Same as it was. 5 courses, under €100. Wine bar downstairs in addition to Ellsworth around the corner. Very good for the price.
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Cannot recommend a restaurant for Brandy, but maybe try the Bar Hemingway at the Ritz.
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La Cagouille has a fabulous range of Armagnac and fabulous seafood. You wont pay anywhere near 150 per head for food and it is not fancy.
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Curious to see how the bar is doing without Colin (Field). Guy was a legend and enough to make me pay the outrageous flat fee prices to try his creations and chat for a while.
Clearly not the restaurant. I have multiple reviews in this thread. It is one of my favorite restaurants in the world.
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Failure to get reservations. Sorry I should’ve qualified that statement better.
We are headed home from Paris now. We have been going a couple times a year for the last couple years and had a great 4 days there.
I’ve listed basic impressions of our dining below as this thread has been invaluable to me for planning and meals(Thanks Robert and everyone else!). Restaurants listed in order of where we ate. Overall the quality in Paris is great and we love the city and its restaurants. We generally find the service to be warm and accommodating, I think it helps to show a passion for food and know a bit about wine. We didn’t make it to Le Efants du Marche’, our plan was Sunday for lunch but our flight was delayed. Last two times there were great though and I’d head back. Also will go back to L’Ami Jean on the next trip, being there on a Sunday/Monday made it tough.
Amarante- We had a great meal here. Gambas, Pied de cochon, turbot and guinea fowl. Everything was delicious. Will return each trip. We drank a chablis and beaujolais. Portions are large and we ordered too much food.
Substance- The food was good and tasty here albeit modernist. I chose it to mix things up a bit. Mid priced for a tasting menu lunch. Probably won’t rush back bit a good option for a Monday lunch.
Le Mazenay- We had fun here. We sat at the bar which resulted in perhaps better service/interaction. Some wines are below market and good burgundy options. The food is fine, the porcini dish was awesome but won’t return next time as there are better food spots.
Restaurant A.T.- Meal of the trip. Everything was delicious. We went for lunch but did the full menu. We did the wine pairings which we normally don’t do but did because we didn’t know flavors. Next time we’ll get a bottle of bubbly and a bottle of white. Will return on our next trip.
La Tour d’Argent- We went for lunch. I went the day before to the bar and selected the wines which I highly recommend doing so as to not have to deal during the meal. The sommelier said it is possible to even go a few days in advance. The food was fine, the service was great, it was very warm and friendly despite the formal pretense. The food went well with the wine. There are definitely still deals on wine. We had 2 half bottles of burgundy - 02 Leflaive and 05 Rousseau and the a 1982 L’Evangile. All showed great and we will definitely return.
Chateaubriand- This was around the corner from our AirBnb so we took a flier. It was the one miss of the trip. Basic flavors, rushed service and it felt like an inside joke we weren’t in on. Mostly americans dining and not the wine crowd like Berserkers if you know what I mean. There are good, clean natural wines like DeMoor so that wasn’t the issue but I will not be returning. The ceviche broth and pumpkin broths were good so maybe they should open a broth spot.
I can’t wait to return to Paris! We also went to Florence and Umbria and I cannot speak highly enough of the Enoteca Pitti Gola folks, will post in that thread,
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Thanks for the great write up. Very happy you loved AT. Sorry about Chateaubriand, no excuse but they have been dealing with staffing issues. I still need to try Le Mazenay.
Thanks. I wouldn’t rush to Le Mazenay, maybe for a light snack and to raid their list, the chef and his wife are nice though. Maybe Chateaubriand was better at one time but all my favorite spots in Seattle crush it, the flavors were comically basic but we still had fun, c’est la vie!
My friends raved about this place. They’re not hard core foodies. They think I’m some sort of Paris restaurant guru despite my clearly communicating that it’s all the Wine Berserker Paris cognoscenti. Merci encore.
RT
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Seems a little harsh on the food at La Tour d’Argent, Robert. We dined there in late September for our farewell splurge after two weeks in Burgundy, and it was special. I thought the food was wonderful and easily matched the theater and incredible views of this place. The service was fantastic, and the wine list still legendary! Having been jaded with Burgundy, we opted for Jamet Cote Rotie with our duck main. The 2004 that I chose was in the middle of the pack of about 10 vintages of Jamet available.
Since it reopened in mid-August, most of the reviews and reviewers (at least that I’ve read) seem to agree with me. Have you been there recently?.
Hi Bruce - I have not been there since the reopening. I had two reservations in July and early August and both were cancelled because the reopening was delayed. Before the closure I went 2-3x per year. Thrilled to hear the food is great. For us it is more a style thing we don’t love a big meal of heavy traditional french cooking. We go for long leisurely lunches and do the smaller lunch menu with ample amounts of food and a couple of great bottles and are extremely happy. We also discovered their vegetarian menus are really good, neither of us are vegetarians we simply love vegetables and mushrooms.
We are still poring over the options for our visit in February but, as you know Bruce, we are strongly considering La Tour d’Argent, something that would not have been true had you not had such a good time there. If we do decide to go, I like Brian’s idea of going a day or two prior to peruse the wine list. We are minimalists when it comes to packing, so the idea of having to find room in my carry on for a jacket is something that will influence our decision, but I suppose I can figure out a way to cram one in.
Septime is on the shortlist. I am also very intrigued by le Mazenay and Le Rigmarole and of course Les Enfants du Marché seems like a requirement, though it may be a bit of a challenge convincing my wife that outdoor dining in February is a good idea… After perusing the latest Paris by Mouth 50 Favorites list, I am also intrigued by Pétrelle. Anybody have any experience there?
if it helps, I wouldn’t truly call Les Enfants Du Marche outdoor dining. It’s much more of a somewhat open aired food hall that does have a lot of awnings and coverage. That may not entirely sway the mrs, but it’s definitely not sitting on a street corner or the like
Got it. That’s a pretty easy sell then.
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Thanks for your reply, Robert. I have enjoyed and valued your posts on this site over the years. I had never really felt any desire to dine at the “Tour” over many past trips to Paris, despite it’s august history. I guess I was intrigued by the hype of the reopening and figured it was time. It was a magical experience, but of course very expensive and probably not for everyone. For me, dinner was the proper backdrop for the full experience.
Todd, in all the trips we’ve taken to Europe over the years we have never checked bags. It’s just a jacket: don’t pack it, wear the damn thing! Barb would never let me pack a jacket.
Septime was definitely worth the effort, especially since the effort was not mine. Our friend Jeff secured the reservation for the four of us with two or three early morning attempts on the phone. We enjoyed Rigmarole in its first iteration, fun, unique and really good, but I understand it’s undergone a couple of iterations since. For some inexplicable reason we have never made it to Les Enfants du Marché. One of our best meals and highly recommended was at Maison Sota. Fantastic food for a very reasonable tariff, creative Asian inflected (fusion?) in a very casual but stylish ambiance. We also were impressed with the food at Granite, very Michelin star worthy. I didn’t know of Petrelle but it does look very interesting.
leaving soon and have my choices mostly down
just need to fill in some holes
any thoughts on lazare, frenchie wine bar, septime la cave?
Don’t over think it too much you are in Paris just walk around and explore.
Frenchie Wine Bar would be my recommendation. Septime La Cave is super small and really does not have food.
And as Anthony Bourdain said when you get to Paris:
“Most of us are lucky to see Paris once in a lifetime. Make the most of it by doing as little as possible. Walk a little, get lost a bit, eat, catch a breakfast buzz, have a nap…"
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thanks for the reminder robert
i get carried away in the planning, but really only do about a third of what ends up on my list
100%!!! I plan trips around the opera season, so other than having tickets purchased in advance, I generally try to not over-plan a trip. Opera/concerts are generally evening performances so the day can be less regimented. I can’t stand feeling “scheduled” if I am on holiday–I am a slow traveller by nature (I can literally spend an hour in front of one painting or sculpture) and love nothing more than to read a book (and I mean a whole book) in a nice cafe or wine bar. Unless it’s a stay of only a day or two, I will always have a kitchen, as I love shopping at local markets and cooking with ingredients I don’t normally have available. So I rarely stress over restaurant bookings, especially in a large city like Paris–it is not like there is a shortage of good places to eat.
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