A few Paris questions
 

I'm excited to have booked my flights and my hotel. We'll be in Paris in late October for a week and will stay at the Artus Hotel in St Germaine. So a few questions for all you Paris experts....

Can you recommend nice restaurants near the hotel? I actually have a pretty good list of well known and well reviewed places around the city, but not so much right in the local area. And I know there will be times we won't want to go far. Particularly interested in favorite breakfast spots.

Anybody have recommendations for places we can go to hear some jazz? I would prefer someplace that takes reservations or sells tickets, so I can be assured of a seat. Any type of jazz would do, but would particularly like to hear some manouche (DH is a big fan of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli).

Finally, we are planning one big splurge dinner at a 3 star. I think I've sort of narrowed it down to Ledoyen, Pierre Gaignaire, and L'Ambrosie. I'd love to hear from those who have dined at these places and what you thought.

http://www.caveaudelahuchette.fr/

The legendary jazz club Caveau de la Huchette is a short walk from St. Germaine.

Your hotel is located on one of my favorite streets in Paris.
Cafes abound in this neighborhood but the food shops are the main attraction.
Bakeries,cheese shops and delis selling beautiful and tasty foods. I love the chicken roasting over a bed of potatoes at the sidewalk stand. The fresh fruits and vegetable lovingly displayed.
There is even a modern supermarket tucked in there as well with a wonderful selection.That's where I buy my wine and pate de fois gras.

Some of our favorite restaurants in the 6th include Ze Kitchen Gallerie (Fusion cuisine), L'Epi Dupin (modern bistro food) and Fish La Boissonerie (Fish).

Here's an article from 2010 with some suggestions:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...ango-reinhardt

The article mentions the Atelier Charonne which isn't far from Bastille and takes reservations.

http://www.ateliercharonne.com/

For breakfast there is Danton on Blvd st Germaine right near Odeon Metro station , Cafe Bonaparte ( my notes say you can get an American breakfast there), PAUL at corner of Rue de Buci and Rue de Seine, Cafe de la Mairie overlooking St Sulpice. Many of the cafes in the area where you can get a croissant/coffee etc.

For dinner there is Marco Polo near Odeon Metro if you want Italian. I also recommend Fish mentioned above- reservations recommended. Le Petit Zinc on Rue St Benoit also gets good reviews. All are within 5 min walking distance from your hotel.

This really doesn't answer your question re three star restaurants but we've enjoyed Le Pre Catalan on 2 occasions. We have tried others but not the one's you're considering.

Semilla, around the corner from your hotel on rue de Seine, is the latest restaurant of the Fish group and much better, to my mind. If you like oysters, the best in town are served at tiny Huitrerie Régis next to the Mabillon metro station.

If you're looking for American style breakfast Coffee Parisien is nearby but I find it not very good. Just grab an outside table at the Bar du Marché on the corner of rue de Seine and rue de Buci and watch the world (or at least the tourists) go by while having a coffee. Paul, across the street, has very good baguettes and good pastries/viennoiseries as well as having recently added several more outside tables.

For music, pick up a copy of Pariscope for 40 cents on Wednesday to check out everything that's going on in town.

Take a look at Parisbymouth.com to get knowledgeable and current information on 3 star restaurants. You can often get the food and experience of one of these places at substantially lower cost at lunch, by the way.

Ze kitchen gallerie, Le Comptoir, Marco Polo and Un Dimanche a Paris in that area. The take away creeps at L'Avant Comptoir are huge and delicious and cheap! It's the take away window next to Le Comptoir.

Un Dimanche a Paris has a great restaurant and my fav macarons...amazing desserts.
I love Gerard Mulot for my AM pain au chocolat.

We occasionally ate breakfast at les editteurs or Le Danton, just juice, a small baguette and croissant.

For top dining, we love L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon (the one in the 6th, not the newer one). Also, Violon d'Ingres in the 7th.

Reed, in the 7th is a new fav and worth the trip over!

Thanks all, this is great stuff. Will add all your recommendations to my list.

Pal, have you been to the caveau? I'm curious how crowded iand claustrophobic it is. Some TA reviews seemed to indicate it was pretty stuffy and crowded which doesn't seem nice.

Lognadog, I'm drooling just to think about it. This is why I picked the Artus!

Judy, thanks for the rec. I love the setting for le pre Catalan, it looks so pretty. Maybe I will consider.

Shelio, thanks for the suggestions, I have been checking both parisbymouth and chowhound for the dining recs. I do know that lunch can be a better value, and we will almost certainly do a lunch at end o fthese places (probably Le Cinq), but I'm celebrating a milestone birthday, and we are going to have one truly fabulous dinner.

Denisesea, thanks for the suggestions. Reed, in particular, is definitely on my list.

Mainegg, that's a great article, will definitely consider atelier charonne, that seems like just the sort of place I'm looking for,

does anybody else have any feedback on jazz clubs? I would love to hear personal experiences whether good or bad. Thanks!

I've been to caveau de la Huchette, it is a famous old Parisian spot but isn't really the kind of place you are looking for, and it doesn't usually have that kind of jazz you seek, either, as far as I know, but you can check their schedules. You can't reserve there, either. It is more casual, just a hole in the ground, lots of young people. It tends to have more swing or Dixieland-style jazz.

If you want manouche, you should go to the outer arrondisements (which is where those guys came from), like out near St Ouen in the 18th near the Clignancourt metro stop. Not so easy to get out there and the area isn't like central Paris nor upscale like you are looking for. Or you can go to the 10th arrondisement near Gare du Nord where Grapelli lived, also, or the Oberkampf area. Here is a good article that tells you what you need to know http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/201...ango-reinhardt

FYI, the area is St. Germain (not Germaine). Those two words would not be pronounced the same in French and the saint was male, in fact (a bishop of Paris around AD 600). Don't pronounce that like that adjective in English (germane). That used to be a common male name in France, but not much any more. There are a couple famous St Germains but they aren't the same person (one also in Auxerre).

I'm really thinking of going out to La Chope des Puces on a Saturday afternoon. It seems like it would fit in nicely with spending a morning in Montmartre, seeing Sacre Couer, then heading out further. Plus, it seems less intimidating to me to head to the outer arrondisments in the day time.