Help me a remember a big buzzy cheap parisian bistro
 

I need the help of the Parisian experts here... back when I was an art student roughly 100 years ago (okay, it was about 1989) i dined with a group of equally poverty stricken students at a large, old-fashioned, buzzy bistro that, if I remember correctly, has been open at least since the heyday of the Moulin Rouge and Toulouse-Lautrec.

In my probably false memory, it might have been in Montmartre, but that could be wrong. I remember a vast room with high ceilings and paneled walls and very traditional bistro style menu (steak-frites and the like). One thing I DO remember is that is was cheap - else we certainly wouldn't have gone.

I'm heading to Paris next week and would love to rediscover this place. I realise bistros are ten a penny but I'm hoping that this place is an institution that will ring some bells for someone. We certainly didn't stumble across it by accident, so I'm hoping it's famous. Does it sound at all familiar?

Maybe you are thinking about Chartier on rue du Faubourg Montmartre?

YES! that's it! I knew I could rely on you... I don't remember the food being anything special, but I loved the atmosphere.

Chartier has been around approximtely since the crusades. It is huge, cavernous, has an upper mezzanine level with seats looking down at the main floor, has huge tables where groups of strangers are seated together (unless you group is huge), is very inexpensive (and they figure your bill be writing on the paper tablecloth) - and has reasonably edible food. If you were a student you probably loved it.

Sounds like fun. Would two middle-aged women enjoy it, I wonder? We're fairly adventurous!

Yup, Chartier it is. And no, the food ain't special, but it's edible...and cheap.

It could be Chartier. A hundred years ago it was exciting, French and cheap. Now, food is so good in the UK we have become jaded.

Or it could have been Julien in the St-Denis area, even cheaper. I remember seeing baguettes being sliced with a guillotine. Now it's gone upmarket, but the last time I was there, a few years ago, the area was prowled by putains inshort shorts with big dogs.

It isn't quite as cheap as it used to be, but since it is one of the few places in Paris where they want you in and out as fast as possible, the waiters absolutely <b>love</b> it if you have prepared your own bill on the paper tablecloth. In a glance that lasts less than 2 seconds, they will know if it is correct.

>>If you were a student you probably loved it.<<

Too true, I think all my other meals involved chewing on a baguette and swigging from bottles in the rain with the pigeons, so it was a proper treat at the time!

In more recent, more mature and less cash strapped times my Parisian dining experiences have been much more lavish, but I feel like rediscovering some of my old fun, rough and ready stamping grounds this time around. I'm also going to do a bit more ethnic-food exploration this time.

tarquin, Julien is a restaurant of the Flo Brasserie group, <b>much</b> more expensive -- at least double or triple.

Please share your walk down Memory Lane with us.

I would have guessed Chartier, also, if it was in Montmartre and you liked it when young, and it was some big noisy, busy place.

I don't like Chartier, the food isn't very good and it's too noisy and hectic for me.

Chartier isn't a bistro, though. It's traditionally a bouillon but could be just called a restaurant. It's no bistro, however.

i TOO WOULD HAVE GUESSED CHARTIER BECAQUSE OOOOOF THE DESCRIPTION OF THE DECOR

I know Julien is part of Flo now, kerouac, but I am older than you and remember it in long-ago student days, which Kate was asking about. The decoration was beautiful then (as now) but faded.

The Alsatians featured more recently, during the Flo time - the tarts were less flamboyant 40 years ago.

"the tarts were less flamboyant 40 years ago."

You just weren't looking at them as closely.

Anyone can go there and be perfectly comfortable - as long as you don;t mind sharing a table with strangers.

However,the food really isn;t very good - edible but no more.

Went with a group the first time I went to Paris (1976) but I was 19 and for that it was fine. Haven't been back since -I now expect much more from a restauarant.

I have to admit that even though I eat better at home now, I have never lost my appreciation for cheap dives, economical restaurants, and simple pleasures. Not being a foodie, I can have a great time at a place like Chartier even if the food is mediocre. What you see at the surrounding tables is often astounding, and you are often seated with interesting Lithuanians, Uruguayans or maybe even an old Parisian who has been eating there for 60 years.

In a "nice" restaurant, you will never have this experience.

>... Chartier on rue du Faubourg Montmartre?<

Well done, K.

That's where I learned the difference between "rognon" and "oignon". :)

((I))

also the difference between "panache" and "panaché"

My husband and I dined at Chartier last week! We had a great time, and shared the table with two lovely girls from Taiwan. Not haute cuisine, but definitely a fun experience. The only drawback was the heat - I would have loved a little air conditioning!