Meat is stews, casseroles, quiche, McDon are all thoroughly cooked. A "well done" steak, however, is still quite pink. Asking for American style "well done" could be annoy the chef.

Wow - thanks for the responses! OK - I can do without the McDonalds and horse cracks:-) And snails - who are we kidding??? And no I am not obsessed with food - I just dont eat undercooked meat - especially chicken and pork! I want to be a prepared and a considerate diner, so knowing what I can easily order will be a help. Also, I think that food is a big part of the Paris experience, so sticking a pin in the menu and leaving a plate full of food I cannot eat is not only wasteful, but rude to the hard working chef -- and besides my not at all picky eater, but very cheap, husband would end up eating 2 dinners:-) Thanks for all the great responses - especially from those who accepted my preferences and gave helpful suggestions - I do eat beef, chicken breast, ham, lamb, and turkey, just well done! I love cheese and plan to eat my share along with the suggested stews, soups, crepes, baguettes, quiche and deserts. I always get great responses to my questions - you guys are the best!

You will have no problem getting chicken breast whn your order chicken (ask for "le blanc", i.e., white meat if you order poulet roti; with many boneless chicken dishes you're likely to get white meat anyway). By the way, do you like Asian food (Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai)? Paris abounds in Asian restaurants and Vietnamese food, in particular, is very tasty. You should enjoy crepes as well. When are you going to be in Paris? If it's over the winter, a lot of restaurants will be offering game...you might want to try some game dishes...consomme of guinea hen, for example, tastes like a very rich chicken broth (approximately), or try cream of wild mushroom soup, or maybe some boar or venison.
Best bet: start drinking a nice wine before you eat...will make any meal taste better!

These questions kill me as well. One of the primary reasons to go to Paris is to experience the food...Sorry you're going to miss one of the major joys of Paris.

BTilke's reply just reminded me of the couscous in Paris! That's a great choice & the food is wonderful. With the large North African population, Paris is filled with couscouseries.

If you're in the Latin Quarter, I highly recommend the restaurant at Hotel Degres de Notre Dame (10 r. Grands Degres off of the Quai Montebello, not far from Square Rene Viviani & Notre Dame). I had the couscous with merguez sausage there my last trip. Wonderful! I think couscous, aperitif & wine came to about $20.

I agree with Christina in that the meat will generally be undercooked to our American palates. Unless of course you want to count that horrible dried out rotisserie chicken I had Le Ronsard (13 place St Pierre & rue Steinkerque). Who'd have thought you could ruin rotisserie chicken? But that's a lesson learned from eating at an ultra-mega-touristy spot.

"Do NOT attempt to tell the chef how to cook it"
LOL - was at a restaurant with a friend the 2002 trip to Paris, she told the waiter to have the chef cook her steak well-done. He must've thought I wanted mine the same way because when it was brought to the table it was terrible: very overdone. And this had been one of my fave places the year before. The suggestion to cook the steak well-done nearly ruined the meal.

Seafox,

I must confess I don't know what hachis parmentier means except that I have a strong suspicion it means "hashed" or minced. I found this recipe for you:

HACHIS PARMENTIER
Ingredients:
1 kg potatoes
100 g butter
2 dl crème fraîche
300 g minced meat
100 g chopped bacon fat
1 chopped onion
100 g crustless bread
1 dl milk
1 egg
chopped parsley
30 g swiss cheese
salt
pepper

Cook the potatoes à l'anglaise (I'm not sure what this means).
Once cooked, pass them in the press-purée and add 50 g butter along with the crème.

Wet the bread with a bit of milk.

Sweat the onions in 30 g of butter.

Add the meat and the chopped bacon. Cook for a few minutes.

Off of heat, add the bread, parsley and bind with the egg.

Butter a gratiné pan.

Pour in half of the purée.

Spread with the stuffing and cover with the rest of the purée.

Sprinkle with swiss cheese and knobs of butter.

Gratiné for 15 minutes at 200?C.

Serve hot.