Food suggestions
 

I'm looking for a few food or even restaurant ideas for two finicky teens. They are at times adventurous eaters, but I don't want them to get pulled in by a McDonalds. If anyone has any typical French bistros that might incite a teenage pallet I would love any suggestions. It would be great to find a few places that we would all enjoy as a family.
Thanks,
Ellie

If in doubt, get the roasted chicken with mashed potatoes. This is so much better than you can imagine and it is highly available. And you can always promise them a dessert as further enticement. We also had to have a nutella and banana crepe daily from any of the sidewalk vendors. If you have never had one, you are in for a huge treat.

BTW, the McDonalds are not economical in Paris and you have to get a code/key from the cashier to use the facilities.

There's a great French bistro in St Louis, Missouri: Chez Leon...

All right, just kidding.

elearit do you mean in Paris?

Well the pommes frites (french fries) are fantastic! Steak is also good :S- (steak frites is steak with french fries-not fried steak!) Make sure you have a book (or xerox something) so you know what the menu items are!

A frequent & humorous poster here Degas is planning for a trip to Paris. You should read some of his posts. Try typing Degas AND paris in the text search.

I don't think you need any specific names because a lot of bistros/cafes serve very similar food. There wouldn't be one particular bistro that would serve something that different that would appeal to teens.

my teenagers always liked steak au poivre...pepper steak...

a good chain in and around paris is the hippopotumus chain...good beef and kid friendly...not cordon blue however

Les Argonautes, 12 Rue de Huchette in Quartier Latin, is a fun Greek restaurant. The food is typically good and varied, and your teenagers will have fun breaking plates and dancing on the tables after dinner a-la-Greek style. Metro stop is St. Michel. They have a prix-fixe menu or you can order a-la-carte. Reasonably priced and loads of fun.

Check out small cafés that have snack-type menus, with items such as croque-monsieurs (a French grilled cheese sandwich, only much, much better). You will also find pizza places just about everywhere, along with Italian-style restaurants such as Vesuvius, which is on the Blvd. St.-Germain opposite the church of the same name and right by the St.-G. métro station. It's moderate in price and offers traditional French food as well as Italian. We go there every trip.

<<French bistros that might incite a teenage pallet>>

Are they planning to paint or eat? Maybe they should go to the Musée d'Orsay and gaze upon all the still lifes before they decide upon the menu.

But seriously, their palates might be awakened if you just took them to a typical Paris bistro or brasserie and let them pick what appeals to them. It's not as though Parisian food is like snake eyes and goats' feet.
I would not in a million years plan some complicated tour of Paris to end up at some place where my teenagers might be comfortable eating the food served. Go to wherever looks good in the neighborhood of your hotel. There will no doubt be several choices if not loads. Select a restaurant. Sit down. Give the menu to your kids. Tell them to select something. If they rebel at this point, tell them tough luck, this is where we're eating. If they have questions, ask the maitre di. Order. Have fun.
Stop fussing. Paris is like anywhere else - millions of restaurants, millions of choices. Stop thinking you have to indulge your grown kids with regard to food choices. Sit them down at a restaurant and make them order. It will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
If they're finicky, this is the vacation that will end that problem.

Just picked up on the word finicky in your post. I am a bit finicky myself. I agree Hippopotamus looked friendly and the menu non-threatening for American teenagers. There should also be neighborhood pizza joints which serve not only pizza but lots of other stuff, like steak frites. For lunches, you can get sandwiches from street vendors. I had a brie sandwich that was plain, just sinfully good, and it was very inexpensive.

If they are looking wistfully at McDonalds, you could let them get breakfast there instead of dry, overpriced baguettes at the hotel. And it is very easy to order an Egg McMuffin even if the workers speak no English. You just say Egg McMuffin. :)

StCirq's reply reminded me that my first trips to Europe were where I tried many new foods that I would NEVER have eaten at home (escargots-mmm). Somehow being in a foreign country makes you more adventurous so allow them to try new things.