Best Place for Escargor, french onion soup, and steak frites in Paris!
 

Any restaurant suggestions on where to go for the best escargot (preferrably in the shell), french onion soup, and steak frites in Paris? Thanks!

There is no "best", but a lot of great ones.

My most recent suggestion would be Boeuf sur Le Toit that is near Champs Elysees. We hadn't been in years, but had fond memories. Our meal there last month was wonderful, and the setting and service in this classy brasserie couldn't have been better. It's back at the top of my Paris list.

I can't vouch for the onion soup there, though. For that I'd run, not walk, to Pied au Cochon at Les Halles.

Escargot Restaurant for snails and Pied a Cochon for onion soup.

That should read the Montorguell Escargot on rue Montorguell.

My Lady Wife agrees about the onion soup at Au Pied de Cochon.

Hee, hee. Three recos for the same restaurant for onion soup, but we all give it a slightly different name. What is the right one?

I saved the card. Ira wins.
Au Pied de cochon.
FH77, it's open day and night
www.pieddecochon.com

As a local, my advice would be to avoid escargot and onion soup altogether, which are as famous abroad as they are rare in the daily diet of the modern urban French, and this especially in the touristy central neighbourhoods.

All the awful stuff you have heard about (snails, frog legs...) are old, unusual regional specialties better consumed in their area of origin, or in regional restaurants which are probably not listed in guide books

As a tourist in Paris, you are very likely to be served mediocre frozen stuff of dubious origin...

A good hamburger is always preferable to bad escargot...

"As a tourist in Paris, you are very likely to be served mediocre frozen stuff of dubious origin. . ."

Yea, that microwave Cambell's onion soup at Au Pied de Cochon, and the frozen Swanson escargot au go go from any good brasserie would prove that. Huh? That seems to be the most patronizing post here I've seen in a while.
Suggesting American tourists should order hamburgers instead? Are you kidding? Was this meant to be a joke?

For buttery, garlicky, sizzling escargots in their shells... La Rotisserie du Beaujolais on the quai de la Tournelle. And pet the cat on your way in.

has anyone had the steak tartare at pied de couchon...another thing I've always wanted to try and saw it on their menu. Those combo specials at the bottom of the menu are a great price too. We'll be there for sure in Oct! Thanks for letting me find out about it!

thanks for all the wonderful suggestion

If anyone wants to visit a snail farm in the Dordoge
http://www.frenchentree.com/france-f...le.asp?ID=4911

There's on in Provenc near Bonnieux.
I lost the address,,if anyone has it?

Here's a chambre D'Hote with a snail farm but it's not the one I'm looking for.

http://www.lescarmes.com/phdi/p1.nsf...ent&part=7

I went to a snail farm once, but watching the tractor pull was sooooooo slow. . .

Bookmark.

This is the one I was looking for!

http://www.provence-enfamille.com/gb...=ORGPAC0840898

A great place to take childern.
Thanks Kaydee, I knew you would know.

"Yea, that microwave Cambell's onion soup at Au Pied de Cochon, and the frozen Swanson escargot au go go from any good brasserie would prove that. Huh? That seems to be the most patronizing post here I've seen in a while".

There is a lot of truth in what the OP said. I don't know about onion soup, it's easy enough to make. But frog legs (which are definitely not eaten regularly in France) are very often imported (and frozen). You would have to go to the area of La Dombes near Lyons to be served fresh ones in a restaurant for instance.


Snails are also imported. The real escargot de Bourgogne (helix pomatia) - the one served with garlic butter - is a protected species in France and can only be served in restaurants a few weeks per year. The rest of the time, you are eating frozen or canned snails importend from Eastern European countries.
Think of eating soft shell crabs in December :-)

"Petit gris", the other kind of snails 'Helix aspersa" is more common, though it is also imported.

"Achatines" of very inferior quality are imported from Asia.

Snails raised in farms represent 1 or 2% of the total consumption.

Is Au Pied de Cochon worth seeking out as place to dine, even if one isn't particularly looking for onion soup? How does it compare with the many other recommened classic French fare restuarants in Paris?

I think you can do much better, although I did like the onion soup. As far as I am concerned this is a fall=back if you want to dine at an off hour when other nearby places are closed.