Day 2—a Friday
Brasserie Lutetia and La Mediterranee

Lunch at Brasserie Lutetia

How selected—This was a “drive by” spotted from the bus. (Another reason to go by bus rather than metro.) I immediately pulled the cord for a stop and we got out and walked across the street in hopes that they could seat us without a reservation. Luckily they could.

Results--Plateau de fruits de mer, heavy on the oysters, was just what the doctor ordered and one of the better plateaus I’ve had including some directly on the sea. The place is also stunning, done over recently by Sonja Reikel, preserving the brasserie look but with a contemporary twist in stainless, mirrors, glass and black. Really exciting space that is the perfect spot in which to feature plates of grey and pink/red seafood.

The plateau for two was 76 euros, certainly not bad for the amount and quality of the offering—and the lovely surrounds in which to consume it.

Dinner at La Mediterranee

How selected--We reserved a day in advance as we’d walked by on our exploration of our hotel neighborhood (Odeon area), and selected this as the venue for our birthday/anniversary meal, though I’d never heard the place mentioned in guidebooks or foodie articles with any great regularity or emphasis.

Results—This joined Lutetia in becoming an all seafood day—and a very good one. DH started with carpaccio of sea bream with mustard seeds which he raved about. My tuna tartare was a thing of beauty perched in the center of the plate with condiments of various colors on onion slices also of varying sizes, placed around it to resemble an artists palate. As pretty as it was delicious.

Our mains were seafood soup for DH (you’ll see a pattern emerging here soon) and roast monkfish with celery root pureed potatoes for me. Though DH prefers shellfish to fin fish and his soup was all the latter and none of the former, he was still very happy with it based on the wonderful nature of the broth. I was likewise happy with the monkfish, but enraptured with the celery root/potato puree. I’ve tried without success to replicate it since returning home. Guess I’ll just have to schedule a return visit.

Though total bill came to 205 euros, a sizable percentage of it was devoted to celebratory wine and on the whole my impression was of food that was relatively moderately priced.

Day 3—a Saturday

A little place in Montmartre and Le Christine

Lunch at L’Ete en Pounce Douce (or something like that).

How selected--This was a truly serendipitous selection. As rain threatened and no other options appeared, we ducked in and they took us.

Results—In some respects this was an example of “you get what you reserve” and since we didn’t reserve, we didn’t get much. It certainly wasn’t a spectacular meal of any sort, and yet it really wasn’t a bad one. The place was quirky-cute in a bohemian kind of way with a beautiful painted glass ceiling and painted side mirrors. Service was slow because it filled up almost immediately upon our being seated and there were way more diners than servers to assist them—saying something about the popularity of the place since the rain abated fairly quickly.

DH wound up with a really interesting dish—Duck in a salt blanket. A half duck was completely covered in a blanket made of bread and salt and then roasted. It came to the table in its blanket which could be lifted off almost intact to reveal a somewhat unattractive but fairly tasty duck which DH proceeded to devour. I had pork rolled around meatloaf atop a bed of haricots verts. The pork/meatloaf rouladen was likewise tasty and incredibly plentiful with two thick cuts.

So maybe, on second thought we got more than we deserved for our or lack of reservations—a decent, good, even, meal in cute if cramped surroundings but with slow service and at 55 euros for the two meals and a bottle of reddish rose a very reasonable one at that. I’ll admit, however, that I’d never make a point to seek this place out for a return visit—unless I was in the neighborhood and it started to rain.

Dinner at Le Christine

How selected--We reserved by phone from the Zagat guide on the same day, based on the list of places in the hotel area that I’d compiled and upon the rather high food rating it gets in Zagat.

Results—This was a very, very good meal in a very, very nice dining room and I’m absolutely amazed that we were able to get a same day reservation. Zagat gives them a well-deserved 23 food score. We started with an amuse of mackerel mousse—light, airy, with just a little graininess and a very delicate taste of the fish. An appetizer of salmon tartare was respectable if not innovative, another of tomatoes and basil was exciting and the beef steak with roasted skin on potatoes and traditional béarnaise sauce was nicely comforting.

We even had desserts, something we don’t do often-- chocolate soufflé and crème brulee with lemon crunchies, both of which were pretty and tasty. At 179 euros, this was one of our more expensive meals but again, not so bad when the wine is deducted.

We were seated in the back room which has a sophisticated feel with nice art and bare stone walls, very commodious. The Zagat entry suggests that the place is
overrun with tourists and it may be so. The tables on both sides of us had English speakers including two American women discussing their experiences at Pat’s (presumably Wells) cooking school. On that basis, I’d say at least that the English-speaking clientele is at least a discerning one.

Day 4—a Sunday
Le Petit Bofinger and Louis Vins

Lunch at Le Petit Bofinger

How selected—We were in the area as I had expected to be when lunch time rolled around. Our choices narrowed down to Bofinger itself, or Petit Bofinger across the street. Having been at the parent, it seemed time to try the offspring. Lucky we were there just as they were starting their lunch service, because within about a half hour of our arrival, the place was filled, presumably with families and even parties of people who most likely had reserved ahead.

Results—The décor is, of course, nowhere near the equal of the real thing. Still it’s a nice representation of the Paris bistro millieu with a nice mosaic floor and great old time posters on the walls.

The menu is pretty standard, which is what you want in a bistro. I was drawn to it over the one at Bofinger, the original, because it had a favorite dish—potatoes with munster. Unfortunately this proved to be my only disappointment when they served not a dish of wonderful boiled potatoes with sticky, ooey, gooey, stinky munster melting into them, but a dumbed down version of the cheese layered into an almost pate-like slice saved only by being surrounded by bacon.

DH didn’t go wrong with his selection of oysters and fish soup (did I tell you that you’d see a pattern emerge here?) My main of magret de canard in raspberry sauce was redemptive but I’ll admit that next time I am faced with the choice, I’ll return to the original. Dining here is, as you would expect, less expensive than dining across the street. Our lunch for two with a bottle of wine and a beer came to 8 euros.

Dinner at Louis Vins

How selected—This was another situation where I called earlier in the day and made reservations for the evening. We’d dined here before (near the Maubert Mutualite metro stop) and found it agreeable, and so wanted to return, but not enough to reserve way ahead and require that we go on a certain day.

Results—The place is pretty with yellow tables and bouquets of yellow tulips. As far as I can tell, it’s newly decorated but made to look as if it has been around a long time. If you’re looking for a place that looks like you’d want a Paris bistro to look, this could very well be it. Tables are very close together which, if you’re seated next to a boor that you can understand—as we were, can mar the meal significantly.

The meal on its own, without the accompaniment of the boor, was quite fine. I had fresh white asparagus with mustard sauce—good but more than necessary—and a deconstructed tete de veau with ravigote sauce similarly deconstructed. All the right tastes were there, but the deconstruction wreaked a bit of havoc with the textures. Nonetheless after I got over the surprise of not having the dish look as I expected, I’d have to give it at least a B, possibly even a B+.

Best of the meal was the dessert, a Camembert with balsamic and onions. This I’d have again and again and will try to make at home. Dinner with the customary bottle of wine and a pre-dinner beer was 110 euros for two.


Day 5—a Monday
New Nioullaville and D’Chez Eux

Lunch at New Nioullaville, DH’s Chinese meal for this trip.

How selected--No reservations. Aside from weekend dim sum which can engender lines, Chinese restaurants, especially large ones, are seldom complet, and this one was almost empty. No problem. The place had come to my attention through the Zagat guide and in an effort to satisfy the hunger I knew DH would develop for a Chinese meal, I’d kept the place in mind and actually set out to find it.

Results—We had it all. Porc siu mai, crab boulettes, fish soup, grilled raviolis of pork, duck soup, steamed pork riblets with black beans, chicken feet—patte poulet etuvees, and even some other things—9 different dishes in all. Most were quite fine but no better than the dim sum we have when we return to our old homestead in Minneapolis, actually Bloomington, where the Mall of America is.

It dawned on me as I made this comparison that all of the people who prepare these dishes come from the same place. Some wind up in Bloomington. Others wind up in Paris. No reason that those who wind up in the latter should naturally cook any better than those who wind up in the former, just because I enjoy the native food of Paris (of which I’m told there is none—only the native food of the French provinces) more than I enjoy the general food of Bloomington. At 78 euros for two with a bottle of wine and a beer, this was not as cheap as the customary Chinese dining experience. Most of the dim sum plates were 5 euros apiece.

Dinner at D’Chez Eux

How selected—This was another lucky break. My call earlier in the day got us what was probably the last remaining table.

Results—This is the restaurant where Chirac took Putin and it’s been basking in that stardom ever since. Apparently it has, however, always been a well thought of, classic bistro of southwestern provenance cited on this board and other gourmet sites with some frequency. We were seated in the “front porch” area which is probably not the best place in the restaurant. I found the olive drab bench seats a bit off putting. And once again we had noisy English speaking neighbors who detracted from the experience.

Foodwise the place ran the gamut from ok to great. DH had herring in oil with potatoes and duck confit and fried potatoes. Both were good but not the best of their ilk in his opinion. I had duck fois gras and cassoulet—the typical order in a southwestern French bistro. The fois gras was good but not as melting as others I’ve had. The Cassoulet was, however, right up there with the best of them. Dinner with wine was 152 euros but the fois gras appetizer alone was 26.

Day 6—a Tuesday
Stephane Martin and Chez Maitre Paul

Lunch at Stephane Martin in the 15th

How selected--This was probably the most serendipitous of all our selections. After touring the Parc Andre Citroen which seems to be in a culinary wasteland in a remote corner of the 15th, we got ourselves on a bus which promptly stopped for its end of the line wait. I used the time to study the bus route and check possible restaurants in my Zagat guide that we might sail by.

I became very excited when I saw that we’d be near Les Petites Sorcieres, the place where Ghislain Arabian, a rather infamous hot headed female Belgian chef has just begun sharpening her knives. I immediately called, but alas, no room for those sans reservations—so you see, it does happen. You can be shut out because you didn’t call ahead, in some instances, a long time ahead, which is probably the case with the volatile Ms. Arabian.

I began to resign myself to the most horrible thing I can think of in Paris—the potential for a bad meal. Then what to my wondering eyes should appear out the window of our bus but the sign for the restaurant Stephane Martin. It had been on my list of places to check out for several trips, and there it was, just in the nick of time. Again, I immediately pushed the arret button, and we walked about two doors back to the corner to inquire if we might be seated. The place is small, probably only 20 covers, and I almost hestitated to ask, but miracle of miracles, they had room for two and we were that twosome.

Results—The place is tiny and in very good taste, both from a décor and a gustatory perspective. The colors are maroon and a sort of burnt orange, so it looks understated with a bit of muted pop. Nice high backed chairs. All in all, a pleasing place for a meal.

And a really nice meal we had—as I’d expected given its 24 Zagat rating and the many laudatory reviews of the place I’d read. I started with scrambled eggs with parmesan and asparagus—perfectly melded flavors and nice, silken texture. Then I had a nicely cooked and presented daurade with fantastically oily/creamy puree of broccoli—the best taste and texture of the meal.

DH started with thinly sliced mushrooms with an acidic, vinegary sauce and chives that he pronounced perfect and one of the best mushroom dishes he’s ever had. Good thing, because it was followed by the only miss of the meal—a skinny tough, albeit tasty, piece of beef. It was, however, accompanied by a swiss chard, onion, and bacon veggie dish which made even DH, the non-veggie eater, sit up and take notice.

Dessert which we both had was three treatments of apples—fried, caramelized chunks of apple, a slice of apple pound cake, and an apple crème caramel—all yummy. And—the best for the last—the whole thing was 22 euros apiece, the Tuesday and Wednesday menu. It would only have been 17 euros each if we’d stopped after the main course, but the apples were well worth the 5 euros more.

Dinner at Chez Maitre Paul

How selected—This is a perennial favorite of ours (and of this website in years past) and was only about a block from our hotel so it was just a matter of when, not if, we’d dine there. I called the same day around lunch time and was able to reserve for dinner.

Results—We had our usual favorite meal here—Poulet Jaune avec morilles, Chicken stewed in yellow Jura wine and cream with morels. It never disappoints. It was preceeded by a traditional smoked salmon and followed by a cheese plat.

A dinner here is a traditional way for us to start or end a trip to Paris—to savor again all the wonderful food the city has to offer. The price with wine was 150 on the head, a fairly standard amount for a moderately priced “nice” dinner in Paris and about on par for the majority of dinners we booked—or didn’t book.

To wrap it up an and analyze the “To Book or not To Book Quandry”

So, by the end of the trip both DH and I felt we’d been vindicated in our positions. It wasn’t necessary to call a month ahead to reserve all our meals. It wasn’t even essential to call ahead at all for several of them, though I have to think we’d been wonderfully lucky on a couple of the places that we were able to score without reservations. Nonetheless I have to concede the point. And clearly, it’s possible to eat in some very well regarded restaurants by obtaining reservations during the same day that you intend to arrive in the evening—at least on some days in April.

However, and because I’m writing this report, not DH, it also must be noted, that none of the restaurants where we ate on this trip were among the highly popular, must get, places that we sometimes go to, e.g. we’re eating at Atelier Robuchon on an upcoming trip and I got reservations a couple of weeks ago for that meal. There are some things you just can’t leave to serendipity.

I hope the explanation about reserving in advance and how long, was helpful to some who, like I, obsess about such things. I also hope the information about the restaurants we ate at will help some of you planning yet more wonderful trip.

P.S. I also hope my tortured efforts to bold headings and put in more paragraphs as instructed by posters on another thread inquiring about trip report formats helps make the whole thing readable. One bit of advice on that score--be sure you insert all that html stuff to bold or color or whatever on your original reply because it won't let you do it when you edit. Ugh!

JulieB, thanks for the reviews. Since we are leaving Fri I promise not to make any more duplicate dinner reservations (smile!). Chex Eux has been a favorite of ours and we have eaten there all 3 trips-I am a fois gras w/ figs and cassoulet type of girl! Glad you liked it. I have no idea how anyone eats desserts there given the portions.
I am a type A planner so I appreciated your posting. I try to not plan lunches but am feeling the tug!!
Will be taking your lunch reviews with me! May try to eat at Les Petites Sorcieres.

Thank you so much for your dining report!

May I ask about the Sunday lunch at Le Petit Bofinger? I assume this is a typo:

< Our lunch for two with a bottle of wine and a beer came to 8 euros. >

Can you tell me how much the lunch actually was?

Great report. I like your format and the information you provide. Some fo these I've hear of, others are new. Some good ideas for next trip!

Julie, thanks for doing this. I ate at Le Christine and Louis Vins last week and agree with you wholeheartedly on both counts (except for the boor, which I guess we lucked out missing!)

We actually walked into both restaurants with no reservation and got seated, so we lucked out there as well, but these were in Pudlo's Restaurant guide (which I highly recommend as a bible for Paris, we loved all 4 of the restos we tried from its reviews).

I would rate Le Christine is one of my dream vacation meals...perfect in every respect.

Julie, I so enjoyed reading your report as my husband and I go through the same torture - to reserve or not reserve. He, too, likes to wander, read menus and then choose. I like to make reservations. Making reservations has sometimes backfired for me though.

Excellant reports Julie, you obviously put a huge value in your dining experiences in Paris and your prep work seems to pay off 99% of the time!

Thanks everyone for reading such a long report--and for your kind words.

Plambers, I know you will enjoy your upcoming trip and do hope you manage to snag a seat at Les Petites Sorcieres--and come back and report how it was. I've been trying to have a meal cooked by what my friend calls "the Blond Bombshell" ever since I read an article likening her to a female Gordon Ramsey.

yk, sorry about that. The meal at Petit Bofinger was 89 euros, but I expect it could have been easily cut to about 65 or so by keeping the wine cost down.

amyb, I agree with your assessment of Pudlo. I actually found most of my 6th arr. picks there, but used the Zagat to carry with me for spur of the moment checks of phone numbers, addresses, etc. since it's so much lighter than Pudlo. Have you seen "Hungry for Paris" by Alexander Lobrano yet? He reviews his top 102 restaurants. A good read as well as a good guide with some surprises. I did a review here a week or so ago. Click for it.

Rhonda, the problems I run into when I reserve well ahead are usually problems of timing. I underestimate how long it will take to get from wherever I'm sightseeing to the restaurant where we've reserved by the time of our reservation. Then DH gets unhappy if he has to stop snapping pix just to fulfill our committment to dine. Question is, is his unhappiness in that situation more or less than mine if we go without reservations and there's nothing decent nearby at the lunch hour and we face the prospect of a wasted precious meal in Paris. It's him or me.

Great information and an easy to read report - I'm saving this! Thanks for your effort in posting this.

It was funny how we ended up using Pudlo's guide. I'd spent hours going through and marking up those that might be interesting and that we might want to try. Then we got to Paris, and dinnertime came and we just opened Pudlo's to the arrondisement we were in and saw what was near where we were then. Only one (L'Epi Dupin) was one that we'd planned to try ahead and reserved that day (and we were glad we did). That's why I'm telling people that you can, literally, pick any one out of that book and get a great meal...we did! Now I have to go back and try some I'd highlighted!

I'll put that other you mention on my list for 'next time'!

Julie---great report... I like how this is organized...plus it's just nice knowing how you came to balance out your idea of planned dining with your husband's spontaneity.

I don't know if you saw this but we did an interview with Alexander Lobrano recently about his book and Paris in general:
http://www.fodors.com/news/story_2956.html

Thanks again for a great report!

Thanks, Katie. Yes, I did read the interview with Lobrano. I think his is the best book on Paris dining that I've read since the book by Robert Hamburger and wife called Paris Bistros went out of print.

Well, it is a good thing I am happily married, or I might be trying to figure out how to get your DH out of the way. You are a woman who eats after my own heart! Fortunately, so is my wife! Malheureusement, she can't drink very much wine or it gives her a migraine, but we do spend a bit less on meals because of it!

This is a great report, but oh how unhappy I would be if any trip of mine was planned around the meals, which are completely secondary to the rest of what I do in the places I visit.

Actually I have been to onerestaurant mentioned in the report -- New Nioullaville -- and I can say from my "vast" experience of Chinese restaurants in Paris that it is far from the best and at least twice as expensive as what I normally pay for a better Chinese meal.

Great report Julie, I have read and printed this, this deserves to be night time reading - I think I will do some reservations. We could hang out together, wine is of significant importance to me....I don't have the restaurants organized yet but the wine bars are a go.....

kerouac, do you have a favorite Chinese restaurant in Paris? I'm always on the lookout for them to satisfy DH's insatiable hunger for them.

I'll admit I plan days around restaurants. But that's because we've done most/all of the sights--and there are so many more restaurants to go. Invariably we go by/stop into the sights on our way to and from the restaurants--and the markets.

Hi Julie... just wanted to mention that this report was featured in this week's newsletter (scroll down):
http://www.fodors.com/newsletter/

Thanks again for posting it!

wow. how many kilos did you add on this trip. you it ate in one day my average intake for a week. did you manage to see anything of paris?

Golly Katie, I'm honored. Thanks for the recognition.

ytzme, is that moi to whom you address your remarks, the Miss Piggy of Paris?
I'll admit that we pretty much go to Paris to photo and eat and this kind of eating isn't for everyone, but we actually find that we walk so much in Paris that we usually don't gain even with all the eating that we do. Unfortunately, you fall into something of a pattern and if you don't curtail the intake upon returning home, or keep up the amount of walking, that's when you start to pack on the pounds. At least that's been my experience.

Julie

Thank you for the excellent report. I am bookmarking for future use.

Thank you for your wonderful report! You sound JUST like me - and your husband is similar to my husband. I am glad to hear that I can let go of some of my reservation anxiety. I will still have a few, though!!

Hi Julie,
I laughed at your "problems" with reservations, as that is exactly my problem! I even asked my husband to come look at your comments He is the same as your husband and does not want to interrupt whatever he's doing "just to eat lunch." He would like to eat more sandwich meals, so I have agreed to do that, but I will continue to make reservations at well researched restaurants.

Sandy

We'll be in Paris for 11 days (leaving Wednesday!) and we have 5 reservations and will play the rest by ear. I like the combination style.

There are a few restaurants that we're planning our trip around (Michelin starred places and very special bistros: Guy Savoy, Passiflore, Spring, La Regalade, L'Ami Jean)that we would never get into without reservations made well in advance and are a priority for us. The other places (I'm armed with a 3 page list of great places broken down by arridismonts)we'll reserve the day before or day of. Lunches will be mostly sandwiches or very casual cafes. And, of course, pastry.

Can't wait!

Dear Plafield:
How terrific for you to have 15 days in Paris. Loved Guy Savoy, and, yes reserved in advance. Would suggest La Table Joel Robuchon,it is open Sunday night, when most are closed. Reserve in advance. Try newcomer, Chez Jean,on rue St. Lazare. Owner Frederick, formerly of Taillevent, offers wonderful food and wine at decent prices. I can still taste his signature pork dish! Bonne Chance.

What a lovely report, thank you so much. I'll definitely be referring to it for future trips to Paris.

DH and I are real foodies, though we're still at the stage of travelling where the sights are as important as the food.

We go through the "reserve or not" dilemma too, though DH often plays both parts - he says that he just wants to wander around and find something, but gets terribly stressed that we won't find anywhere to eat! For our upcoming trip to Central Europe (admittedly less of a culinary focus than Paris), I've made reservations only for busy weekend nights in the big cities. For the rest, I plan to scope out likely possibilities as we sightsee - that's my favorite way to go, but not always possible.

txgrl99, thanks for putting a name to this thing--reservation anxiety, that's my malady. Interesting to note that it seems to be a male/female thing, with primarily women getting concerned about getting reservations and men more interested in just winging it so that their female partners need to trudge around armed with guides or sheets of restaurants by arrondissements so that the guys don't need to be shut out of the opportunity for a great meal when the spirit moves them and their ready to eat--now. Or is that just my jaundiced view on the matter?

Dear Julie:
You mentioned Robert and Barbara Hamburger" Paris Bistros & Wine Bars. I have the 1995 revised edition for anyone seeking info.Your forum is great and always a winner.
Merci.

As the concierge for rentingparisfrance.com I thought I had a complete list of the best places to offer up to our guests, but your choices were great, given that you avoided all of the touristy places (OK, Petit Bofinger is forgiven) and now I have a whole new set of options for upcoming guests!! Thanks again---Rik