klondike - is the Carbonnade Flamande at Leons the classic Belgian beef stew or is it a term that they apply to mussels (perhaps cooked in beer?)?

I agree with others that Leons is good and the price is certainly reasonable. It is not a fine dining atmosphere but the food is hot, tasty and filling. I love their white wine and garlic mussels and go every time we go to Paris.

Ah, I always order mine with garlic!

1. Léon de Bruxelles is the chain, always reliable, and the mussels are always "calibrated" to be of an even size at all seasons. The mussels ALWAYS come from Europe, as indicated on the menu -- Belgium, Netherlands, Italy or Greece. Usually there is a little paper tag on your pot of mussels to tell you the origin.

2. Any "Belgian" café in Paris will always have mussels. The Bruxelles Café mentioned earlier is on rue Custine (not rue Christine, which is in the 6th arrondissement) or rue Caulaincourt in the 18th. My personal favorite is Au Trappiste near Place du Châtelet -- which also has excellent alternative dishes for those who don't like mussels. The places that are "non-Léon" have mussels of varying sizes and quality depending on the season and you can be disappointed if you are thinking that all mussels in Paris are the same size as Léon.

3. Lots of other places have mussels depending on their whim. Just about all of the other places will respect the French tradition of serving them only in "months with an R" even though modern refrigeration has made this recommendation obsolete.

Try Pot de Terre on Rue du Pot de Fer in the Latin Quarter. I doubt that they're the "best" but it sure is a fun place to eat, and very inexpensive. We ate there twice and ordered the exact same thing both times: Moules Frites and Creme Brulee. Two of my favorite foods in the world! We also sat at the same outdoor table both times and enjoyed the lively parade of people on that street.

Robjame: Yes, it's the classic stew. NOT mussels à la carbonnade flammande!