Paris Xmas Eve Dinner
 

I'm looking for someplace to take my family for dinner after the early evening mass at Notre Dame. I'd like it to be special, but not excessively expensive, since a couple of the young adults are not gourmands worthy of a $150 dinner. Any suggestions for a festive dinner?

Many restaurants offer only a reveillon on New Year's Eve, a celebration with a special, expensive menu--and reservations are needed well in advance, especially for neighborhood places. I'd suggest asking your hotel for recommendations for restaurants in the vicinity. Even there you'll need reservations very soon, as the restaurants fill up with local regulars.

We had Christmas Eve dinner at L'Avant Gout in the 13th, and it was great. Fairly casual, fairly inexpensive (maybe 75E pp???). Not terribly festive, though, if that's what your looking for. Quiet, relaxed, excellent food.

If you decide to go there, you will need to reserve and, I believe, pay some sort of deposit ahead of time. They also serve on Christmas Day.

Whatever you do, enjoy Paris at Christmas. It's wonderful!

OMG, I meant "if that's what you're looking for." I can't believe I wrote "your." Next thing, it'll be "yer."

L'Avant Gout sounds good. What do you mean by "not festive"? I'm just looking for something cozy for Christmas Eve, as opposed to a very contempory sort of place.

Oh, gosh, by not festive, I just meant that it wasn't as if the restaurant was all decked out for the holidays. However, there were a number of families dining. We were seated next to the only other Americans (fancy that).

Mainly I remember the food, from the amuse bouche to the chocolate five ways.