We will be in Nice for 3 nights in early November,and would so appreciate "favorite restaurant" suggestions and information about local foods to look out for.....also in Arles,Aix and Carcassonne.

two of the most famous are the Salade Nicoise and socca, a kind of chick pea crepe, very inexpensive and filling, gnocci and Beignants of sardines, Pastas, Pissaladiere.
So many restaurants in old nice.
Taverne Massena ( as I recall, they only take cash)
L'Escalinada. is another

We had a very nice meal at Maison du Marie, on Rue Messina, just a half block off Place Messina.

Should you stop in Marseille, Bouillaisse is the famous dish there
and another fish soup called Bourride.

We liked Lou Balico (Nicoise cuisine) in Nice and Le Bistro Latin (very reasonable) in Aix.

During our week in Nice in September, we had three wonderful meals at Barracuda.

We have three favorites in Nice.

1. L'Ecurie, at 4, rue du Marché in Vieux Nice. It's a small, family-run restaurant featuring Niçois specialties (be sure to try the farçis, small vegetables stuffed with a meat and rice mixture), the usual French dishes (including a deliciously garlicky salad), pastas, and pizza.

2. La Voglia, near the entrance to the Cours Saléya underground parking lot. The restaurant is modern in style, with fabulous Italian dishes. Servings can be huge.

3. For seafood, Café Turin, near the modern-art museum. Always busy; huge platters of shellfish, excellent mussels in white wine sauce. Be sure to order the dark bread as an accompanient if you choose the shellfish.

Here are some suggestions for Nice:
La Merenda (4, rue de la Terrace)-Tiny place serving outstanding regional dishes. The chef/owner was once the chef at the Michelin starred Chanterelle. They have no phone and do not take credit cards. Drop in earlier in the day you want to go or the day before to make your reservations.

Acchiardo (rue Droite)-This family-run place in old town serves nice local cuisine in a friendly atmosphere. Closed on weekends and they do not take credit cards.

Bistrot d'Antoine (27, rue de la Prefecture) The attractive setting and nicely prepared food and presentation make this a good choice for lunch or dinner.

La Tire Bouchon (19, rue de la Prefecture) A charming place for dinner and they're open on Sunday and Monday when many other places are closed.

Jouni(La Reserve) This is our favorite "splurge" place. The best bet is to go for lunch in the downstairs bistrot. The food, setting and view are all amazing.

Le Pot d'Etain (12, rue Meyerbeer) A very pleasant small restaurant that is run by a charming couple.

In Aix our favorite is La Chimere (15, rue Brueys) which serves classic Provencal cuisine in an old world setting. We also like Le Passage (6 bis, rue Mazarine)

We really enjoyed Nice, and our hotel there, the Hotel le Grimaldi. Here are my notes from our stay in May 2006, with restaurant recommendations:

"For our first dinner, I had brought the name of a restaurant I’d found on Travel Talk, and the front desk agreed it was a good one, a local favorite in old Nice. It’s called Acchiardo, at 38 rue Droite in Vieux Nice. We headed over for their opening at 7p.m., and were very happy with it. Really friendly and attentive service, very quaint and casual atmosphere, with a good menu. I had a steak dinner, which actually included vegetables on the side. My daughter had two different salads. We had bottled water and a half-liter of house red wine. When the bill arrived for 28.50EUR, I thought they’d made a mistake because it was so much less than I’d been accustomed to paying in Venice, Florence and Rome. But, no, it was correct. (We would have maybe eaten there another night, but found out it closes on weekend nights, believe it or not.)

We walked all over old Nice, then through the pedestian area to the promenade and took that way back to the hotel. It’s such a beautiful walk at night. The Chateau hillside is all lit up, the palm trees are lit, and the waves look so pleasant. It was how we ended each of our Nice nights, with that walk back to the hotel.

The next day we decided to take the short bus ride on the #81, to visit the Villa and Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild, near Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. (The bus is just 1.30EUR each direction, which you pay in exact change on the bus.)

It was a nice visit, especially to see the views of the sea down below on both sides of the hillside. I thought the price was a bit steep, at 9.50EUR for an adult, because the Villa isn’t really all that interesting (sorry!), but the gardens are pretty. There’s also a nice little café there, for a light snack or drink or meal, which was a welcome break from all our walking.

While we were there, a very strong wind came up, which caused quite a bit of white caps in the water below, and chased everyone in from the patio tables. The wind stayed with us for the rest of the day, but wasn’t terribly annoying.

From the Villa, we did the easy walk down to the port of St. Jean to walk around and check it out. There are nice boats in the little harbor, with cute restaurants and shops. It’s very tiny, so doesn’t take long to walk from end to end of St. Jean. We spent just about an hour and a half there, then caught the #81 back to Nice.

That evening, we returned to old Nice for dinner. We loved that neighborhood’s little streets, overall atmosphere, and cute shops. We found the Restaurant la Tapenada, 6 rue St. Reparate and had a very nice dinner. It was probably about 60EUR for the two of us, on their fixed price menu, with a bottle of house wine. Very nice little place, with friendly and attentive service. They even let my daughter trade her dessert for a salad. So she had two salads to start, one after the other, and they timed the arrival of our main courses perfectly. We were perfectly happy with our meal there.

The next day we decided we’d stick to the coast and see Antibes, which is a short 20-minute train ride from Nice. We were glad we’d chosen Antibes, as it’s beautiful. The sea wall makes a nice walk, and the Centre Ville is very charming.

We wandered its streets, shopped in a tiny clothing boutique, found a little place for omelettes (nothing special, but nice enough), then headed back to Nice by train after about 4 hours total. It was a good choice for a quick day-trip.

That evening we weren’t very hungry, so opted for the simple Pasta Basta, once again in old Nice. It was a nice meal, although not extraordinary. Good prices and decent service.

All in all, we were very impressed with Nice and the surrounding area. It’s a very pretty city, with a friendly attitude, sitting on a lovely shore. There are many options for things to do near Nice. We’d considered St. Paul de Vence and Digne, but with the beautiful clear weather, we were drawn to stay at the seaside, and were glad we did."
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Hi fredon -

The best meal we had in Nice was at the Bistrot du Port, on the side of the port closer to Vieux Nice. Eggs with truffles, then lobster risotto. Excellent. Nice people, too.

It's not exactly close to Nice, about a 20-30 minute cab ride, but I highly recommend a visit to Roquebrune. (Do not attempt this by train.) Roquebrune is a medieval hill town perched about 1100 feet above the coast. Spectacular views. Get there in the late afternoon to explore a little. Then have dinner at the extraordinary Hotel Les Deux Freres with truly superb food overlooking the coast and Monaco. Then you could stop off at the Casino in Monaco on your way back to Nice.

I really liked Aix. Great small city. Beautiful, charming, vibrant. Definitely see the Cours Mirabeau, obviously, but spend most of your time in the area just to the north of it, between the Cours and the Cathedral. Charming squares with fountains, good shopping, interesting places to eat and drink. The Mazarin Quarter to the south is also very pretty, but much quieter.

The best meal we had in Aix was at Le Zinc d'Hugo. North of Cours Mirabeau, on the west side. Maybe Rue Lietaud. Foie gras and fig platter accompanied by fig ice cream. Then slow-braised lamb.

Carcassonne... Hmmm... Carcassonne has a beautiful square in the Cite that is full of restaurants. Atmospheric, yes, but I got the impression that none of the places served really good food. At least the restaurant we went to didn't. Definitely have the cassoulet in Carcassonne, but at a restaurant that doesn't microwave it. My guess is that a restaurant in town will be better, if less atmospheric, than a restaurant in the Cite.

Can't help with a restaurant in Arles, but the facade and cloister of St. Trophime was a huge highlight of our trip.

Bon appetit!

In Arles, L'Atelier,
L'Affenage.
and lunch at Le Calendal or the brasserie at the Nord Pinus,

Thank you,all.You've been super.We hope to try as many of your favorites as our jeans will allow,and will share our finds,when we return.

From my trip report (last year):

Restaurant Luc Salsedo on rue Maccarani next to our hotel has very inventive dishes and very very good.

La Tire Bouchon! We loved this restaurant. The decoration drew us inside, very very clean, wonderful service, excellent dishes. It is at 19 rue de la Prefecture, www.le-tire-bouchon.com I can't rave enough about this place. I also cant rave about it because I am libel to jump on a plane this afternoon to go back there. All courses were first class, as the wine.

Chez Juliette at 1 rue Rossetti, another great place. This one is the red photo on my pbase, look at the cute decorations, like eating
in a turn of the century brothel, meant in a good way, ha. Highly recommmend

Oh, those restaurants were in Nice.