foodies please help me w/ paris dinner choices
 

i know by now that you hate doing this but i am begging you. we have 7 dinners in paris but one is sunday (la ardoise) and then we are there for 5/1, labor day, and much seems to be closed. so now i have 5 nights for the following:
le troquet
le pamphlet
l'os a moelle
l' ami jean
au camelot
chez michel
le beurre noisette
chez eux

That's a hard choice because they all have good reviews and decent prices.

We went twice to L'Ami Jean on our last trip to Paris a few years ago. It's lovely - very friendly and great food, not too expensive either. - see a review here -http://www.jancisrobinson.com/nick/nick050219

We had dinner at Le Troquet last March. Loved the meal, the restaurant, the owner .. charming little place.
I love D'Chez Eux and always recommend it.

come on you foodies! any other input? thanks

We like Le Pamphlet and L'os a Moelle. Do you mean Petit Troquet? If so, it is nice but not as good as the two above. We also like L'Epi Dupin, Bastide de Odeon, Les Bouquinistes, Affriole and Fontaine de Mars. You have lots of choices.

well, my dinner choices are pretty much finalized-now can we go over my lunch choices? thanks in advance...
ze kitchen galerie, avant gout, le repaire de cartouche, pre verre (definite) , jacques melac, bistro paul bert WHERE IS THIS? , le reminet, table d aude (definite), l'ourcine, brasserie de ille st louis (definite), l'equitable, temp au temps, carte blanche, le bistral, le villaret, les papilles.

I can't help you specifically but I just wanted to curse you for making me gain 5 pounds just reading your list!
Have a great time.

For dinner: I liked Le Pamphlet.

For your lunch choices, I have been to lunch (and dinner) at L'Avant Gout and really enjoyed it. I've had dinner at Le Repaire du Cartouche and liked it too, but it's more traditional than L'Avant Gout. Also had dinner at the Brasserie de Ile Saint Louis (forgive me if I'm not getting the names right)--I was less impressed at this place, although don't get me wrong it was a very good meal.

I guess I liked L'Avant Gout most of all, but I'm a Northern Californian and tend to like casual, market-fresh menus best of all. It depends what you're looking for.

Le Violon d'Ingers
Remenent

My recos, sweetie darling.

McQueen Queen.

Leely, I like good food that I can't cook myself. My husband loves the chacroute at Brasserie de ill st louis so it is non-negotiable. what do you mean by more "traditional"? if it is pot au feu (sp? ) i have no desire to eat that. i like interesting taste combos and am quite adventourous with flavors.thanks for your feedback.

Well, I can't cook anything, so that leaves a world of restaurants at my feet. ;)

We had Christmas Eve dinner at L'Avant Gout, so it's probably extra special to me. As a result, I remember that meal very well. And I usually forget what I've eaten. Amuse bouche was something with nettles; I thought it was incredible. Vanilla scented pintade. I forget the fish course, but it was also quite good. Cheese plate excellent. Dessert: chocolate five ways (yes, a couple of the five ways were pretty experimental; I ate them all and my mom pronounced some of them "weird.")

When I say traditional for Repaire du Cartouche, I guess I mean classic. We had the company that we rented our apartment from make a reservation, and the gentleman said, "Oh, yes, Phillipe and I eat there all the time. A very nice classic restaurant."

I really liked Le Pamphlet too, but I can't remember what I had. Fairly innovative as well.

I think all your choices are good. I haven't had a truly bad meal in Paris because, like you, I do a bit of research ahead of time. Although of course, once there, I play a lot by ear depending where I am and when.

Report back with your findings!

Also, have you looked at robjame's food photos from his recent trip report? La Truffiere looks great:

http://tinyurl.com/ekvgj

Leely, i research and research but there is always one or two less than stellar choices (but this trip will be different!). your dinner at avant gout sounded great. i printed out robjame's article and my husband and i read it word for delicious word. let me check if they are open-thanks for reminding me!

We had a great dinner at L'Os a Moelle when we were in Paris recently. I highly recommend it with the caution that since they do two seatings (We were there on Sat Eve so I am not sure if this is a regular thing or just on weekend nights) the service is a little frantic. The food however is fabulous.
For lunch I highly recommend you try to get into Le Comptoir (M-Odeon) for a great lunch. We had lunch there twice which is very unusual for us. Everything we had was wonderful but especially the Lobster Bisque with raviolis, the tuna, the salad with foie gras and the terrine with artichoke and foie gras. We had dinner there as well and it was fabulous but I know they aren't taking reservations until June.

AGM Cape Cod (we used to rent a house on the bay in Eastham!)
We have dinner reservations at L'os a Moelle-they have 2 seatings -7:30 and 9:30 so we opted for the 9:30. I am really looking forward to our dinner theres. I sent all my dining queries to the person we are renting the apt from and he had tried many of our suggestions and he too loved his lunch at Le Comptoir. I know they have a pre fix for dinner-what are lunch prices like? Can you make reservations for lunch or is it the same deal as dinner? Our landlord was told we can call each day after 3 to see if there are any dinner reservations for that night. I shall be doing this every day!How did you snag dinner reservation? Lunch sounds great-any idea which days they are closed? Thanks

Le Comptoir is open for lunch 7 days a week and the pre fixe dinner is served Monday through Friday. I think they serve the lunch menu on Sat & Sun evenings.

Our two lunches were 65.20€ and 71.50€ respectively. The first we had two of the Lobster Bisque and then DH got a Salade w/ Thon and I had the Salade w/ Foie Gras & Artichoke. We had 4 glasses of wine, I think. The second lunch we had a lentil soup with foie gras and a terrine with foie gras & artichokes to start; my DH then had a tuna steak with provencal vegetable and I had a pot au feu terrine. We had desserts- he the glace & sorbet and mine was slivers of pineapple with pineapple sorbet. I think we also had four glasses of wine and one cafe that day. Probably is expensive by most standards but well worth it.

We stayed at the Relais Saint Germain this trip. We had happened upon it accidently in an earlier trip and after trying other places decided we liked it enough to splurge on it. This year it came with the added bonus of the new owners and the upgrade of the restaurant. When we arrived late on a Wednesday night after a late flight, late bus and a lot of traffic we almost missed our dinner reservations. We just dropped our bags in our room, washed and hightailed it back down the stairs. Before I could even sit down the chef, Yves Camdeborde, was there smiling and shaking my hand. It was cool.

AGM Cape Cod, thanks. Are lunch reservations as difficult to get as the dinner ones if you aren't staying at the hotel? Sounds like we'll be eating lunch there too!
Any other places you really enjoyed for dining?

Unfortunately they don't take reservations for lunch. I think though it isn't like most French restaurants that only serve from 12-2 so you could go later in the afternoon.

This time we had four nights in Paris and the first night we ate at the hotel (I am so glad we did given the difficulty with traveling that day.), the second night we went back to Vin Sur Vin (there is a current review of Vin Sur Vin on Chowhound International) near the Eiffel Tower, the third night we went to a place my mother recommended and it didn't work for us and the fourth night we had dinner at L'Os a Moelle which we loved. We ate at L'ardoise before and had a fabulous meal. We also had a good meal at Fish on rue de Seine which is also open on Sunday nights. It is a good place also when you have had enough of those heavier French meals.

i can't get on chowhound-blocked at work. what is vin sur vin like? thanks

I work at a highly regarded restauarant in Boston...french based. Every time a staff member goes over to Paris we always go to CHEZ DENIS. Prices are great, you feel like you are in a true bistro, and the food is amazing. Wine served by the amount you drink...not the bottle. The place is charming as hell. It is one block of the Les Halles train stop. It was the first Bistro opened for the Les Halle market workers.

It will be closing in a few years as soon as the madame running the place passes (her husband already passed).

I would bet my butt chowhound has a review on it because the top Boston base chowhound writer (he helped collaborate on both the San Fran and NYC books) has gone WITH US to Chez Denis.

When I was last at Chez Denis (last April), the meal consisted of the following:

Complimentary sausages, olives, cheeses

Order of escargot

Order of country pates (huge portions of duck, guinea hen, rabbit, along with head cheese

Cote' De Beuof w/ Steak Frites and salted marrow (this is only available for two...it is HUGE...I shared it with my sous chef who was working in Paris at the time.

Some kind of tuna steak dish (not sure what it was...his girlfriend ordered it)

Two and half bottles of house red

3 Armagnacs

3 Double espressos

2 Bread Puddings (you could have gotten drunk on the thing)

1 Rasberry Torte.

We gave a thirty percent tip (hey we are in the biz and the service was impeccable.

Total Price PP: 50 Euro.

It would have been much less Euro pp if we had not given such a big tip.

Best food for the value I have gotten in Paris so far.

Only bad thing....Anthony Bourdain (that nitwit who knows how to write but is a true disaster in the kitchen) just profiled it on his Travel show...so dont know how packed it is going to be.

ttt

PMGOOSED-I AM DROOLING!
ADDRESS? DAYS OPEN? ETC? THANKS

let me check the net....but I dont know the address off hand. Basically, walk out of the train stop at les Halle, proceed under the atrium through the park...make a right on the street parallel to the park, first left...all bistros on the block, third one in on the right.

Place is ridiculously fun. Oh, if you want they can put you at a communal table. We sat with a middle aged couple and the woman's parents....SO MUCH FUN EATING NEXT TO THEM.

RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST....

ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT CHEZ DENISE?? YOU SAID DENIS. I WAS CONSIDERING IT BUT THE PORTIONS SOUND SO BIG-IS IT QUALITY FOOD?

The proper spelling is DENIS...Denise is the new name. Long story short, Denis was the owner...the husband. The wife took over (her name is Denise) when he died. Still called Denis by the locals.

Portions are big...but worth every piece YOU DONT EAT!!!!!

Trust me...GO

Quality food? Put it this way...my buddy and his girlfriend worked for the following: The only michelin 3 star owned by a woman in Paris (forgot the name) and for Pierre Hermes, considered by Pastry Chefs around as one of the top chocolatiers in the world. My buddies girlfriend is a pastry chef.

THEY EAT/ATE their twice a week. They have eaten at Auberge, Robichoun (sp?), etc.

They swore by the place...and now I do too.

If you want to get 1800 Parisian lifestyle in your belly and through the decor/experience...GO!

I JUST CALLED TO SEE IF THEY ARE OPEN 5/1 BUT GOT A MESSAGE. IF THEY ARE YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP-ALL MY OTHER CHOICES ARE EITHER CLOSED ON MONDAY OR CLOSED B/C IT IS LABOR DAY. THANKS
GO YANKEES!!

Intersection of rue Berger and rue Prouvenaires, just below (south) of Les Halles.
Chez Clovis is at the intersection; Chez Denis is just a few steps down rue Prouvenaires.
Metro Chatelet or Les Halles

YES....GO YANKEES...

They always have the answering machine...we left a ridiculous amount of messages....before finally getting in touch...AND THEY KNEW MY FRIEND.

Keep calling

Sounds like us !! Website ??????