Visiting Paris soon and traveling with a companion who is a self described "non fancy" eater. Basic steak and potatoes type of gal. We're looking over some guide books and checking out restaurants and I think all the "fois gras" and "pates" are starting to worry her.
I know nothing about french food but I'm pretty easy going and will try some thing new.

Can anyone recommend some place they liked that may have a menu item or two for some one with a less than "exotic" palate. LOL.

I think she's breaking out in a sweat with the fear she'll be eating cheese the entire week.
We have a fairly nice food budget (~150 a day pp) so that should help.

TIA
Eliza

All restaurants will have "something" your friend can eat. I would recommend against "steak and potatoes". The steak in France is usually not what we enjoy here, and will be served bloody rare.
There are MANY stews, fish, chicken, etc. I would advise getting a food glossary for translating, although many menus are also in English now.

I love the crepes at Place Monge, Rue Mouffetard... Thats cheap and for non adventurous eaters...

mmm other wise, French food is not that extravagant or extrange... And of course is more than wine, cheese and bread...

I have never tried but, this "Escargots" (snails) I think you can avoid them...

Otherwise, stay on the basic french food, "Jambon beurre" and "crepes" one. I mean, actually, I live in Paris but I can't think in any traditional French dish (only found in France) they have exported it all, so you'll be safe!!!!!

☺

You won't have to travel more than 20 feet in any direction to find things she can eat. This is a non-issue. Learn enough French so you know what's on the menu, or take a menu translator, so you don't encounter surprises like rognons de veau.

While it is true that the French will not cook all of the red out of meat, you can still ask for <i>bien cuit</i> which will be served as what you may recognized as medium rare to medium. If you absolutely must have meat cooked well done, it would be much easier to simply stay away from steaks.

If your taste buds are finely tuned to that which is routine and familiar, stick with cafés or chain restaurants such as Hippopotamus, la Courte Paille, or maybe the Relais d´Entrecote.

Typical French restaurants may not really appeal to your companion which is unfortunate but everyone is different. Menus will always be posted at the entrance to a restaurant so it might be worth the trouble to acquaint yourself with basic terminology:

http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/a/menu.htm

Here are my meals from my last trip. One of the misconceptions of France/Paris is that it is strange foods or "foofoo". Au contraire...

Breakfast
@Local café: coffee, croissant, OJ


Lunch
@Galeries Lafayette: baguette wioth ham + gruyere (great bread)
@Pattissrie Paul: snack, pain chocolat + almonds
@Cafe Hugo: ouside Bavette de veau (veal flank staek), mineral water, glass of red wine, came with lots of veggies, and potatoes dauphinoise (cheese)
@Brasserie Ile St Louis. Faux Fillet au poivre avec frites allumette (flank steak with thin fries), glass of red wine,cafe creme, mineral water, 3 balls of local ice cream
@Miss Manon. Sandwich ham + gruyere, Coca Light, Crumble fruit rouge desert


Dinner
@La Jacobine: maigret de canard (duck breast, tastes like chicken),salad,fish soup with crème fraiche(?) bread and grated cheese,glass of red wine
@Chez Clement: at beginning brought plate with two pieces of nice cured sausage, Terrine Maison (meat pate), mineral water, ½ chicken withj thyme and creamy mash potatoes, ice cream and fruit, glass of red wine
@ Rotonde de La Muette: fall vegetable soup, sole meuniere (sole in a white sauce), +small potatoes, glass red wine, mineral water, chocolate mousse, espresso
@ Bistrot du 7eme; Terrine de porc (pork pate), Escalope de veau + allumette (veal in a mushroom sauce with thin fries), bread, mineral water, red wine, ice cream in a red sauce, espressso

Rotisserie du Beaujolais is a Left Bank restaurant, on the street above the Seine, near Ile St Louis. One of its specialties is roast chicken with garlic mash potatoes.

Michel! Either you have an incredible memory, or you keep highly-detailed notes. Either way, I'm drooling. Pass the napkin, s'il vous plait.

Part of my trip notes are the meals. Prices,etc.. That way I can do a retro-drool

I order steak all the time in Paris and order it correctly the way I want it (a point), and that is what I get. I've never had it cooked poorly and I have never gotten it raw. I would never order "bien cuit" unless I wanted a piece of gray shoe leather. If you order it that way, I would not want to bet at all that you would get medium rare.

I think your friend's concerns don't make sense as there isn't any restaurant that serves only fois gras, and if there were, you wouldn't go there. Pates aren't the main course, don't order them either. I never eat them in Paris or anywhere as I don't like them. You have to order them to get them.

French restaurants aren't that bizarre, they serve a variety of meats and fish dishes as the main course. Just learn with the menu terms mean and you will probably find lots of restaurants with menus in English, anyway.

Really, the French do not spend all of their time eating snails and frogs legs and foie gras. Lots of the French are extremely non adventurous, so there is absolutely nothing to worry about -- the vast majority of the items (90%?) are totally without risk. I find it even pathetic. In a French restaurant, if you see the word "curry" on the menu, it means that "curry odor" is used on the item, but I will defy anybody to find "curry taste." French food is really extremely bland. Yes we do eat tripe and blood sausage and things like that, but they are all in a very small section of the menu and never dominate it.

I do not recommend ordering steak in France since 1) they cook it much less than we do - for any description and 2) typically it is not the qaulity you expect unless you go to a spcial steak restaurant with meat from Argentina or Charleroi beef or whatever. A steak in the corner cafe is not likely to plese. (And yes, bien cuit wil get you shoe leather. Steak is usually served what we would call rare to exremely rare - and if cooked more is usually too well done.)

That said, if you want you can subsist on ham and cheese sndwiches, omelets and roast chicken with fries if you go to all basic neighborhood cafes.

Paris reco's:

Le Timbre
Pre-Verre
Le Petite Chaise
The cafe at the Jacquemart-Andre Musee
The food halls at Galleries Lafayette

P_P

I order steak frites all the time in Paris becuase they cook it just as I do at home, nice and bloody> If you want it cooked a bit more just ask. I do love a good boeuf Bourg. too. Beef stew to Ameicans.I don't particularly care for chicken so the roast chicken hardly ever touches my playte. BTW david Leibovitz just labeled The Rotisserie du Beaujolais a Zomnie resaurant...too often found in guide books and over rated, can't discus because it never appealed to me. Great lamb in France too if she eats lamb

Le Tastevin on the Ile St. Louis is a favorite of mine. Very small and owner-managed. Small number of selections but all fresh and sauces can be omitted.

Virtually all restaurants have menus posted so you can look before you commit.

Frankly, I do not see much point in taking a "non fancy" eater to any specific restaurant anywhere around the city. When one is "non fancy," one rarely appreciates the (expensive) flourishes of the more famous places, even if they have ordinary dishes. I think it is just best to walk around and go to any ordinary café, brasserie or simple restaurant rather than risking any disappointment or financial burden at a higher class place. Since all of the menus are posted outside at every restaurant, it is really pretty difficult to go wrong.

Most restaurants in France serve fairly ordinary food that will not seem unfamiliar to your friend. That's the normal case, not the exception. Any restaurant that looks clean and nice and has a fair number of customers sitting at the tables is probably a safe bet. Not all restaurants will have foie gras or frog legs on the menu, but just about any restaurant will have something like a ground-beef patty with French fries and salad. Onion soup is typically Parisian but also not particularly weird, containing only onions, bread, and cheese (and quite tasty). Croque Monsieur is just two pieces of toast with melted cheese and ham. There's lots of "normal" stuff to eat in Paris.

And you can always eat at a McDonald's if you want home-style food. There are a few KFCs, too. Starbucks provides coffee you'll recognize. Ben & Jerry or Haagen-Dazs for dessert. There are plenty of American chains in Paris.

For very ggod American diner style food (burgers, fries, omlets, etc.), try "Breakfast in America" they have two locations (Google them). Also, I agree about avoiding fancy restaurants. She will be much happier in cages and (especially) bars where she can get very good sandwiches, stews, soups, etc.

I know she's a picky eater but a cage isn't really necessary.

My two cents are,do not be afraid to go into a grocery and buy food sthat she can look at and think about and will be comfortable eating. There are many small stores throughout the city and of course thefabulous market at bon' Marche. Either way this realy will not be a problem for her - she can eat pizza for every meal if it suits her fancy!