Leely2

I believe Au Bon Accueil has new ownership and/or a new chef and isn't supposed to be nearly what it was, sadly. I enjoyed it when I went a couple of years ago.

Leely2

Oh, sorry, I just saw oakglen's post.

StuDudley

Here are my comments on the various restaurants near the Eiffel Tower in the 7th & a bit of the 15th.

However, first I think it is best to describe what we “look for” in a restaurant, because not everyone will have the same “tastes” that we have.

My wife & I are “foodies” and we spend around 2 months vacationing in France most years. So, that means about 30-40 restaurant meals in France each year & we’ve been doing this since we retired (early) in ’99 so we could travel more. We stay in apts in Paris and Gites outside of Paris – and we usually dine out about 4-5 times a week and prepare dinner at the apt/gite 2-3 times each week. We have very few “sit down” lunches.

We like to find items on restaurant menus that are interesting/unique and things we can’t or won’t cook at home or in the Gite or Apt. We are not comfort/simple food people – but we also do not like “fussy” restaurants that are too formal.

I usually make up a long list of restaurants in the “neighborhood” before we depart from the US. Normally, I’ll make reservations from the US for our first two dinners, and then the first several days we are in France we “run around” and check out the menus on my list. The list is made up if restaurants listed in the Michelin Red Guide – which I’ve have found to be an excellent source. Normally we’ll eliminate about 2/3rds of the restaurants because the menu selections are not interesting enough.

Here are some items we look for at restaurants:
Appetizers
Smoked or marinated salmon, trout, or other fish
Scallops – cooked or marinated
Foie Gras, outside of Paris (many places to purchase foie gras in Paris for consumption at the apt)
Ecrevisse or Langoustine
Octopus
Calamari
crab
frog legs
soup
Anchovies
Sardines
trotters

Main courses
Pigeon
Ris de veau
Any fish
Scallops
Rabbit
Beef cheeks

Items we prepare at the Gite/apt – so we don’t order them at restaurants
Magret de Canard
Chicken
Mussels
Oysters from the Rue Cler market
Cepes
Risotto

Items that we hardly ever eat in restaurants (we do this at home too)
Beef (US beef is better, IMO)
Pork
Veal

Here is where we dined (in the 7th) in Sept/Oct ’08 when we were in Paris for 3 weeks.
Violin de Ingres – twice
Au Bon Accueil
Fables de Fountain
Les Cocottes
Leo le Lion
Clos des Gourmets
Vin et Marie
Nabuchodonosor
I may be missing 1 or 2 others

We “checked out” these, & the menu did not seem interesting enough
Chez Les Anges
Les Ombres – a little too pricy also
L’Affricole
Vin sur Vin
L’Agassin
Café de l’Alma
Chez l’Ami Jean
Fontain de Mars (looks great from the outside, boring menu, IMO)
Florimond – checked this out many times – not interesting enough
Pasco
P’tit Troquet (Picture of Rick Steves in the window)
La Gauloise

Café Constant seemed good – but does not take reservations & was always crowded

In Dec ’09 we returned to Paris for 10 days and dined at:
Violin de Ingres
Au Bon Accueil
Fables de Fountain
Au Petit Sud-Ouest – had Fodors GTG here – a simple foie gras/duck place.
Le Clarisse

As stated earlier, Fables, Violin d'Ingres, and Bon Acceuil were our 3 favorites.

Stu Dudley

brioche

We were in Paris last spring and tried a new place, (for us, anyway), on the same street as Au Bon Accueil, called "Firmin Le Barbier". The owner greeted us and was very friendly & gracious throughout the evening, the service was wonderful and we thought the food was very good. It was a small place and filled up fairly soon - we only heard French being spoken, so maybe it's popular with local residents.

Sad to hear Au Bon Accueil has changed.

StuDudley

Three people have said that Au Bon Accueil "has changed". Have any of you dined at Bon Accueil since we were there in Dec '09 - when we had a wonderful meal??

Stu Dudley

Judy

We had a wonderful meal there in Dec 09 as well (and several prior to that!).

We were there last month and had an experience that was not as good as previous visits. We had a 9 PM reservation and, when given the menu and the list of "specials" and given a what seemed like a long time to review them, we were told that all but one of the special items were no longer available and that a few items on the regular menu were gone as well.....not a huge problem but would have been better to know this before we made our menu selections.

The service, though, was very slow and not nearly as attentive as in the past. We had friends with us who had never been to the restaurant and my husband and I each found ourselves telling our friends that it was usually much better!

We just assumed the restaurant was having a bad night, as can happen....perhaps not fully staffed that evening.

Michel_Paris

I did a quick scan of some french foodie blogs. They like:
Chez Francoise (not t.b. confused with Chez Francis)
Pasco
Bistrot du Palais
Le Clarisee
L'Auberge Bressane
La Folle Avoine

Sue4

Bookmarking for future trip

Nikki

Thanks Stu. I think I have figured out which restaurants you tried and didn't like, but please don't test me in the morning.

StuDudley

Niki - the only 2 I would not go back to if we were planning on dining in the area for 3 weeks are:
Leo le Lion
Vin et Marie - overcooked fish, and even the rice was left in the oven too long - it was as hard as a rock in places.

Others were fine - but not as good as our 3 favorites.

Stu Dudley

acacia67

Cafe Constant is one I am going to check out as I will be staying in the 15th, the other that Stu mentioned will look up as well. Doing the budget thing for this trip but I do know there are places that are still good on a budget.

fbc34

After reading this string last night, thought Stu and others might enjoy a report of today's lunch at Au Bon Accueil. I last ate there in January 2009 and found it as good today. Very good service and both my food and that of the couple next to me was well prepared and well appreciated. I had sweet potato soup, chicken pot au feu with rutabagas, and dried apple stuffed with figs. My neighbors had ballatine de lapin and saucisses de poisson and said all was tasty.

Judy

Nice to know my recent experience is not the norm!

StuDudley

Thanks for the report, fbc34.

Stu Dudley

plafield

Au Bon Accuueil has indeed changed hands. While the food there can still be tasty, it's not what it was. The old chef prepared very top quality ingredients in classicly simple ways for an amazingly good value menu. The new chef is aiming for something else and often misses the mark so I've taken it off my list. Chez L'Ami Jean, on the other hand is stellar food everytime, although the atmosphere isn't for everyone.

cafegoddess

Les Cocottes is my favorite on the 7th, next door to Cafe Constant.

StuDudley

plafield
WHEN did the "change" occur??? This quarter, last quarter???

Stu Dudley

plafield

The old chef went back to Japan and most of his team left at the same time at the beginning of 2010. The new chef hasn't changed the look of the place or even the look of the menu/carte all that much, but the cooking simply isn't as precise and excuisite as it once was. That's not to say it isn't good at all any more, just not the to the level it once was. Particularly if you order the menu (which used to be one of the finest values in town!)as opposed to off the carte.

StuDudley

Thanks. Both of our meals, therefore, were served when the former chef was behind the stove.

Stu Dudley