Paris Bistros
 

A friend sent me to this link about Paris bistros and though other might enjoy:

http://seattletimes.com/html/travel/...scapesxml.html

I had to laugh when I read what she wrote about one of the places:

"Benoît Gauthier, the chef and owner of Le Grand Pan, is able to avoid most foreign diners, not because his cuisine is lacking but because of his remote location in the far southwestern corner of Paris — a good 10- to 15-minute walk from the closest Metro stop. You have to really be motivated to get there."

It is about half a block from the first apartment I ever rented in Paris in 1984 and while the nearest metro is a"whole" .4 miles by foot according to google maps, there is a bus that stops right in front! It is amazing to me that given how small Paris is, how many people never venture outside of the core center.

Avoiding most foreign diners is fine, I suppose, if you don't want or need the revenue.

It is also possible that it is more preferable for the business to have less foreign diners for the business reason.

When people in the U.S. talk about traveling to foreign countries, I often hear, "Of course, we are welcome. We bring money." Setting aside whether this is an arrogant claim or not, the business model might actual favor not having too many foreign diners.

I have been to restaurants in Germany, Japan, or even in the U.S., where the conversions stop and all the eyes looked at us at the door to see who came into the restaurant. I felt these were local hangouts where the restaurants don't have problem filling the tables with locals who dine there all the time into off seasons for tourists. It would be to the restaurants' interest to have locals continue to frequent the premises if the foreign diners drive these main source of revenue away. If you have been to restaurants in Europe sitting close to a table with American tourists talking loudly in English, often in thick Southern accent for some reason, asking for things not different from the Gordes restaurant scene in the movie "A Good Year," you might see reason why some restaurants think this way.

Le Quincy was horrible, nasty people who worked there. They only accept cash, but don't tell you this when you book. The ATM is quite far. They made terrible comments about Americans (my friend is American), just horrible. The food was OK, a lot of concierges sent their clients there. Guess where they get free meals!!!

Just about any major article about places like this completely kills them, except for people who need to be able to say that they went to a place mentioned in an article.

If you catch a mention of a place is a totally marginal publication, there is less danger.

Kerouac " Just about any major article about places like this completely kills them, except for people who need to be able to say that they went to a place mentioned in an article.

If you catch a mention of a place is a totally marginal publication, there is less danger."

What?! You don't consider the Seattle Times to be a marginal publication? I do, and I live in Seattle!

Kathie-too funny!

Read the small print. The article is originally from the New York Times. The next million Americans going to Paris will have these few restaurants on their list.

The article says that the French don't like eating in jammed up restaurants full of Americans with, according to the article, an unusually large proportion of Southern accents.

The bit about the accents surprised me.

oops - if it came from the NYT, expect there will not be a seat available ever again for a local!