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Best Dining Bets
Le Grand Véfour (17 rue de Beaujolais, 1er; tel. 01-42-96-56-27). Seductively and appropriately timeworn, this dining room is where Napoleon sat wooing Joséphine. Its Louis XVI-Directoire interior is a protected historic monument. With its haute cuisine, it has been the haunt of celebrities since 1760. Its cuisine, mercifully, is even better than ever, because it insists on hiring only the world's leading chefs. This monument to the past still tantalizes 21st-century palates.
Aux Lyonnais (32 rue St-Marc, 2e; tel. 01-42-96-65-04). Paris's bistro of bistros has been taken over by Alain Ducasse, the six-star Michelin chef and self-proclaimed "greatest in the world." In spite of that takeover, Aux Lyonnais remains the quintessential Parisian dining choice for Lyonnais specialties. As any city dweller of Lyon will tell you, that city is the gastronomic capital of France. The market-fresh produce is as new as the 1890s bistro is old, with its backdrop of potted palms, etched glass, and globe lamps in the best of the Belle Epoque style.
Au Pied de Cochon (6 rue Coquillière, 1er; tel. 01-40-13-77-00). For years, it's been a Paris tradition to stop off at this joint in Les Halles for the famous onion soup at 3 o'clock in the morning after a night of revelry. The true Parisian also orders the restaurant's namesake -- grilled pigs' feet with béarnaise sauce. You can also do as your grandpa did and wash down a dozen different varieties of oysters at the time-mellowed bar -- along with champagne, but of course.
Taillevent (15 rue Lamennais, 8e; tel. 01-44-95-15-01). Forget about sending the kids to college and instead enjoy one of the most memorable meals of your life at what is consistently hailed as Paris's temple of haute cuisine. Named after a 14th-century chef to the king and the author of the first French cookbook, this restaurant comes as close to perfection as any in the world. In all of our years of dining here, the chef has never had a bad day. This is a true temple of grand cuisine with one of the world's top 10 wine lists. Although we've enjoyed much of the innovative cuisine of Alain Solivères, we are also grateful that he's kept that airy, sausage-shaped lobster soufflé on the menu.
Carré des Feuillants (14 rue de Castiglione, 1er; tel. 01-42-86-82-82): Chef Alain Dutournier presides over this temple of haute gastronomy, thrilling diners with his take on new French cuisine. As always, deluxe ingredients are prepared with one of the most finely honed techniques in all of Paris. This chef knows the value of simplicity touched with inspiration.
Lasserre (17 av. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 8e; tel. 01-43-59-53-43): Each new generation discovered this elegant bastion of chic for itself. A tradition since the late 1930s, Lasserre has seen the faces of the Golden Age (everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Audrey Hepburn) but also welcomes the stars of today, tempting them with sublime cuisine both modern and traditional.
Crémerie-Restaurant Polidor (41 rue Monsieur-le-Prince, 6e; tel. 01-43-26-95-34). A longtime favorite of students, artists, and the literati such as James Joyce and Jack Kerouac, this bistro in St-Germain-des-Prés has been around since 1845. We've been such regulars that our favorite waitress used to store our linen napkins in a wooden drawer for use on another night. One habitué we met here claimed he'd been dining at Polidor 2 or 3 nights a week for half a century. The pumpkin soup, the boeuf bourguignon, the blanquette de veau -- yes, the same recipes that delighted Hemingway -- are still served here.
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon (5-7 rue de Montalembert, 7e; tel. 01-42-22-56-56). What a discovery. When Joël Robuchon retired in the mid-1990s, he was hailed as the greatest chef in France, which may as well mean the world. Bored with retirement, he made a more modest comeback with this 7th Arrondissement delight. His innovative dishes are far less elaborate than they were in days of yore, but he still makes the best mashed potatoes the world has ever known, along with other market-fresh concoctions that will win your heart. We're talking the likes of such dishes as caramelized quail glazed with a shallot-perfumed sauce.
La Petite Chaise (36 rue de Grenelle, 7e; tel. 01-42-22-13-35). Even on the most rushed of visits to Paris, we always drop in here for one of the best prix-fixe menus at the more affordable restaurants in Paris. "The Little Chair" (its English name) first opened as an inn in 1680, when it was used for both food and its bedrooms upstairs, where discretion for afternoon dalliances was virtually assured. The time-honored cuisine is as French as Charles de Gaulle -- and that is as it should be.
Best Chef: Proud owner of six Michelin stars, Alain Ducasse, at the Restaurant Plaza Athénée, 25 av. Montaigne, 8e (tel. 01-53-67-66-65; www.alain-ducasse.com), has taken Paris by storm, dividing his time between his restaurant here and the one in Monte Carlo. He combines produce from every French region in a cuisine that's contemporary but not quite new, embracing the Mediterranean without abandoning France.
Best Modern French Cuisine: A temple of gastronomy is found at Carré des Feuillants, 14 rue de Castiglione, 1er (tel. 01-42-86-82-82; www.carredesfeuillants.fr), near place Vendôme and the Tuileries. Alain Dutournier is one of the leading chefs of France, and he restored this 17th-century convent, turning it into a citadel of refined cuisine and mouthwatering specialties.
Best Provençal Cuisine: With two of Michelin's coveted stars, Les Elysées du Vernet, 25 rue Vernet, 8e (tel. 01-44-31-98-98; www.hotelvernet.com), hosts tout Paris (all of Paris) and the media. Montpellier-born chef Alain Solivérès has emerged as one of the greatest in Paris, challenging some big-name chefs. His Provençal cookery is the freshest and among the best in the entire country.
Best Old-Fashioned Bistro: Established in 1931 and bouncing back from a period of decline, Allard, 41 rue St-André-des-Arts, 6e (tel. 01-43-26-48-23), is better than ever, from its zinc bar to its repertoire of French classics -- escargots, frogs' legs, foie gras, boeuf à la mode (marinated beef), and cassoulet. This is a good bet for real Left Bank bistro ambience.
Best Provincial Restaurant: The cuisine of the Auvergne in central France is showcased at Bath's, 9 rue de la Trémoille, 8e (tel. 01-40-70-01-09). In a cozy, elegant setting, you can dine on the best dishes of this province, including ravioli stuffed with Cantal cheese and filet of beef with lentils.
Best for Romance: There is no more romantic atmosphere among restaurants than the long-established Le Grand Véfour, 17 rue de Beaujolais, 1er (tel. 01-42-96-56-27). When Aristotle Onassis was wooing Jackie Kennedy, he took her here, preferring to dine with his mistress, Maria Callas, at the "more vulgar" Maxim's. Sublime dishes are served against a restaurant decor that was established during the reign of Louis XV.
Best Brasserie: Head for the Left Bank and the Brasserie Balzar, 49 rue des Ecoles, 5e (tel. 01-43-54-13-67; www.brasseriebalzar.com), which opened in 1898. If you dine on the familiar French food here, you'll be following in the footsteps of Sartre and Camus and others. You can even have a complete dinner in the middle of the afternoon.
Best Seafood: The fattest lobsters and prawns in the Rungis market emerge on platters at Goumard, 9 rue Duphot, 1er (tel. 01-42-60-36-07; www.goumard.com), so chic that even the toilets are historic monuments. Nothing interferes with the taste of the sea: You'd have to fly to the Riviera to find a better bouillabaisse.
Best Kosher Food: If corned beef, pastrami, herring, and dill pickles thrill you, head to rue des Rosiers in the 4th Arrondissement (Métro: St-Paul). John Russell wrote that rue des Rosiers is the "last sanctuary of certain ways of life; what you see there in miniature is Warsaw before the ghetto was razed." North African overtones reflect the long-ago arrival of Jews from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. The best time to go is Sunday morning: You can wander the streets, eating as you go -- apple strudel; Jewish rye bread; pickled lemons; smoked salmon; and merguez, a spicy smoked sausage from Algeria.
Best Vegetarian Cuisine: One of the best-known veggie restaurants in the Marais is Le Marais, 54 rue Ste-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, 4e (tel. 01-48-87-48-71). Choose from the array of soups and salads, or have a mushroom tart or a galette (a flat pastry) of wheat with raw vegetables. In this rustic 17th-century setting, you can expect flavorful, wholesome, and generous meals.
Best Wine Cellar: At the elegant Lasserre, 17 av. Franklin D. Roosevelt, 8e (tel. 01-43-59-53-43; www.restaurant-lasserre.com), you'll find not only wonderful food, but also one of the great wine cellars of France, with some 160,000 bottles.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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