The food in Lyon is among the finest in the world -- with prices to match. However, we've found that a person of moderate means can often afford the most reasonable fixed-price menu even in the priciest establishments.
Beaucoup Bocuse
A resurgence of interest in chef Paul Bocuse swept across Lyon when Bocuse bought the Brasserie le Nord, 18 rue Neuve (tel. 04-72-10-69-69), where he had worked as a teenager. Its prices (22€-30€/$28-$39 per person) signaled that the last of the great chefs had finally decided to go for the mass market. It's one of the most popular places in Lyon for traditional Lyonnais cuisine. A short while later, Bocuse opened a clone of Le Nord, Brasserie le Sud, place Antonin Poncet (tel. 04-72-77-80-00), where the culinary venue celebrates all points south (including Provence and, to a lesser degree, French-speaking North Africa) with a Mediterranean-inspired diet that includes tagines and couscous, and a color scheme of vivid blues and yellows. In 1998, he endorsed the opening of Brasserie de l'Est, 14 place Jules-Ferry (tel. 04-37-24-25-26), a large, bustling place offering Pan-French cuisine and a noisy and animated ambience that evokes the brasseries de gare of faraway Paris. And, finally, the Bocuse empire rounded out the four directions of the compass with the establishment of its final bistro, La Brasserie de l'Ouest, 1 Quai du Commerce (tel. 04-37-64-64-64). Actually, its venue is more like the wild, wild American West (that is, California) than you may have expected. There's a hint of Pacific Rim cuisine here, and its layout is described as "American style" with an open kitchen, wide-open vistas, and a bustling kind of theatricality. Each of the four is open for lunch and dinner daily, and prices of main courses at each range from 22€ to 30€ ($28-$39).
