Creme brulee, anyone?
 

Hi all~
I'll be in Paris next month for my 4th visit with a girlfriend who's never been overseas. She has a thing for creme brulee so I thought I'd indulge her and see if anyone had a good recommendation (I've actually never tried it myself...I'm partial to butter & sugar crepes :). Anyway, no fine dining, please...just a good place to kick back and enjoy our sweets! We'll be staying in the Latin Quarter a block off (and 76 steps above) Blvd St Michel.
Thanks!
Christina

Crème brûlée is easy to find and tastes very much the same from one restaurant to another, with occasional exceptions. I don't know that a restaurant is worth choosing solely on the basis of its crème brûlée, though.

You'll find it on many (probably most) menus so you don't have to make a special trip anywhere . . . . .

I agree with the above posters. ( Very Inexpensive places may not make it from scratch.)

Contrary to Anthony's opinion, you will find a huge variation in the taste of creme brulee at different restaurants. You are close enough to Le Reminet to go there for lunch. It is a fine restaurant, but you could eat there for E15 each including an amazing creme brulee.

I won't disagree entirely with the above, but I think there is something to be said for long-time perfection, and restaurateurs who take special care to make the ordinary and commonplace memorable, so I'll recommend:

Café Camille
24, rue des Francs-Bourgeois
Metro: St Paul

Classic bistro. Very popular. It's right around the corner from the Musee Cognac-Jay in the Marais, so make it a combo for lunch.

"Tastes very much the same from one restaurant to another."

This is perhaps the strongest argument I've heard in eons for boarding a train for the provinces. When the gods are smiling there, a spoonful of creme brulee can turn into a lifetime memory.

If you are staying in an apartment, you can buy 4 crème brulées for 2.05 euros at any Franprix supermarket, slip them in the oven and indulge as often as you like -- they are excellent and at 51 centimes each, they are a much better deal than the 8 euro minimum you will find at even the cheapest restaurant.

Le Notre on rue Cler will send you home with a little box full :D or you can eat them there..
Most places we have eaten in, offer creme brulee..

Cafe du Marche on rue Cler serves it in a soup bowl!

Why not order it in a variety of places and compare? it will almost always be decent and at times amazing. I don't think anyone can ever eat too much creme brulee!

Thanks for all the suggestions...I think I'll have to ultimately take chevre's advice and try them all to compare (and if we take a side trip to the countryside, we'll be sure to do a comparison, Dave_in_Paris)!

Christina

Has anyone ever had a bad creme brulee in Paris?

I totally agree with chevre. On one of my overseas trips I tried pate' everywhere we went in France and England. What incredible differences, and what fun!

BTW, if you really want to have some fun with your friend, make it for her. Creme brulee is very easy to make.

Once again the rue Cler creeps into the discussion, as if it were a special street.

FWIW, Le Nôtre is a chain with many stores, not just one store on the Earthly Paradise of the rue Cler.

And virtually nobody serves crème brûlée in a soup bowl. If the Café du Marché is doing this, it is certain that the rue Cler has sold out to the American tourists (French people don't eat portions that large).

Since I brought it up, the best creme brulee I've ever had, in the boonies, Normandy and the Loire Valley, and I don't think those broad locations were co-incidental, as the most important ingredient is cream:

The most incredibly rich, at L'Auberge du Poids de Fer, in Jouet sur l'Aubois, near the river Loire, in the Cher. We did not walk the grounds but I suspect there was a cow stashed somewhere.

L'Ancrage in Honfleur. Purists may cringe; they add a slice of bread ("pain perdu") and a touch of orange. Heavenly.

Take that, Franprix!

But Dave, Franprix sells bread, too.

Interesting idea about the cream, Dave. Interestingly the only creme brulee tha we had that we didn't care for was in the country, in Burgundy, in the small town of Pommard. The rest of the meal was fantastic. This is what I wrote, "One of the included desserts we chose was a crème brulee au marc de bourgogne for me. Although an interesting twist, I was left wondering why mess with simple perfection. The eau de vie was just too dominant a taste."
However I am sure your theory is correct and, in a week, I intend to devote myself to testing it thoroughly.

Somebody must have a real problem with mentioning a particular street? And since when does the mention of serving a creme brulee in a soup bowl indicate size? I've been served soup in Paris in "bowls" that were much more like tiny plates with a slight indentation in the center and a very broad brim. Perhaps that's what was being done?

Is there a particular list of streets that should be forbidden to be mentioned here -- or just that one?