Paris Dining Line-up

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
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My notes are now posted, in a new, separate thread. “Dining Notes: Normandy, Burgundy, and Paris”

Andrew [cheers.gif]

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Well, this is our last night here in Paris, and I have to say it seems like the food scene here has really improved dramatically in the past 2-4 years. We hit Willi’s on Friday for lunch (outstanding food, very good but pricey wine list), Frenchie on Monday (renewed my faith in pigeon, which I’d had issues with, and the Wine Bar across the street was great too), did Le Comptoir today at lunch (fantastic trotter with a half-bottle of 2011 Lapierre Morgon), and finished up with Champagne at Septime then udon at Kunitoraya on Rue St Anne (sorry, after nearly a month here I needed a non-Euro dish).

Everything’s been very good to outstanding, and when we weren’t going out to eat we cooked at home using ingredients from Rue de Levis and the Batignolles Bio Market on Saturday morning. I think as long as you stay away from the touristy areas and focus on following recommendations from folks here, at Paris By Mouth and the Paris Kitchen, you shouldn’t go wrong. There certainly is a dynamic quality to the cooking here which I haven’t seen in a long time, I’m happy to say.

Can’t believe I am leaving, I don’t want to go! [cry.gif]

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Looks like a great foodie time Michel. I’m sorry to miss you as we pm’d about being in Paris at about the same time. I had to do an urgent last-minute Asian travel. I’ll keep your post in mind as we still were able to salvage Paris trip for middle of March.

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Michel,
How did you like Septime? My wife and I are big fans. We ate there twice in October and look forward to going back (twice, again, my wife says) when we return to Paris this October. They also have an excellent selection of cru Bojo on their list (and orange wines as well, if you are into that sort of thing).

I’m also a fan of L’Avant-Comptoir. We tend to save our Paris dining for dinner, so I stop by frequently for lunch, as it is 5 minutes walk from ‘our’ apartment.

Any place else that I should put on our dance card for October? Thanks,

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Oops, should have written Caves de Septime, not the restaurant itself. Sorry! We had some spicy sausage but otherwise weren’t that hungry, between the lunch and the various snacks we’d eaten all day. It was just pre-dinner drinks with Parisian friends.

Ramon, no problem, our days were pretty packed as we had to see lots of family and friends (including a day-trip to Lyon). Next time or in NY!

Mark, I love l’Avant-Comptoir but had never actually eaten at Le Comptoir, so l’A-C will have to wait for next trip.

We ate a LOT at “home”, the apartment we rented near Place de l’Europe, so what I wrote above is pretty much where we ate meals outside the house.

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Also had a great lunch at l**'Avant Comptoir**. They ran out of the Terrine Pot au Feu that I truly wanted, and simply “settled” for the very good Terrine de Confit Magre. The house wine of 2007 Cahors (can’t remember exact producer) in a decanter at Euro 15 is such a bargain.

Also went to Septime (the wine bar) for pre-dinner at Le 6 Paul Bert and I have to say that this is pretty much good for what it is - pre-dinner or a place to casually while away with small bites and a couple of glasses. Dinner at Le 6 Paul Bert was, to say the least, a winning experience.

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Keeping the thread alive after a recent trip to Paris in March, er I mean May but the weathter was definitely more March. even the Parisians are worn out from the constant cold/rain cycle that has gripped the city.

lunch at Semilla was a great first meal in the city. impeccable sous vide salmon as the plat and an interesting 3 course ‘entree’ consisting of tasting size portions of curried split pea soup, radish salad and rillette du lapin.

dinner at L’Epi Dupin: supposedly modern take on bistro cuisine but struck me as pretty old school, heavy butter-cream component but all dishes were well prepared.

dinners at Verjus, La Regelade Sainte Honore, Septime and Le Timbre. hard to pick a definitive winner but dishes of note were the truffle poached egg over herbs and greens at Verjus, pork belly main at La Regelade, wonderful baby artichoke and pistachio puree at Septime and duck w/ shallot confit at Le Timbre.

waited in line for late lunch at Le Comptoir, arrived around 3:30 and sat by 4, lovely cod with a ginger-lemon broth, foie and potato terrine, apple tartine. flirtysmile

random drinks and fun bar snacks at Le Mary Celeste in the Marais: ouef diable with Asian twist of boiled in soy and then topped with grated ginger, puffed rice, shallots.

gorged on pastry and sweets from Gerard Mulot, Pierre Herme; ice cream at Berthillon.

yes, dinner the first night back home was a rather pedestrian salad.

apologies for lack of proper syntax and stream of consciousness but fighting massive jet lag after being awake for 20+ hours yesterday and arriving to an inbox from hell at the office today and too many voicemails to process.

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I should probably write up a bit more on my recent visit. Here’s my post from Exploits.

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Just returned from a rainy and cool few days in Paris. We had 3 fabulous meals that began with lunch at Taillevent. I was there 5 years ago, and it may have been my best dining experience back then, and it didn’t disappoint me this time. Superb food, wine, and service. We drank a delicious 2002 Barthod Chambolle Musigny Le Cras. Dinner the next night was at Frenchie where we met our friends who stopped in Paris before visiting friends in England. We took the late seating and spent a leisurely few hours enjoying the excellent food and great service from the staff. I found the cramped seating to make it difficult to comfortably peruse the wine list, so I engaged our delightful server and went with her recommendation for the wine. Champagne and Chinon, and, unfortunately, I didn’t take notes on the producers, and I wasn’t familiar with either of them. Sometimes you have to put the geekiness aside. The last night in Paris, we met other friends at La Cagouille. The most incredibly delicious oysters, the simply grilled fish, and the desserts were a giant surprise, especially the Paris Brest. Three of us drank a 2009 Dauvissat La Forest that was lovely.
Verjus was mentioned in a prior post. The friends we met for dinner at Frenchie ate at Verjus the previous evening and were terribly disappointed in the service, and food. They went based on a strong recommendation of one of their foodie friends. They were staying at Le Bristol, and the hotel manager told them when they returned from dinner she has been getting a lot of negative reactions lately.

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I’ve been doing some research on our upcoming trip – Paris and Burgundy. For Paris, a few that are looking pretty good:

-Atelier Maitre Albert or Chiberta
-Le Coq Rico
-Le Gaigne
-Gaya
-Frenchie?? The restaurant or wine bar?
-Alain Senderens (for sentimental reasons)

Back pocket are Septime, L’Ami Jean, Mon Vieil Ami, Spring, Cafe Constant
Not looking for a 3* experience this trip - more relaxed

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Go to Frenchie’s restaurant. As cramped as it is, the wine bar looked more so. Plus the food is worth it. I liked Senderens 5 years ago but didn’t feel compelled to return. I was not able to get a reservation at Septime or L’Ami Jean, but I waited too long to make a decision. La Cagouille filled that gap.

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Big pass on Altelier Maitre Albert- easily the worst meal we had in Paris.

Oh and we loved Le Coq Rico and Spring.

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I would definitely put Bistrot Paul Bert on your list if you are looking for a raucous, fun bistrot atmosphere with very good food and a terrific list. I had a number of very fine meals last month but this was as much fun as anything, less expensive than many on your list, and a LOT easier to deal with.

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+1 to this and Frenchie and Spring. Frenchie’s Wine Bar can get very tight very quick, but it’s a nice way to start an evening. I have been to Septime’s Wine Bar and while nice it can get CRAMPED very rapidly too. L’Ami Jean is another go-to, but be ready to get friendly with your neighbors, the staff and the Chef. Fish is good too, and has lots of US/UK expats, and L’Avant Comptoir nearby can be fun if you find room.

Then again, I prefer those types of informal, sometimes tight places, so YMMV.

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Warning about L’Ami Jean; you pretty much eat what they are serving, and they are almost certainly serving meat of some sort. We had to cross that off my list b/c of the wife

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Hi Neal, I am looking forward to your report! I am a bit surprised by your comment about L’Ami Jean, as we were presented a variety of items from which to choose (no set menus) and my wife enjoyed dishes of vegetables and seafood. We did not feel at all constrained to meat dishes; however, I certainly did enjoy my meat dish!

Maybe they changed up the process? [scratch.gif]

Cheers, [cheers.gif]
Andrew

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“Les tablettes de jean louis nomicos” for lunch is a good deal.

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We had a fantastic lunch at Les Tablettes week before last.

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Maybe, or maybe I was misinformed. My notes (such as they are) are in one of the other Paris threads. I’ll dig them out and put a link here

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Nope. L’Ami Jean has an extensive ala carte menu as well as a nightly gastronomic menu and a discovery menu if Jego wants to cook one for you.