Finally have some of our dining photos from our Oct. trip to Paris ready to share; we usually chose places that are moderately priced (generally spending between 50-80 euros for two (with either my having a glass of wine and my husband water, or our sharing a carafe of wine, as we enjoy wine but one glass or 2 tends to be enough for us). We had some very good meals, with the highlight being Chez Dumonet.

https//paristrip102014foodphotos.shutterfly.com/

Thank you for posting these lovely photos! Everything looked delicious.

Wonderful... and mouth-watering ! Thank you for sharing.

The puffed potatoes you wondered about are a French classic/technique called 'pommes souffles', essentially made by twice frying potatoes, first in a cool oil around 270F to create a 'skin' and then immediately transferring to a hotter oil around 350F. They will immediately puff upon immersion into the hotter oil before browning. Use a high-starch potato and don't wash them after peeling and slicing. Works all the time for me.

got lots of ideas for a trip-thank you.

Great photos, thanks!!!

Mathieu - thanks for the info on the potatoes -- I will definitely try them.
Kansas and joannyc -- thanks for the compliments on the photos -- there are definitely a few duds though; I wasn't experienced enough with our new camera and didn't realize a few times that my settings had accidentally been changed.
northie -- we enjoyed all the restaurants we went and except for L'As de Fallafel and Rotisserie d'Enface they were new to us. Only one we probably wouldn't go is La Fontaine de Mars, even though it was okay.

Thanks! I enjoyed all the photos and I saved your post! Oh, I am so hungry looking at your photos!

elizzie - I wrote a trip report that goes in more detail about the restaurants we went to -- if you click on my user name you'll find it.

have done a search on each and particularly fancy Le Fermette Marbeuf-I love art nouveau and the ceiling there looks beautiful just like Le Bofinger. Might go there for our 50th wedding anniversary which we are celebrating in Paris.

just read your trip report -loved it. As you love Monet go to Musee Marmottan next time. Have put the ceiling of Opera Garnier on my to do as I love Chagalls work. Last time I was in Paris his work had been moved from the gallery to a special exhibition in Russia.

The puffed potatoes you wondered about are a French classic/technique called 'pommes souffles', essentially made by twice frying potatoes,

Not to put too fine a point on that, I believe they are really pommes frites--French fries. And yes, that method IS the way to get the best French fries with a nice crusty exterior and a creamy interior.

I find it interesting that the least appealing photos were from La Fontaine de Mars. I went back to your comments and saw the "ok" and "not going back" - so it really came through in the photos! The rest were mouth-watering, though. Thanks for posting. Btw, there's a brand new Aux Merveilleux de Fred in NYC - first ever US store for them.

Gretchen,

No, they are pommes soufflés. It is true that the best pommes frites are twice-deep-fried (at least once in beef tallow), but the potatoes that vanne ate as showin in the photos are pomme soufflés.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pommes-Soufflees

"Not to put too fine a point on that, I believe they are really pommes frites--French fries. And yes, that method IS the way to get the best French fries with a nice crusty exterior and a creamy interior."

If I MAY put a fine but important point on the difference between fries and pommes souffles, with french fries, there can be an interval of several minutes or even hours, between the first and second frying.
For the pommes souffles shown in the pic, the frying must be immediate - from the first oil and into the second hotter oil, for the potatoes to puff up.

Northie: We really enjoyed La Fermette Marbeuf; we went for lunch there as we found ourselves nearby, so we didn't have reservations. Be sure to make reservations in advance so that you can get in the main room, although the side room we were in was quite nice.

We visited the Musee Marmottan several years ago and enjoyed it. This past trip we revisited the Musee d'Orsay and the Orangerie as we're both huge Impressionist fans.

Have photos from our Paris sightseeing that I'll try to get together -- we both really enjoyed the chance to see the Opera Garnier. It really is amazing and we hope to see a performance there sometime in the future.

Fontaine de mars is a GREAT bistro. We have had wonderful food there--foie gras and cassoulet.

Lovely pictures. The Birthday dessert looked so good. I could eat the potatoes and only the potatoes and be happy.

Gretchen - We didn't have any problem with Fontaine de Mars -- we just didn't enjoy it as much as the others and, with all the restaurants there are in Paris, there are only so many that we would make a point to go back to. The food was just fine, but what we ordered wasn't extraordinary and we felt a little overpriced. Maybe if we'd ordered the cassoulet we would feel differently. Every restaurant has some dishes they do better than others.

Ooooh YUM! Thanks so much for these! I'm planning my fall trip, and your photos & trip report are a great help! Thanks!

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swandav2000 - glad you enjoyed the photos and hope you enjoy your trip -- in our experience fall is a nice time to visit Paris. We had a moderate budget -- no super high-end restaurants or expensive wines, although we certainly would have enjoyed trying at least one if we could have afforded it -- but we ate very well.