Paris: Restaurant recommendations

After Paul and I settled in to Paris and reclaimed our restaurant mojo we wound up finding a number of spots that we enjoyed while in Paris.  All of them were great for various reasons - either the food reflected the art of food preparation and presentation or the service was super friendly, or the ambiance was unlike anything you could find anywhere else. 

So,  here they are!  If you're able to try some of these suggestions the next time you are visiting Paris, please let us know what you think of them!

L'Ami Jean:  Dining here gave us the experience we were hoping for in Paris - rich food that was fun to look at too. The service is friendly and the atmosphere is rustic with some graffiti cartoons of the owner and chef.  L'Ami Jean also forced us to finally learn how to ask for a carafe of water!  http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d714972-Reviews-L_Ami_Jean-Paris_Ile_de_France.html. 
Ironically it's not far from where Julia Child lived when she was in Paris.

Breizh Cafe:  When you want yummy buckwheat brunch crepes, this is the place to visit (a wonderful recommendation from our host Shaila).  It's in the Le Marais, which is the neighborhood to stroll through on a Sunday... most other neighborhoods are shut up tightly on Sunday, but this area has a large Jewish population. http://www.breizhcafe.com/gb-breizh-cafe-paris.html

Firmin le Barbier:  This intimate, very friendly spot is located in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower.  The food is good although not revolutionary, but the wine is priced right and the service makes you feel like you're in your own home.  We enjoyed two dinners here while in town. http://www.firminlebarbier.fr/#/accueil

La Regalade, Saint- Honore:  Hands down my personal favorite.  The combination of presentation, freshness, value and service had us coming here for a lunch and a dinner to enjoy thier very generous price-fix (35 euros) menu.  Everything we ordered was wonderful. http://www.lebestofparis.com/best-restaurants-in-paris/la-regalade-saint-honore And it's close to the Louve, so it's in a great location too.

Kong:  Designed by Philippe Starck... Paul and I went to a related restaurant when we were in Hong Kong (Felix). Outstanding atmosphere in the restaurant, and a super cute bar area too.  If we could have had a drink upstairs in the restaurant we would have just done that, but we couldn't so we sprung for a dinner also (the food is good, but you come for the design).  Oh, if you ask for the smoking section you'll be stuck in the back room and unable to enjoy the ambiance that makes this spot famous.
:-)  http://www.kong.fr/

La Fontaine de Mars: Classic french food in a bistro setting (apparently visted by President Obama and Michelle on their last visit to Paris). We went on Mother's Day in France and we able to book a late afternoon table.  http://www.fontainedemars.com/index.html
It was fun enjoying the meal with Erin and her mother, who happen to be in Paris to catch some of the French Open Tennis.

Da Moli:  We were walking Abby around the nieghborhood one day and found this brand new spot around the corner from Shaila's house.  Good pasta, pizza and salads and friendly service.  No website yet, but the info is:  15 rue Molitor, 75016 Paris.  Telephone:  01 46 51 05 08

Pho 14: Yummy Pho and appetizers at a great price.  Yum, yum, yum....
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=13800682695115276593&q=pho+14+restaurant&hl=en&dtab=0&sll=48.84116,2.359498&sspn=0.034719,0.029888&ie=UTF8&ll=48.859972,2.292366&spn=0,0&z=13

Taverne de l'Arbre Secondary:  Great cafe near the Louvre, which had nice salads  (sometimes its a bit tough to just get a salad in Paris!).  And they also had a sweet little Cafe Gourmond!  http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=4601277032570188432&hl=en&dtab=0&ie=UTF8&ll=48.862431,2.34071&spn=0,0&z=18

Tips:
1.  Make reservations as often as possible.
2.  If you can't make reservations, show up at noon for lunch and at 7:00 or 7:30pm for dinner.  You have a very good chance of getting in if you do this.
3.  There is a huge asian community on Paris now that wasn't there 10 years ago (or maybe I didn't notice it).  Particularly in the Opera area.  You can get a lot of really good Pho, sushi, ect.  But we've heard that the Chinese food is somewhat lacking.

Food is a great place to start

When describing our experiences in Paris, 'food' is a great place to start.

Despite Paris's reputation for wonderful food, Teresa and I spent the first few days of our visit eating some pretty ordinary meals, and we were beginning to wonder what all the hype was about. Even worse, we were beginning to think we might have left our best food back in Brooklyn.

It wasn't until we did some introspective analysis that we discovered that our 'food-radar' seem to be malfunctioning (in the French context). We were doing everything we usually did... when we were hungry we looked for restaurants with lots of people, we looked for a place with at least one thing we like on the menu at a reasonable price (not too high, not too low), and outdoor seating was always considered a bonus.

Well... we were wrong on all accounts.

The first thing we found out is that, 'good' restaurants in Paris are typically only open for lunch from noon until 2pm, and for dinner from 7pm until mid-night. So lesson number one was, if a restaurant is serving food outside those times you're probably going to get pretty ordinary food. Of course our relaxed vacation schedule meant we were looking for a relaxing lunch at 3pm, so that was the first thing we needed to change.

The second thing we discovered is that, 'good' food in Paris is not cheap, but having said that it doesn't need to be crazy expensive either. The key to what we found is that the better restaurants tend to offer 'prix fixe' menus (for both lunch and dinner, usually at the same price), not individually priced items. While prefix menus are not very common in America, they are very common in most of Europe. So the key was not to look for individual items on a menu, but to think about the entire meal and price it that way. You also typically need to consider whether you'd prefer a ‘starter and main’ or a ‘main and dessert’.

Finally we learned that all those wonderful little bistros (they're on almost every corner over here) with the picturesque seats filled with relaxed people enjoying an espresso, are best for just that... an espresso or other coffee variations. Once again, because the bistros are open nearly all day they don't tend to serve the best food, they are more like an American diner with a 24x7 menu. The key lesson here was the best restaurants tend to be little owner operated places with 15-20 tables, in a little place with perhaps just a couple of outside tables.

So... with all our new found knowledge under our belts Teresa and I did a little more research and found some great little places (see a future blog on restaurants recommendations) and really began enjoying some wonderful Parisian meals.

PS. One last little note... because we had the use of big kitchen where we were staying (thanks again to Shaila) we also tried to take advantage of the little farmers markets that seem to popup everywhere every Saturday and Wednesday morning... they are a great resource for good quality fresh food, at reasonable prices. The occasional home cooked meal also helped keep our budget under control.

Bon Appetite!

A Few Essential French Phrases...

We managed to get by in Peru with our bit of Spanish, but our French is sad....beyond sad...it's quite embarrassing how sad it is.  What we discovered right away is that beyond the obvious phrases to learn when visiting any country (like, "Where is the toilete?" and "Help!"), there are some helpful phrases that will simply make your life easier and help us keep our costs down a little.

They are :

A carafe of water for the table. 

Une carafe d'eau pour la table.  The shorter version of this is: Carafe d'eau.

Bottled water is a pricey proposition in Paris when your daily budget is 70 euros a day!  We paid 12 euros ($17 US) for a bottle during a meal because we didn't know this handy phrase.

Coffee with a treat
Cafe Gourmand

We actually learned after we arrived and had dinner with Alexandra that this is a great way to have a coffee with a little treat at the end of the meal.  :-)  Thanks again Alexandra!

How much is that?
Combien est-ce?

Makes sense, right? Seems obvious and simple. Problem is that because our french is so bad, we also need to carry around a small pad and paper so that the vendors can write down the number. 

Having said this, I should also say that the Parisians are much more open to speaking english with me (or at least having a nice game of charades) than compared with my last trip 11 years ago!

Please let us know if there are other helpful phrases we can put to use!

Au revoir pour l'instant,
Teresa and Paul

4200 days in New York...

As the pages of our New York chapter draw to an end both Teresa and I continued to soak up the remaining few experiences on our list of favorite things to do before we leave.

And so it was the day we packed up a lite picnic lunch and headed off to wave a last good-bye to Lady Liberty, while taking a leisurely cruise across New York harbor on the Staten Island ferry.


It was such a beautiful day and the majestic lady didn't disappoint. Seeing the towering structure reminded me of the gentleman who designed her internal framework (Gustave Eiffel) and his famous Tower in Paris, which we will undoubtedly see very soon.

After a leisurely stroll around Battery Park City we made our way over to the Brooklyn Bridge and crossed one last time over to Brooklyn, placing another checkmark on our New York bucket-list. The walk across the iconic structure was as breathtaking as always.


It had been a fun last few days in New York. We made the time to catch-up with a few old friends, including a farewell party to our wonderful hosts Scott and Todd (thank you guys so much for you friendship and generosity), and strolled past some of our favorite landmarks.











With that our New York chapter comes to a close... more than 11 years in the making for me and more than 10 years for Teresa. And now as with any great story some characters will drift out of our lives and form the basis of fond memories, while others will join with new characters and lay the foundations for a brand new set of story threads.

Hopefully before our book is finished we will write many more chapters, and I have no doubt that some of the old characters will make delightful and sometimes unexpected reappearances... that's what makes the story so much fun.

See you all in in Paris soon.... :-)

Location:New York, New York