Hi. As you all must know by now, we'll be in paris for 7 nights and one of them is 5/1, labor day. there aren't too many places on my list that are open on monday anyway, and from this forum, i was told to book ahead for 5/1 since alot of places would be closed and alot of locals would eat out too.
so,for anyone living in paris now, any ideas where i can reserve for that night. chez eux, usually open on monday, is closed 5/1. the only one on my list for monday is le pamphlet, but they are not sure yet if they are open for dinner that night.
any other monday night suggestions?

I don't know if they'll be open on May 1, but these are open on Mondays and are in the category of restaurants you've been looking at:

Cinq Mars, 51, rue de Verneuil in the 7th, 01.45.44.69.13, Metro Rue du Bac, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays.

Louis Vins, 9, rue de la Montagne-Ste-Genevieve in the 5th, 01.43.29.12.12, open everyday.

Le Temps au Temps, 13, rue Paul-Bert in the 11th, 01 43.79.63.40, closed Sundays

Le Temp des Cerises, 18 rue Butte aux Cailles in the 13th, 01 45 89 69 48, Metro Corvisart with a no smoking room, and open everyday except Saturday lunch and Sunday.

Aux Marches du Palais, 5 rue de la Manutention in the 16th, 01.47.23.52.80, closed Saturday lunch and Sundays

shellio, i have not heard of your 1st, 2nd and 5th choices. what is the food like? i figured the smaller the restaurant (as are the 3rd and 4th choices) the more likely they would to be closed-perhaps i am wrong? i wish these places had e mail so i could find out! thanks

also my information on temp au temps shows it closed on sunday and monday. is it open monday?

Cinq Mars is a bistro with modern cooking, opened about 18 months ago and got a lot of good press. I've had one very good dinner there.

Louis Vins is similar but less upscale, fixed price of around €28 as I recall, larger than the others. I was taken there last May by a young woman who writes a food blog from Paris.

Les Marches belongs to a young restaurateur I met when lunching at Le Comptoir last fall. He was having a one year anniversary party at the resto that night and invited us and we went again for lunch later. Young vibe in the evening, more business types at lunch, but good food and reasonable prices. The stairs referred to in the name are the ones that lead down to the Seine from the Palais de Tokyo.

You're right, I was wrong about Le Temps au Temps.

Another restaurant open every day and which I like a lot is Le Petit Pontoise, 9 rue de Pontoise in the 5th, 01 43 29 25 20. Blackboard menus, lots of choice of traditional dishes with the occasional surprise. I've enjoyed it every time.

You may have to call to make sure they're open, but it can probably wait until you arrive in Paris, when you should make reservations in any case. What are your dates?

Shellio, my concerns are Sunday 4/30 and Monday 5/1-I have all my other dinners more than covered. We were thinking La Ardoise for our sunday dinner.That is where we usually go. I had heard of Petit Pontoise but not recently so didn't know of any current reviews. What is the pricing like? Thanks. I will check out your other suggestions too. Now my list is getting bigger! Cinq Mars sounds intriguing-I love that you used the term "resto"! A fellow foodie!

About Petit Pontoise, the 2005 Petit Lebey has a price of €48.50 for a meal of assiette de pétoncles façon thaïe au citron vert, foie de veau avec pommes au lait, île flottante aux pralines roses avec une demi-bouteille de vin de pays d'Oc. Other dishes include: gaspacho de homard, parmentier de canard au fois poêlé, daurade royale au citron vert, gratin de fruits frais.

I'm ready to go back after typing this!!