There's aa quote of a French saying in the Book, "At Home in France."

"Good cooking is when things taste likw what they are."

MVor... that might be it. I just went to the paris yellow pages, though, and it looks like it's got too many cars on it. I recall it being pedestrian only, with enough room for a few tables outside at some of the restaurants. So maybe that's not it. I'll keep looking, but if anyone else has any idea of the street I'm referring to, I'd appreciate it.

If you're walking up rue de Seine towards St Suplice and Odeon metro, I think it's off to the right, maybe one of the streets that runs parallel to rue St Sulpice. Of course, now I absolutely need to know the name. The wonders of the internet...
~kat

Actually, mvor, I think it's rue Guisarde... which runs into rue des Canettes. Amazing what you can do with the paris yellow pages website!!!!
~kat

And of course, a quick google search of restaurants on rue Guisarde found the one I'm looking for that I wanted to recommend to the OP.

Bistrot d'Opio, Provencal food. I remember it was delicious food. Does anyone know if it's still good? Scanning the reviews in French it all still lookes good.

Here's their website
http://www.bistrot-opio.com/

kat, glad you found it--I've bookmarked it for future reference. I forgot to mention the Cafe Louis (22 rue des Cannettes) has delicious pizza/past.

BarbaraF, good luck to you and your husband and congratulations on your anniversary.

Maureen

Correction:

The restaurant is Santa Lucia on 22 rue des Cannettes.

Cleary it's time to step away from the computer!

We eat at Fish La Boissonniere on rue de Seine in the 6th for a lighter meal. No cream or dairy sauces but good Mediterranean style food. They are open on Sunday night too. I have the menu around here someplace if you are interested I could scan it and email it to you.

Skatterfly, that looks absolutely terrific. It is on our definite to do list for October! Many thanks. I have just decided we will do all new restaurants this trip except for Florimond for husband's birthday celebration.

Maybe this suggestion is heretical, but it's quite possible to find pleasant, economical (or I imagine expensive) Italian restaurants in Paris. Then you can have meals that are as free of rich sauces as you like.

Re: " the Bastide de L'Odéon - very near to the jardins de luxembourg. The food is provencal style and the atmosphere is lovely. I was with French friends but I noticed that the staff were very friendly and helpful towards the English and American customers."

Interesting to hear that because we had a very bad experience at Odeon two years ago. The food was excellent, but the service was so unpleasant that we'd never want to go back. It was the only place we went in Paris where we felt put down and badly treated because we didn't want to order the most expensive food and wine on the menu. We do speak a little French, too, and really try never to come across as the "ugly Americans." But maybe we were just unlucky to get a bad waiter on a bad day.

Thank you for your well wishes and for all the recommendations. I'll post a list soon. As an aside, I read a few comments by MKingdom in the bulkhead/armrest thread today and breathed a sigh of relief that her comment to me, above, was so mild.

Gretchen: yes to both.

You're right, Gretchen - I thought you were 'cataloguing' the unhealthy ingredients. I love cassoulet!

>...Italian restaurants in Paris. Then you can have meals that are as free of rich sauces as you like. <

Such as Tagliatelle with Ragu Bolognese, Spaghetti Alfredo, Arancini?

Ha, Ira. Perhaps I should say that at an Italian restaurant, one can have dinner with as few or as many rich sauces as one would like. My favorite food in the world might be a Caprese salad, and I always look for those on any trip I happen to be on.

Hi Will,

We had a most excellent Salada Caprese at the Ristorante Della Rose in Paestum (just on the entrance to town). Home grown tomatoes and fresh Buffalo mozzarella.

(There's only two things that money can't buy; and that's true love and home-grown tomaters.)

I sort of feel like Elaine and Gretchen, I think -- I don't remember reading a lot of posts on here about creamy sauces on foods or food drenched in cream and cheese but maybe I just missed them or wasn't paying attention. I rarely eat like that in France, it's just not that common. Butter is never put on vegetables, etc, or on bread, of course -- you're given a pat of butter perhaps on the plate that you can use if you wish. Also, I do eat steak several times when in Paris because I don't it much at home and they do it well there, for a reasonable cost -- and I've never been served a steak with a pat of butter on top in Paris. So, that's not really universal (or even common in my experience, although I'm sure it happened--they do that a lot in the US, I think).

Any sauce you order for a steak can be served on the side in a little gravy-boat type dish (or not at all, if you don't want it). I like Bearnaise sauce or steak au poivre, myself, but do sometimes just as for a "faux filet" which is a very tender steak, and they can cook it without a sauce.

Grilled fish and meats are quite popular on menus in restaurants where I go, there are entire restaurants devoted to this theme, and they have rotisserie in the name, that's an easy way to find them. There's one wellknown "chain" (meaning a few of them) which I think is Rotisserie d'en Face (one on rue Christine). The Rotisserie du Bojolais is one owned by La Tour d'Argent at 19, quai Tournelle.

Scatterfly/mvor:

We had a wonderful meal at le Bistrot d'Opio, Rue Guisarde last year. I had a memorable lamb served on skewers hanging from a little serving platform. It's very tightly packed, but on a cold October night it was festive and delicious! As I recall it was about 70 euro for two, including wine.

And, yes, I believe Rotisserie d'en Face fits with what Barbara is looking for. Both the rabbit and chicken were braised to a crispy brown. I think they were served sans sauce.

Oops. As for my "memorable" lamb dish...I just looked at that on-line menu and the item on skewers is BEEF! LOL! I recognized the description of its being served with various mustards. It was scrumptious.

JeanneB, LOL...thanks for your update. Their menu looks great and I think cozy will work very well for us in November. Maureen