We're off to Paris on Saturday morning and I'm concerned about finding restaurants where my fussy teenager will be happy to eat - spaghetti bolognaise and all things Italian are her favourites, but my husband and I would like to taste French food too. Do any restaurants in Paris offer a combination of both?

Like here, most restaurants serve a single cuisine, but maybe someone else will come along with a Parisian exception.

I'm not an advocate of making anybody eat anything, and children are no exception, but I think your daughter may be pleasantly surprised with French food, and I especially direct your attention to French food known as Provencal food, an area of France that borrows a lot from Italy in terms of using garlic, tomato sauces -- but seldom pasta itself. (They do make a version of pizza, however.)

Here's a travel guide with a lot of budget options which might offer your family a low-cost introduction to French eating in case your daughter takes two bites of what she's ordered and doesn't want to finish it. The guide also includes recommendations for quality pizzerias in Paris.

http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/Par...rink_sleep.htm

As you go through that guide, make a special note of recommendations for restaurants that serve the cooking of Provencal (or Provence).

Rest assured, nobody will starve. If your daughter doesn't like French food, why not take her for a meal before you eat, and she can join you for dessert at your next stop? Or vice versa: she can have a salad while you eat French food, but then onto a pizzeria (restaurants in Paris serve till quite late). You'll see places everywhere in Paris serving pre-made food you can take a way for a picnic: roast chicken, salami-like sausages, salads.

But it just maybe that once your daughter tastes her first bite of French food, she'll realize why she's been such a picky eater in America: The food is lousy here.

FLUNCH - buffet-style cafeterias all over Paris - unlimited veggies and a meat dish for a low price - can pick out what they want and something for everyone. Not a fancy restaurant but teens may like it and has French food, really typical French food but not the small portions in expensive restaurants featuring exoctic sauces - the kind of French food most French never taste, of course as well as pedestrian stuff like pasta.

(They do make a version of pizza, however.)

That line has me rolling on the floor. Per capita, the French eat twice as much pizza as the Italians (but not as much as the Americans).

Be forewarned. Some French like to serve pizza with egg on top (sometimes scrambled, sometimes sunnyside up). Learn the French words for "no egg", or "without egg". Or, risk the teen's wrath and scorn.

Laugther is good for you, kerouac. But one wonders what set you off. Not all of France is Provence.

If you tell a traveling American teenager to order a "pissaladière" from the menu in France when they are in the mood for pizza, I think you'd be misleading them quite a bit if you didn't explain that the French version of this Mediterranean dish only slightly resembles what they've eaten in America or Italy. (It's round. It has a crust.)

What you want is Vesuvius, a little Italian/French restaurant opposite the church of St-Germain-des-Prés (métro stop of the same name). Vesuvius does great pizza and pasta but also standard French meals. It's relatively inexpensive.

Nessundorma, I don't think there is much chance that anyone could ever mistake a pissaladière for a pizza, and I think that I teenager would just snicker at the name anyway, rather than order the item.

Also, any pizzeria in France lists about 25 different sorts of pizza, with a full list of ingredients under the name. I don't really see how someone could accidently receive an egg they don't want.

On rue Petit Perron just off Blvd St Germain & rue Sts Peres is an Italian place called Le Perrone. Wonderful Italian food.
I have 2 children and have taken them with me everywhere as they were growing up. My son was eating sashimi when he was 7 with "lots of wasabi, please"..and he and my daughter are both crazy for goat cheese and pasta with artichokes .. One of the great things you are doing for your daughter is taking her out of her comfortable USA and to a new place where they do things, say things and eat things differently. Try not to coddle the "fussy" part and let her find her own new favorites in Paris.
It will not be so hard, there is always something good to eat
Have a great time..
( take a guide with restaurants in it and let her pick some out - she can read it on the plane..like Patricia Wells etc..let her be part of the food decisions)

Thanks to all who replied, although I should point out we're from Bonnie Scotland and not America!
The jack-travel.com website seems to be 4 years out of date?

Ditto underhill for Vesuvio.

It is across the Boul St. Germaine from St Germaine des Pres church.

Could be, gchromy. I don't know how often he updates it, and I last used it in 2000.

Got it now, kerouac. I wasn't suggesting to gchromy that there wasn't any pizza in France. In fact, the (alas) out of date guide I linked to has a whole section on pizzerias alone. I was suggesting that if her daughter liked Italian food, she also might like the food of Provence, including the version of pizza made in Provence that can be found in some restaurants in Paris. I was actually recommending pissalidiere for itself, not as pizza.

Interesting that most people will not touch a "fussy teenager" topic. Of course, it has more to do with teenagers than it has to do with Paris.

Have the teenagers been told that their mother is doing secret research regarding their travel nutrition?

quite a bit if you didn't explain that the French version of this Mediterranean dish only slightly resembles what they've eaten in America or Italy. (It's round. It has a crust.)
I/'ve had oblong but isn't it mostly onion/olives and no cheese at all? Now that might be a real shock!

They may just have to try some new things and be educated.

Same works for the fussy teen in Scotland
It is good to get out of our comfort zones, no matter our age or location..Have you given the teen a guide for her own research too?
Have fun!

Vesuvio was just okay to us. But the pizzas are the most popular order there. The St. Germain location is two storeys and is very busy.

http://www.vesuviocafe.com/htgb/0001.htm

Well there's no shortage of family-style Italian restaurants in Paris. So do that one night. Then the next, don't most French restaurants have simple offerings like roast chicken?

Second idea, get her a pizza to-go and let her stay in the hotel and watch French TV while you and hubby go have a fancy meal somewhere!

Suze is correct in pointing out that French bistrots offer roast chicken, plain lamb chops and other simple fare along with more compicated French creations. One hopes she eats something other than Italian, even if it is her favorite.