a few times, returning at different times of the day or when the light was nice to take more photos. It was probably the busiest place we went but that’s relative to the lack of visitors elsewhere.

The first museum we went to was the Musee de la Reddition or Surrender Museum. There we bought a ticket good for 1 visit each to 6 museums/sights valid for one month for €3 per person. We managed to make it to 3 of the museums and left the remaining coupons for our hosts. This is a small museum (most museums here are small and everything is closed for a 2 hour lunch break) and the site where the German surrender was signed. Good for those interested in WWII history.

We also visited the Beaux Arts museum which was again small but with a very good collection. There were several pieces by Leonard Foujita who I was unfamiliar with before. I loved his work and wished that we could’ve visited the chapel that he designed in town but it was closed until May.

The third museum we visited was the Saint Remi museum located in the former abbey next to Saint Remi basilica on the southern end of town close to where many of the champagne houses are. This was the largest of the museums we visited and we didn’t have time to see it all but it contains antiquities, prehistoric artifacts, military paraphernalia and it seemed like just about everything they couldn’t fit in the other museums. We also visited the basilica itself which was very striking in the afternoon light.

Finally we visited the automobile museum which is €8 per person and not part of the 6 museum ticket. Housed in the museum is a Torpedo Scar manufactured in Reims in 1908.

Half day tour with Cris Event www.cris-event.fr
We were originally going to take a daytrip by train to Epernay but our host Renaud suggested this tour and we were very glad we took this instead. Our guide Isabelle picked us up at our B&B after lunch and we headed into the Champagne countryside. We toured and tasted at Champagne Lemaire in Hautvillers, visited the abbey in Hautvillers where Dom Perignon is buried and stopped briefly in Epernay. The tour lasted about 4 hours and our guide offered to take us to the village of Verzenay too but it was getting late so we opted to return to Reims. A very enjoyable afternoon and we learned so much. Well worth the €40 per person cost and it ended up being a private tour for just the 3 of us (our host also went along).

Tour of Champagne Ruinart
Ruinart came highly recommended by our hosts and we read reviews of several champagne houses in Reims before deciding on this tour. I think there are a few champagne houses in town that you can just drop in on but this one needs to be booked preferably far in advance as they only take 8 persons per tour and on this particular day there was only one tour. We started the booking process 5 weeks in advance by filling out their online form. After not hearing back, we asked our hosts to call for us and they replied with a date and time that was available. Then we waited about another week before we received an email from Ruinart asking for our credit card information to secure our booking (the €35 per person tour cost needs to be prepaid) and then another few days before we received a final confirmation by email. All in all it was about a 2 week process but it was worth the effort. Our guide was Emilie who was the same person I was corresponding with by email. She was very knowledgeable and we were able to ask many questions without feeling the least bit rushed. At the end of the tour, we went into a reception room and tasted the 2002 Dom Ruinart and 1998 Dom Ruinart Rose. We were there for about 2.5 hours. It was a very leisurely paced tour that didn’t feel canned. I believe you can have additional tastings by paying a supplement but it was getting late and we didn’t want to miss the basilica.

Food in Reims and dinner at Le Bocal
If there was one thing that was bit of a letdown in Reims, it was the food especially after Paris. We didn’t try any fine dining so can’t comment on that but of the more casual establishments we did try, we came to the conclusion that keeping it very simple often worked much better. Not that anything was downright bad (except for one place), it was just nothing to get excited about. We also found most portions here on the large side so usually opted for only 2 courses with Mark getting an entrée and plat and me a plat and dessert (I have my priorities)! Service was good everywhere and everyone was nice and welcoming so I almost hate to post some of the following.

First the good part, the one exception and standout food wise was Le Bocal www.poissonneriedeshalles.fr a tiny 12 seat restaurant upstairs of the fish market that's on Rue de Mars across the street from the covered market under renovation and not far from the train station. We walked in at 7:30pm and were able to get seated but the place filled up quickly. We both started with oysters and langoustines. The langoustines were so sweet and delicious that we had to order another round. Mark had scallops and polenta as his main, perfectly cooked and seasoned, and I had the oyster parmentier. We shared a faisselle miel for dessert. €78 with 3 glasses of champagne. This was our last meal in Reims and what a great way to end things!

Other meals in Reims
Cote Cuisine was OK and one of the few options open on Sunday but there are better choices on other days of the week. Most restaurants were open Tuesday through Saturday, some on Monday.

La Table Anna was really mediocre and we gave up before dessert. An amuse of ham and cream cheese blended together set the tone for the meal After dinner we walked past a creperie on the same street and wished we’d eaten there.

Le Jardin at Les Crayeres had a nice setting, great service and beautiful looking food but we wished it had more flavor. My scallop main was perfectly cooked but a bit on the bland side. Mark’s langoustine ravioli starter and cabillaud main was similar. My profiterole dessert was wonderful though. There’s a 2 course lunch menu for €28 with 2 choices per course but it didn’t appeal that day so we ordered a la carte and our bill came to €117 with 1 glass of champagne, 3 glasses of wine and 2 coffees. All of the ladies who lunch were dining here and it’s a pleasant enough place. It was also very convenient to the champagne houses in the southern part of town. There’s a formal restaurant called Le Parc at Les Crayeres and we debated dining there. They offer a 3 course lunch menu for €65.

La Table des Halles is another restaurant on Rue de Mars where we found some of the better restaurants we experienced to be clustered. There was a tapas bar farther down this street that looked interesting too. A 2 course lunch formule is offered for €16 as well as a la carte. Mark started with the escargot croustillant followed by the canette and I took the formule which was braised pork on noodles and had a café gourmand for dessert. Bits of my pork were a little dry but Mark’s dishes were better and overall it was fine. €71 with a glass of champagne, 3 glasses of wine and an extra coffee.

Hall Place www.hallplace.fr is a wine bar sandwiched on Rue de Mars between Le Bocal and La Table des Halles. Practically all of the other diners at these 3 establishments knew each other except for us. Inside are high communal tables for 8 with regular tables outside along the sidewalk. They’re open pretty much all day so good for eating at odd hours and now that I think of it, they might even be open on Sunday but I’m not sure. They’re definitely open on Monday. We chose this place for a quick lunch before our tour with Cris Event and it fit the bill. Mark had the cote de veau and I had a salade fermiere, simple food, good ingredients, well cooked. We would go back here too. We skipped dessert as we were running low on time. €56 with a glass of champagne, 2 glasses of wine and 2 coffees.

My Jacques Genins are no longer chocolates. They are now diet pills http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/26/149407484/does-a-chocolate-habit-help-keep-you-lean

Yes, Patty, just keep telling yourself that.

Reims sounds terrific.

Patty,
Thanks for the restaurant suggestions....copying them down for our visit to Reims in May. Looking forward to being surrounded by fabulous champagne for 4 days.

Leely, I'm very well practiced at it

Have a fabulous time cornelius!

TGV seating confusion and misc CDG
Am I the only one who wasn’t aware that the French don’t bother following TGV seat assignments? We boarded our train back to CDG to find another couple already in our seats. First let me back up a bit, a direct train departs from Champagne Ardenne station (8 km from Reims) to CDG so that’s the station we departed from. It was €20 and 10 min by taxi on a weekday mid-morning. The new tram also goes there but takes longer and stops just shy but within short walking distance of the station. Back to the train, I was confused and stupidly asked a fellow passenger if this was voiture 12 when there was a sign right above my head. When the seat poachers were approached, they were very dismissive pointing to all of the other empties. It was a short ride so we just sat elsewhere but I would’ve been peeved if it was a longer ride especially since I picked duo vis a vis seats. Later I read on David Lebowitz’s blog that this was quite normal but Mark still wants to learn how to say “yes there are many other empty seats and you should take one of them” for next time

I had time to buy a few more Laduree macarons at CDG and decided the only one I like is their fleur d’oranger, the rest I find too sweet. We also marveled at how polite the security people are here. I accidently dropped my boarding pass when taking all of my things out of the xray bin and the agent sitting at the xray terminal kindly got up and retrieved it for me with a smile. Another agent apologized for making Mark take his shoes off. Apparently there’s some metal part inside his new Mephistos. Can you imagine that happening in the US?

Inside the Air France lounges at 2E are mini-spas offering 15-20 minute treatments sponsored by Clarins. I’ve never had a chance to try one because there was usually a wait but this time I was able to get the next time slot. The menu was in French and while I speak food, I don’t speak spa. I guessed and ended up with #14 a head, neck and shoulder massage which is exactly what I wanted. It was nice and relaxing if over too quickly. I was expecting a hard sell at the end because I’m conditioned to think that anything “free” comes with a hard sell but all I got were some product samples.

We're home and plotting our return, thinking we need to visit Lyon next time.

Oh, that seating thing drives me insane. Happens ALL the time. Yeah, I get that we can sit in other empty seats, but what happens when the owners of those seats want to sit in them? Well, we'll move for sure, because we're like that. But wouldn't it be easier if everyone just sat in the seats printed on their tickets?!?!

Didn't mean to rant. Really enjoyed your report.

Happy plotting!

We saw that happen with a group of 8 friends and they had to move when the school group to whom the seats belonged got on! Turned out to be a pain for everyone.

We had it happen when there weren't other seats available. Fortunately the conductor was coming through so we asked him for help with the scofflaws!

We accidentely sat in some French people's seats once on TGV to Paris so when they boarded the train they told conductor we were in their seats but rather than making us move they just took some other seats so I will never get upset if it happens to us. Guess it is just how they do things there.

Thanks all for sharing your train experiences! I guess we've always boarded at the point of origination so never had it happen to us or noticed it before. It was really the utterly disdainful look this couple gave us rather than being polite about it that got under my husband's skin, like we were the weirdos for not taking any available seat which I guess we were

Thanks everyone for reading and allowing me to relive our trip!

I just finished the last of my Genins. Just in time too. One of them had started to develop a distinctive cheesy aroma Time to break open the JPHs.

I brought back some chocolates from Maison du Chocolat for a friend and she sends me slightly pornographic texts regarding how good they are. She's also pretty happy that they are now "diet"

Those chocolates are diet? Should have had more of them then.

What a great trip report

I loved the delicious food photos and all the details of your adventures. I'm hoping that some of the Fodorites are having a GTG when we are in Paris in Sept.'12. It would be such fun to put faces to the names I've grown to trust for Paris information.

I'm going to need therapy when I run out of chocolates.

I may brave the canele making next weekend.

Have a fabulous trip, TPAYT!

Oh my goodness! I looked at your photos and..... The marvelous meals you had!

Train seats are similarly disregarded in Italy We had no seat available on one train (First Class)
and another with no first class car on the train so we just sat somewhere else.???

Wonderful stuff and terrific pictures. thanks. We'll be there in October and are interested in trying some new places. Lots of ideas here.

ediemay,
I would've expected it in Italy

Thanks, Grasshopper and Julie!

Patty--

You are sooooo right lol.

Hi Patty, I have just read your thread and enjoyed it completely. It is August 8, 2012 and your photos are not longer available on shutter fly. Is it possible you could re send them; I really would like to see all that which you have described.

My husband and I will be traveling your route to a major degree next May and June. Your restaurant experiences seem so like the tastes we look for. I hope to see them first from your eyes.
Thank you.

I would also love to see your pictures! I enjoyed reading your report.

Thanks, Curiousaboutit and annesherrod! Try this link:

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNnDlk5YtmbqA

When the pics got transferred from Kodakgallery to Shutterfly the order was scrambled. I've put them back in more or less the original order but let me know if anything doesn't make sense. A few pics also went missing but I think the food ones are mostly there.

Patty, great pics and such yummy food.

Merci for sharing. Looks like you folks had a great time...

Dear Patty,
Je vous remercie pour le partage de vos photos. (I thank you for sharing your photos)
I have saved them to share with my husband. Your dining choices are so delicious looking...yum. I have made note of the Paris restaurants and the fish restaurant in Reims. I am salivating. If there is more to share I eagerly await the read.

Curiousaboutit,
Another restaurant that we really enjoyed from our December trip was Kei (click on my name if you want to read that report). I saw your thread and am very envious of your 5 weeks. Have a great time!

Hey Hi Patty,
I am tickled to have clicked on your name...I saw your puppy (same as ours) and that you live in Los Angeles (so do we). I don't have but this quick second to write another thank you. I would like to chat with you later...FOOD TALK and unique locations. Last year my husband and I had our 36 anniversary dinner at El Bulli which is in Roses, Spain. I would like to share that with you.
Gotta go. Bye for now.

bookmarking

so bookmarking this!!! sensational!!!! Thanks