I'll be in Paris for a few days in early January with my girlfriend. I've been to Paris once before for a few days, about 8 years ago. We are staying at Crown Plaza Champs Elysees, and are looking for any suggestions for restaurants, or nightlife in the city. It doesn't need to be fancy, but ok if it is, or in the neighborhood of Champs Elysees. She is 28, I'm 38, and we're open to places that you felt strongly about and would visit again. Preferably not "tourist traps". Thanks in advance!

Hi C,

What's your budget?

Hi Ira,

I'm not a millionaire, but am fairly flexible.. Definitely open to hearing your thoughts, with maybe an indication of price. Preferably, it would not be too stuffy.

thanks much

I'd suggest Chez Francis which is just about at place d'Alma and the Seine and has a great view of the Eiffel Tower. It's a pretty place, also, I think, and reasonable in cost (I'd guess dinner might be around 40 euro). check it out
http://www.chezfrancis-restaurant.com/

That's my best suggestion as I don't stay in that area so don't know things that well around there.

http://www.parisnightlife.fr/

We really enjoyed Aux trois Maillets http://www.lestroismailletz.fr/ which is a small jazz club in the Latin Quarter that captures the feeling of how things were, and still should be in that sort of venue.

It is just across the Seine from Notre Dame, and gets it's name because the masons who built the church used to live there. There is a bar upstairs that you can wander into for a drink, and listen to singers, both professional and amateur, in the early evening. The real action is downstairs in a narrow cave where you are smooshed shoulder to shoulder for some rare and high energy entertainment. Entertainment does not start until after 11:00, and goes to around 04:30, so go early for some so-so food to get a good seat on the side, as there will be dancing on the center tables. If you want to dance on the tables, sit in the middle.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time. Go to Trip Advisor for reviews. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...de_France.html

nukesafe, Aux trois Maillets looks fabulous! is there an english tranlation? i would like to make reservations but afraid that my 3 years of french in HS and 2 years of Latin in college are insufficient...

YOu can download a translator from Google. It will automatically translate pages for you if there is no English option. Actually it's the best translation tool available

I've been in Trois Maillets and the upstairs was decidely unfabulous as far as I was concerned. The entertainment was not very good and the place was just kind of boring. Maybe the downstairs is better, I sure hope so. There was some singer who is a student singing opera arias or something and she was okay but not that great, but it wasn't remotely the kind of music I wanted to listen to in a cafe (I wouldn't call it a bar).

Thank you all for your suggestions so far...

We liked a little restaurant on the Ille St. Louis, called Le Caveau de L'isle.
http://www.lecaveaudelisle.com/

We just stumbled upon it, were looking at the menu posted at the front door, and the proprietor came out to greet us. He was so charming and welcoming, we were persuaded to join him for dinner. Our family of four was very happy with our dinner there. It's a small place, charming, great food and service.

I LOVED my lunch at Chez Denise; see details within this report, which has quite a few restaurant comments--look at the end for Paris:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...paris-1006.cfm

Summagold,

No need to worry about your French. When I called to make reservations, I just asked if they spoke English. They did. When we dropped into the upstairs bar for a drink on a couple of evening, we had a long conversation with the owner/manager, in English.

As a matter of fact, much of the acts were introduced in both English and French, and even if I could not follow a lot of the lyrics, the music was great.

What type of nightlife scene are you interested in?

And for dinner, I very much like Le Repaire de Cartouche, next door is a smal indie rock-ish bar I like called Pop in...

L'Art Brut is also an interesting bar.

cherrybomb - thanks for the tips. The indie rock-ish bar sounds cool...would also entertain a loud, obnoxious techno/house club too..

You could try the club downstairs from Cafe Charbon on Rue Oberkampf. It isn't really very boom-boom-techno trash, they have bands some nights. You could look up the program online, the place is called Nouvelle Casino. If you were to go, you could have dinner 1st at Charbon (though I like Chez Justine across the street better) hit some bars, then the club. Also, there are a ton of bars in that quadrant. There is a rock bar I like on JP Timbaud, the name escapes me but it is on JP Timbaud, 3 storefronts west of the intersection of Rue Saint Maur on the north side of the street. It is yellow on the outside. There are some other clubs in the area going south of Oberkampf on Saint Maur.

There are some what I like to call cluuuuuuuubs - the techno trash type around the 8th, 1st and 2nd. I think Blackbook has an online listing...

that should be spelled Nouveau, not Nouvelle....not thinking.

cherrybomb and Chris66 - thanks very much!