That’s my motto when selecting restaurants for many visitors. And there’ve been a lot these past few weeks: friends, relatives, friends of friends, friends of relatives, classmates, fundraisers, writers doing research, travelers taking most excellent tours. We’ve had lunch together, dinner, we’ve been to wine bars, had picnics, stopped for pastries, chocolate, Bertillon sorbet.

“How do you/they stay so thin,” they ask, causing me to suck in my gut, “eating like this all the time?”

Now here’s a secret the food-bloggers won’t tell you: We don’t. At least I don’t.

Paris can be visited as a perpetual all-you-can-eat deluxe buffet but it’s lived as a city with countless venues for a shared meal or drink with friends, colleagues, clients and assorted visitors. Eating well implies choosing well, ordering well, buying well… enjoying good company. There is a form of Parisian self-control in matters of food and drink. One gets a hang of quickly enough. Spending two hours à table doesn’t mean consuming four times the amount of someone who sits for 30 minutes. And we actually eat at home sometimes. We have access to good fresh produce. We walk to shops. We do our 10,000 steps, including frequent staircases. We cook in our little kitchens. We may even exercise, gently.

However, there are times when some combination of visitors, work obligations, journalist events, birthday celebrations and ordinary social life lead me on an extended period of wining and dining. And no matter how much I protest when the dessert menu is handed out, there are quite a few crème brulées, moelleux au chocolat, pies and tarts placed on the table with an extra fork or spoon. “I’ll just have a little taste,” as my grandmother would say.

That period of indulgence can last a few days or a week or, with my most recent schedule of visitors, events and travelers on most excellent tours, a month. Indulgence, however, is not the same thing as overindulgence. Indulgence is a knowing pleasure. Overindulgence is loss of control. Admittedly, there’s a fine line of distinction at times.

A friend, in Paris for business, unsure of which side of the line we were on, said during our third straight high calorie wine-infused meal together, “My wife’s gonna kill me for putting on weight. I’m gonna tell her it’s your fault.”

If shared good living is my fault then guilty as charged. I don’t know what you’re during this afternoon, Scott, but I’m going for a run as soon as I finish this article.

10 Venues for Shared Good Living—Simple Food, Simply Good

What follows is a selection of simple, simply good restaurants and shops that have been on my eating trails of the past few weeks during this most recent bout of shared good living. It’s my food diary of the past few weeks, minus the less appealing, the less well served and the more gastronomic meals consumed along the way.

Simplicity is the theme, meaning relatively straightforward fare, meat and potatoes and the like yet unmistakably French. Some will call this restaurant fare “borrrrring,” others will call it “just what I was looking for.”

All are moderately priced, here meaning 25-50€ for 2 or 3 courses without beverages. All have good to excellent service. None require much, if any, advance reservation, though no harm calling ahead.

1. Le Sully
6 boulevard Henri IV, 4th arr. Metro Sully-Morland.
Tel. 01 42 72 94 80. Closed Sunday.

It’s easy to overlook this daytime café-brasserie (it closes at 8pm) because the intersection out front appears to be a place of transit only and not of pause. But here—between Ile Saint Louis and the Arsenal quarter of the Marais, between old blocks from the Bastille and a statue of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, between an equestrian center for the Republican Guard and the Center for information, documentation and exhibition for urban planning and architecture of Paris—Le Sully is a place with roots. The same family has operated it since 1917 and their roots still run deep into the Aveyron region of central France. Le Sully is old reliable when it comes to enjoying the café-brasserie experience in Paris thanks to the generous spirit of Robert and Dany Vidal and their son Romain and to their sense of quality. Le Sully proudly sports the government label Maitre-Restaurateur, which signifies that dishes are made in house essentially using fresh ingredients. Aubrac rump steak and other nice lunchtime brasserie fare, Languedoc wines. We linger into the afternoon.

2. La Poule au Pot
9 rue Vauvilliers, 1st arr. Metro Louvre-Rivoli
Tel. 01 42 36 32 96 Open 7pm-5am. Closed Mon.
Ever true the bistro tradition, Paul Racat has for 40 years now maintained this relaxed yet classy home for rustic bistro classics, attentively served, and an atmosphere of unpretentious chic that develops as the evening and the night move on. Come the later the better. Soupe gratinée à l’onion, blanquette de veau, white Sancerre. We linger into the night.

3. Boucherie Roulière
6 rue des Canettes, 6th arr. Metro Mabillon or Saint Germain des Près.
Tel. 01 84 15 04 47. Open daily.

Having long associated this street between Saint-Germain and Saint-Sulpice with creperies, pizzarias and pubs, I thought it a bit risky to head here for beef. But the risk paid off: the sliced rib just right, attentive service, elbow-to-elbow seating that offered up a mix of good cheer and Parisian sophistication. Mille feuilles de tomate et artichaut à l’huile de truffe; côte de boeuf, bone marrow and steak fries; Saint-Estèphe (Bordeaux).

4. 750g La Table
397 rue de Vaugirard, 15th arr. Metro Porte de Versailles.
Tel. 01 45 30 18 47. Open daily.

If I lived on the southwestern edge of the city or frequently attended trade shows at Porte de Versailles, I’d be happy to consider Damien Duquesne’s Table my neighborhood restaurant for good chicken, good beef, homey side dishes, much freshness, a judicious wine selection and friendly service. But I don’t, so I consider 750g La Table as a sign that no quarter is immune to honorable food and wine.

5. Les Petites Ecuries
40 rue des Petites Ecuries, 10 arr. Metro Château d’Eau or Bonne Nouvelle.
Tel. 01 48 24 02 90. Open daily.
Walking by on a sunny day, it was the sight of the pleasantly odd alcove lined with a living green wall that gave me pause for coffee. Though suspecting that the place might be too young and hip for the food or service to be anything but an afterthought, I nevertheless returned for dinner with a visiting friend the following evening. And good thing, too: my duck was delicious, my friend enjoyed his steak, we were kindly served and we barely noticed that we were among the oldest ones there.

6. Le Plomb de Cantal
3 rue de la Gaîté, 14th arr. Metro Edgar Quinet.
Open daily.
Why waste your waistline on the meat and potatoes at an ordinary greasy spoon when you can do some delicious gut-busting in this joyful restaurant in the Montparnasse quarter with Auvergne comfort food, from deep in the center of France? Sausage served with aligot (mashed potatoes with cheese and garlic) or truffade (sliced potatoes, cheese, garlic) is king here, but duck, tripes or beef are also options. Hearty salads as well. It’s simple, it’s delicious, it’s caloric, it’s cheerful, it’s Paris without needing to be hip or sophisticated. There’s an extension around the corner and another outlet across the city near metro Strasbourg-Saint Denis, but come evening the greatest joy is on aptly named theater- and restaurant-filled rue de la Gaîté.

7. Terminus Nord  
23 rue de Dunkerque, 10 arr. Metro Gare du Nord.
Open daily.

While the Auvergnats accompany their sausages with cheesy potatoes, brasseries of the north, wonderfully exemplified by this large and brassy restaurant across the street from Gare du Nord (the train station that links Paris with London, Lille, Brussels and Amsterdam), serve theirs with sauerkraut. But upon returning from Amsterdam (Café Loetje for lunch) we came here for the other specialties of northern brasseries: fish (cod, sea bass, salmon, sole) and seafood. A reminder that simple fare, simply good, isn’t just a beefy affair.

8. Le Village Ronsard
47 Ter Boulevard St Germain, 5th arr. Metro Maubert-Mutualité.
Tel. 01 43 25 07 95. Open daily.
There are many like it, but when in this quarter come lunchtime I’ve always felt comfortable at this perfectly, excellently ordinary café-brasserie in the Sesame Street of Paris market areas. Poulet-frites, steak-frites, salads, omelets, etc.

9. Fil’O’Fromage
12 rue Neuve Tolbiac, 13th arr. Metro Bibliothèque François Mitterrand or Quai de la Gare.
Tel. 01 53 79 13 35. Open 10am-7:30pm Mon.-Wed. 10am-10:30pm Thurs.-Sat. Closed Sunday.

Past the loud brasseries, the cavernous cafés and the undesirable restaurants that first assault the rare explorer of the new Rive Gauche quarter of the 13th arrondissement, Clément Chérif Boubrit (“I’m the Sheriff,” he says), philosopher, photographer, cheesemonger, oenologist, operates an off-beat wine and cheese shop and eatery where I recently organized a tasting for a group of eight bloggers/writers. Don’t worry, you needn’t be eight or even organized to enjoy the Sheriff’s approach to tasting wine, cheese and cold cuts vertically, horizontally, blindly or what the hell let’s just share-ingly.

10. My kitchen. Leftovers from last night’s party. Open 7/7, by invitation only.

© 2015, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Paris Restaurants: 10 Ways to Keep It Simple and Simply Good appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

(Updated April 2016)

1. Hotel Saint-James

Two metro stops west of Etoile, the site of the glamorous 4-star Saint James was once far enough away from the central Paris to serve as a launch pad for hot air balloons. While tall buildings have sprouted in the area, the lush private garden of this luxuriant refuge, accented with fanciful balloon canopies (photo above), remains intact and serves as an open-air bar during the fine-weather months. Like its classy library bar and Michelin-starred restaurant, the open-air bar is reserved for hotel guests and club members during the day, but all of them are accessible to visitors after 7pm.

Hotel Saint James, 43 avenue Bugeaud. 16th arr. Tel: 01 44 05 81 81. Metro: Porte Dauphine.

2. Regent’s Garden Hotel

Napoleon III liked his private physician so much that he built him a delightful townhouse with an enclosed garden on the western edge of Paris just beyond the Arc de Triomphe. This year the 4-star hotel has made its private garden an even greater draw with an outdoor exhibition of bronze and ceramic sculptures by Mickie Doussy on view through September 30. Beyond breakfast, when open only to guests, the garden bar/tea salon is open to visitors on reservation.

Regent’s Garden Hotel, 6 rue Pierre Demours. 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 74 07 30. Metro: Ternes.

3. Villa du Square

Tucked between Le Corbusier townhouses in the residential 16th, the Villa du Square (open since September 2015) is a B&B offering five luxurious bedrooms in a 1920s mansion lovingly decorated by art collector hosts Marie-Victoire and François-Christophe Gicqueau. The garden—200 square meters of urban Eden shaded by centenary pines—has enough secluded ‘corners’ that guests won’t trip over each other while they smell the roses.

Villa du Square, 26 rue Raffet, 16th arr. Tel: 01 71 72 91 33 Metro: Jasmin. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

4. Hotel des Marronniers

The secluded garden behind this 3-star Left Bank hotel is open to the public from 2pm until 11pm for tea or drinks.

Hotel des Marronniers, 21 rue Jacob. 6th arr. Tel: 01 43 25 30 60. Metro: Mabillon.

5. Villa Montabord

The Cité des Fleurs, a one-block pedestrian street in the Epinettes district on the northwest edge of the capital, is one of Paris’s original gated communities. The guidelines laid down by the developers in 1847 mandating at least three flowering and/or fruit trees for every garden are still observed. Thus, the four-room bed-and-breakfast that Isabelle and Jérôme Sciard opened in their 19th-century home has a pocket-sized private garden within a garden community. Expect fluent English (Jérôme is a former submarine commander who was stationed in Newport, RI for a year) plus large, luxurious bathrooms, WiFi and television.

Villa Montabord, 3 Cité des Fleurs, 17th arr. Tel: 06 14 88 74 06. Metro: Brochant. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

6. Hotel Eldorado

This hipster enclave in rapidly gentrifying Batignolles is one of the last places in Paris where budget-minded visitors can get a double-digit priced room with facilities “down the hall,” in a decor that mixes fake leopard skin throws and real cat-hair from resident felines. The hotel may have two stars but its popular Bistrot des Dames restaurant/wine bar, nestled in a pleasant but not-overly-groomed garden, goes by its own standards and is open to the public.

Hotel Eldorado, 18 rue des Dames, 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 22 35 21. Metro: Place de Clichy.

7. Novotel Paris Les Halles

With a giant, custard-colored canopy hovering over the Châtelet shopping center, catching ”a patch of blue” in Les Halles is as rare as it was for Oscar Wilde at Redding Gaol. Given the forbidding façade  of the Novotel Les Halles, it’s a triple-fine surprise to find a delightful, tree-shaded garden terrace-bar nestled within its walls. An oasis of calm in a chaotic neighborhood.

Novotel Paris Les Halles, 8 Place Marguérite de Navarre, 1st arr. Tel: 01 42 21 31 31 Metro: Châtelet.

© 2015-2016, Corinne LaBalme

Updated April 2016

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In an area where philosophers, revolutionaries and writers once roamed, chef Fabric Rialland, formerly of the Hôtel Costes, is offering tasty lessons in eggs-istentialism and the pleasures of carpaccio-diem. Thus far, the media star of the menu has been Rialland’s utterly elegant 3€50 oeuf mayo. In brief: the egg whites have been steamed, the yolks on top are miniature golden globes of perfection, and the Dijon mustard-laced mayonnaise is to die for.

But the main focus of the menu is raw meat. ”Carpaccio was a deal-breaker,” says Rialland. ”My investor, Benoist Kersulec, insisted on 20 varieties.”

They compromised at nineteen and the sweet part of the deal (for diners) is the possibility to sample two different platters for just 16€. The Greek version—light as air—is studded with tiny cubes of feta and cucumber. The most popular, Thai, has touches of ginger and pineapple. Mozzarella, pine-nuts, olive tapenade, soja and even camembert for a Norman spin adorn other options. All carpaccios are accompanied by salad, shoestring potatoes or wilted spinach.

Also on the menu: lobster spring rolls, savory pork ‘pluma’ casseroles, curried chicken, sautéed calamars and home-cooked foie gras with plum brandy. The Sunday brunch (25-35€) includes eggs benedict, and the dessert list features lemon-flavored cheesecake, apple-pie and a selection of sweet cocktails like the eponymous Café Bouillu that blends Kahlua, crème fraîche, coffee, vodka and a splash of hazelnut essence.

A glass of Terradria chardonnay from the Pays d’Oc costs 5€50 and a hearty bottle of Caprices d’Antoine Côtes-du-Rhône is 25€. However, the wine cellar also stocks some treasures from an earlier Café Bouillu incarnation in La Baule, including a 1983 Pétrus (3,600€) to enjoy in precious sips along with, say, a cheese omelet (12€). By the way, the wine cellar, which can and should be visited, is the site where Robespierre signed the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Café Bouillu. 9 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine, 6th arrondissement. Metro Odéon. Tel: 01.46.34.19.41. Open daily.

© 2014, Corinne LaBalme

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* * *

It’s hard to imagine that a district as well-trodden as the 6th arrondissement would still have anything resembling a backstreet, but if a backstreet in Paris can be defined as a street with neither thru-traffic nor croissants—selling croissants requires sufficient morning traffic or an elementary school nearby—then rue de l’Abbé Grégoire fits the bill.

Ferrandi, the French School of Gastronomy

Actually, there are croissants on rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, but they aren’t for public sale. They’re made as a practical exercise during baking class at the Ferrandi School.

Ferrandi is well known in Paris’s gastronomic circles for its secondary school curricula covering all aspects of the culinary arts and the restaurant business, from chef to manager. The school also offers short and long programs for amateur or professional chefs, and foreigners may apply for any of the school’s programs.

The culinary school also houses one of the best kept gastronomic secrets in Paris. Anyone, upon reservation, can become the well-fed guinea pig for the cuisine and services of the school’s young and budding chefs and restaurant staff at Ferrandi’s two dining rooms, les restaurants d’application.

A 3-course lunch menu is served Tues.-Fri. for 25€ or 30€, depending on the dining room. A 3-course dinner menu is served Mon. and Tues. (45€) and the occasional Thurs. (40€). Prices exclude beverages; there’s a decent wine list here. The students in the kitchen and in the dining room are being trained in French gastronomy, so whether achieved or not in every dish and every gesture, each meal has gastronomic leanings in its preparation and service.

Each table is requested to select a variety of dishes so as to give the chefs practice in the full range of the day’s menu. Come as a couple if you like, but as a restaurant experience a meal chez Ferrandi is especially endearing for a party of four or more. You’ll find the wait staff more willing to speak with diners than other waiters about town (students are expected to attain a certain proficiency in English) and you may even have the occasion to meet the young chefs before they head to their next class, or out for a smoke.

Ferrandi Paris, 28 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tel. 01 49 54 28 00. Saint-Placide (line 4) is the closest metro station to Ferrandi and to the shops below, while the Rennes station (line 12) is just a bit further.

Backstreet doesn’t mean that Abbé Grégoire is difficult to find (the liberal, revolutionary abbot himself is entombed in the Pantheon) but that the neighboring streets are more commonly shopped and strolled and transited: rue du Cherche-Midi, rue de Vaugirard, rue Saint-Placide, rue de Rennes.

Colorova, Pastry Shop and Tea/Lunch Room

Guillaume Gil, the chef and owner of Colorova, a shop across the street from Ferrandi, is a 2004 graduate of the school, pastry section. Though he speaks highly of education at Ferrandi, it isn’t an attachment to the school that brought him to rue de l’Abbé Grégoire but the possibility in 2012, at the age of 31, to deploy his dream of operating his own business after honing his skills as an apprentice at the Plaza-Athenée, as commis chef at La Maison Blanche and as second and then chef at the Terrass Hotel.

At first glance, Colorova could be taken for an architect’s office, a frame shop, a design shop or a decorator’s showroom. You’ll likely first notice the light jade Smeg fridge to one side of the window and the Florentine nest of tables and woven-fabric-covered footstools to the other before catching sight of the presentation counters. And even then you might notice the slats that decorate the side of the counters before the array of pastries on top. But there they are: Guillaume Gil’s beautiful and delicious creations, and behind one of the counters, the man himself, working away with an assistant or two in the open kitchen.

About ten different pastries appear on the counter on a given day. Since the pastry presentation isn’t the focus of the room, the offerings of about 10 different pastries can appear rather sparse, but that illusion disappears as soon as you take on the challenge of trying to select one.

Gil’s luscious modern pastries stray noticeably if slightly from the canons of classic fine pastry-making without being avant-garde, e.g. a commendable caramel mousse tarte with a ring of speculoos and peanuts; a candied raspberry and chocolate tart; a café mousse with amaretto mascarpone. Gil eschews traditional pastries such as éclairs and basic fruit tarts. Viennoiserie (croissants, pains au chocolat and other morning pastries) are also absent, other than on weekends and holidays, when Colorova serves what has become a very popular brunch (26€ or 35€, reservations required). Weekday lunch, also prepared by Gil and his assistance, is also available. Pastries remain his true expertise.

The large minimalist boutique area and additional seating area, both enlivened with splashes of color, have an air of refinement but neither snobbery nor exclusivity. Anyone will feel comfortable here. In the morning and during afternoon tea, Colorova is a fairly quiet place that makes for a sweet, perhaps romantic linger.

Since Gil’s aren’t pastries that one can easily eat while walking, it’s best to choose one and have a seat. Pastries cost 4€50-5€50, so you might as well take a seat and savor the pleasure along with a Lov Organic tea or Nespresso coffee or a thick hot chocolate for overkill. A nice breakfast is also available at 12€ consisting of a slice of soft, delicate French toast (from a brioche made here); a whipped vanilla cream, caramel and apple compote; a hot drink and orange juice; bread (not made here), and homemade jams, a chocolate spread and a caramel spread.

Colorova, 47 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tel. 01 45 44 67 56. Open Tues. 10am-5pm, Wed.-Fri. 7:30am-7pm, Sat.Sun. 9am-7pm. Weekend brunch is served at three seatings: beginning at 11/11:30am, 1/1:30pm and 3:30/4pm.

Le Vin en Bouche, Wine Shop

While Colorova, at first glance, looks like a design shop, Le Vin en Bouche, when I first walked by, looked as though someone had left the door open to the back pantry. I say that fondly because this quirky little wine shop and tasting room has an inviting spirit that comes from the knowledge and personalities of its two dissimilar owners, Vincent Martin, 41, and Jonathan Jean, 24, either of which would make a fine drinking companion.

Vincent Martin is a Ferrandi graduate, where he studied the culinary arts from 1993 to 1995 after three years in hotel school and where he discovered an aptitude for and an interest in the subtleties of wine. He was head sommelier at La Truffière, where he worked from 2000 to 2010 and helped develop the gastronomic restaurant’s tremendous wine cellar. He and Jean met when the latter, then in his teens, was hired as his apprentice.

Combining Martin’s great experience and Jean’s knowledgeable and engaging enthusiasm, they opened their little shop as peers in 2012. Whether you come upon one or the other you’ll get expert advice on an eclectic selection of wines and spirits and can pursue the conversation with them or with your travel companions over a glass and some well-selected charcuterie or fromage at the narrow table by the brick wall. They also offer wine tasting workshops and events, and Martin continues to advise restaurants and individuals on constituting wine lists and wine cellars.

Martin has personally visited each of the vineyards represented in the shop. But that’s not the end of his purchase policy. More than a dozen bottles are open at the shop at any time. The purpose of the open bottles isn’t simply to give clients a taste or larger pour, but also because Martin believes that for a wine to be worthy it must, among other qualities, be able to stand up to having been opened for a week or so. He continues to test open bottles for up to ten days to understand how they evolve. They’re simply recorked after each taste, without any air pump device, and either left on the table or placed in the wine fridge. “It’s a little extreme,” he acknowledges, “but I don’t like to leave things to chance.”

Martin and Jean’s small selection echoes their “passion for the wines of small winegrowers that truly represent their place of origin [terroir],” as Martin says. That’s a formula, at once trendy and old-fashion, that the traveler is well-advised to take as his own motto while getting to know French wines.  In wine tastings with those unaccustomed to French and European appellations, Martin joins many small-shop owners in saying that one of his tasks with New World consumers it to get them to loosen their focus on expecting a particular taste from a particular grape varietal.

These aren’t necessarily pricey wines. Most are in the 15-35€ range, along with a splash of more expensive wines from notable low-yield vineyards. There’s no Bordeaux in the shop, as Martin explains, because he finds that too many vintners and traders of the Bordeaux region have generally opted to sell through large distribution channels, meaning that any retail price that he might have for such wines would far exceed their price in chain shops, which would in term make him and Jean look like a price gougers. Actually, Martin does have some well-aging Bordeaux along with along with other “vins de garde” and old vintages in a private cellar in the 5th arrondissement. Those wines are also available for sale, so knowledgeable wine-lovers might wish to inquire about wines beyond those found in this wonderful little wine pantry.

Le Vin en Bouche, 27 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 6th arr. Tél. 01 42 22 02 97. Open Mon.-Sat. 10am-8pm.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

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For years, Nikita, the Russian cabaret in the 16th arrondissement, has been the classic Russkie rendezvous in Paris, with balalaika players, vast vodka resources, and red velvet banquettes that play to our White Russian, Tzarist fantasies.

IKRA, which opened on the Left Bank last October, takes a different tack.

“We wanted Russian, but not so traditional,” says owner Alain Kocer, an Istanbul-born, Macedonian architect, about his first foray into the Paris restaurant fray.

The décor is sleekly contemporary (with a virtual fireplace) and a big red piano where artists like Moscow-via-Tashkent Svetlana hold court. Chef Clément Bouldoires provides a lighter spin on classics like koulibiac, beef stroganoff, and pear vatrouchka. And of course, there’s caviar… which is what ‘ikra’ means back in the ex-USSR.

Director Mischa Korotkov, from Saint Petersburg, doubles as barman and neatly juggles bottles à la Tom Kruzki. Not satisfied with pouring Stoli all night, Mischa invented a colorful collection of molecular (not Molotov) cocktails like vodka/manzana-based Matrechka or apricot/amaretto Russian Gigolo that get an extra taste-burst from Marx-ist (that’s Thierry, not Karl) fruit ‘pearls’.

At happy hour (every day from 3 pm to 8 pm), these adventurous cocktails cost only 5€. There’s a comrade-friendly 14.90 € lunch too. A three-course dinner for two is approximately 70€ before wine.  Last dinner orders at 11:30 pm … 365 days of the year.

IKRA, 119 Boulevard Raspail, 6th arrondissement. Tel: 01 45 48 12 33. Metro Notre Dame des Champs. Open daily from 7:30 am to 2 am.

© 2013, Corinne LaBalme

Corinne LaBalme, a Paris-based writer, journalist and editor, is currently working on development of a series lifestyle documentaries for Muses Productions.

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* * *

It’s a smooth evening in the lounge-bar at the Hotel Lutetia. Daniel Roca, in-house pianist and musical programmer, wends his way through jazz standards at the center of a well-oiled trio. Head bartender Gilles Guyomarch supplies a harmony of cocktails, swaying lyrical conversation from the crowd.

I’ve given Mr. Guyomarch carte blanche to prepare me something not too sweet. He keeps the first one classic Lutetia with a cocktail called Le Lutèce: Grand Marnier, Havana rum, raspberry juice and lime juice.

I clink glasses with Christine and Paul Wegmann who are visiting from New Orleans. Christine is a writer who’s also a lawyer; Paul is a lawyer who’s also a writer. When not litigating, she writes about celebrities, he writes about sports.

At 7:30 pm, the lounge at the Lutetia can feel a bit too much like the first-class lounge at a sleek airport. Most large hotel bars give that impression at this time of day. The music helps sooth that. The cocktail helps us sink into the furniture and become a part of the atmosphere. It’s a long, classy, stylish room. Before long we aren’t in a waiting room but exactly where we should be. Dinner can wait. More olives, please.

Peggy Newland, another visiting American, joins us. She’s in town to do research for an article about jazz in the Saint Germain Quarter, a welcome break from her work as an adolescent psychologist. Her daughter is upstairs in the room.

The Wegmanns soon leave for dinner. Peggy and I, satisfied with an appetizer of olives and nuts, stay for a second cocktail. Again, I give Mr. Guyomarch carte blanche and this time his envoy returned with a Hemingway Special: dark Caribbean rum, tonic, lemon juice and sugar.

Peggy and I discuss journalism and writing, pretending that we’re here for work. When the jazz trio takes a break and leaves the room silent we realize that indeed we are. We finish our second drink and separate for our respective interviews: I go to interview the bartender, she goes to interview the pianist.

Gilles Guyomarch, originally from the distant island of Ouessenant off the coast of Brittany, is one of the most faithful bartenders in Paris to judge by his longevity at the Lutetia. With 25 years of experience here, Mr. Guyomarch has seen two generations of patrons and assorted fads and trends come and go.

In recent years, he says, the tendency has been to more champagne, to wine by the glass rather than the bottle, to lighter drinks and, more regrettably, to a clientele that doesn’t bother to dress up to swirl a drink in the lounge. Such changes are part of the natural evolution of drinking since the 1980s. It’s the bartender’s job to adapt.

What’s disheartening, he continues, is that clients sitting alone at his bar are no longer interested in conversing with the bartender or even with each other. He indicates with his chin a man having a heart-to-heart with his handheld. “People want to live to the rhythm of Google… they have no patience for conversation.”

Mr. Guyomarch does have such patience. Between cocktail preparations he speaks with the calm, discreet confidence of the best hotel bartenders.

Peggy joins me back at the bar. The pianist, the double bassist and the drummer have settled back into position for another set.

Peggy and I give Mr. Guyomarch our own confidence: we’ll stay for a third cocktail.

I watch as Mr. Guyomarch improvises: vodka, Blue Cuacao, orange juice and apple liqueur for Peggy; gin, strawberry liqueur and peach liqueur for me.

I ask what these drinks are called. “It’s more difficult to find names than recipes,” he says. “We’re like musicians. I found the recipe, you’ll find the name.”

So Peggy and I take up the challenge. We allow our drinks be transported on a silver tray into the lounge.

The bar, crowded when I arrived at 7:30, had emptied out by 8:45 as dinner reservations beckoned, and now, already 10 o’clock, people are trickling back in.

Peggy’s daughter comes to sit with us for a while. We tell her that we’re trying to find a name for our drinks. While unknotting her shoelaces the color of Curacao blue, she nonchalantly suggests Buster Blue as the name of Peggy’s drink. We unanimously agree.

But we’re stuck on the name of my drink.

Peggy’s daughter has again been invited to disappear. Peggy and I head back to the bar. Daniel Roca, the pianist, having finished another set is now hanging out near the end of the counter. We ask for his help and he gives a stab at naming my drink “Apollonia.” Mr. Guyomarch rejects that off-hand as though for personal reasons. We don’t ask why.

Finally Mr. Guyomarch resolves the issue by declaring that mine would henceforth and forever be called “Gary’s Cocktail.”

I’m flattered. I now have a drink named after me at the bar of the historic Lutetia.

I’ve no illusions, of course; at other times, no doubt, the same drink has been or will be called Fred’s Cocktail or Janet’s Cocktail or Helmut’s or Achmed’s. But for an evening it’s mine. Here I am with a bright and beautiful woman whose daughter with Curacao blue shoelaces doesn’t mind being sent to her room; live jazz standards have been gliding in and out of the conversation; the bartender has named a drink after me; the pianist gives me a nod to let me know that I’ve come to the right place. The bar is mine. The music is mine. Paris is mine.

Three cocktails at Le Bar of the Lutetia will do that to you.

© 2012, Gary Lee Kraut

Hotel Lutetia. 45 boulevard Raspail, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01 49 54 46 46. Metro Sèvres-Babylone. Cigarette and cigar room by the bar.

A review of the Hotel Lutetia on France Revisited can be found here.

The post “Gary’s Cocktail” at the Bar of the Hotel Lutetia, Paris appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

* * *

By the time the Hotel Lutetia opened its doors in 1910, well-to-do visitors to Paris were familiar with the extravagance of hotel luxury in the City of Light but they hadn’t yet experienced it on the Left Bank. Palatial lodging had until then been a Right Bank affair: Hotel du Louvre, the Meurice, the Ritz, Hotel Normandy and others flourished in the triangle between Place de la Concorde, the Opera and the Louvre, Paris’s primary luxury zone of the Belle Epoque.

Wealthy visitors, including British aristocrats and the like, flocked to that Right Bank zone where, without traveling far, they could call on fellow French aristocrats (who’d had the good sense to marry the wealthy heirs of banking and industry), visit the Louvre by day, attend the Garnier Opera by night, luxuriate in tea rooms, hotel bars, high-class prostitution, see the sights, check out the latest art, fashion and jewelry and shop. There was little reason to stay elsewhere.

The Left Bank also had its shopping attraction in the name of Au Bon Marché, a temple of modern commerce created by Aristide Boucicaut. In the 1860s Boucicaut had launched the concept of the department store—all you could want in a single place—in France and well beyond. The square between Le Bon Marché and the Lutetia would eventually be renamed Square Boucicaut.

The owners of Au Bon Marché (its name was eventually changed to Le Bon Marché by the LVMH group, which has owned the stores since 1984) therefore devised a plan to further cater to the needs and whims of the crème de la crème of shoppers while also attracting members of government (the houses of parliament and most government ministries are nearby) and notables associated with the universities in the Latin Quarter: they would built a hotel unrivaled on the Left Bank.

The hotel was given the grand name Lutetia, after the town developed along the Seine by the Romans after their conquest of the local tribe of Celtic Gauls known as the Parissi. The Lutetia’s architects were Louis Hippolyte Boileau and Henri Tauzin, who designed a building that was a precursor to the Art Deco style. Boileau’s grandfather was the initial architect of Au Bon Marché beginning in 1867, a project to build Paris’s first specifically designed department store that was taken over by Boileau’s father. Boileau himself worked on an expansion of the store in the 1920s.

Though the initial exuberance at the new hotel was stopped in its tracks by the First World War, the Lutetia took off with a bang during the Roaring ‘20s and assumed its role as a purveyor of the spirit of luxury on the Left Bank.

Lutetia’s construction, however, didn’t create a major wave of top-tier hotel construction on the dense central Left Bank. Instead, luxury pursued its evolution on the Right Bank as it extended its reach to the area surrounding the Champs-Elysées. The Hotel Plaza-Athenée which opened on avenue Montaigne in 1913, served as a cornerstone for the development of high-pampering hotels to either side of the Champs-Elysées, then well on its way to becoming a new sector for Paris extravagance.

One hundred years on, the Right Bank, specifically the first, eighth and sixteenth arrondissements, remains the natural herding ground for high luxury lodging and shopping and the preferred bank for department store shopping in Paris.

With 231 rooms, including 60 suites and junior suites, plus a large plush lounge-bar, a magnificent banquet room, meeting rooms, a brasserie and a gastronomic restaurant, the Lutetia’s size makes it an oddity on the central Left Bank. Perhaps because of that the Lutetia seemed to lose its way in the 1990s and early 2000s as boutique 4-stars claimed control of the hotelscape of the 6th arrondissement and edging into the 7th (Relais Christine, Aubusson, Pont Royal, Montalembert, Bel Ami, Villa d’Estrée, Relais Saint Germain, etc.), even if some of those boutiques are quite the store.

I remember going to the Lutetia to meet friends who were staying there in the late ’90s and finding its atmosphere slightly reminiscent of 1945, when the hotel served as a repatriation center for displaced persons and concentration camp survivors. Its dark days from 1940 to 1944 when the occupying German took it over as headquarters for their military intelligence services (Abwehr), however, were long gone. It was a decent place to stay, alright, but I had come to see the Lutetia as yet another Concorde hotel: fine but soulless, on the Left Bank but no longer imbued with the exuberant intellectual spirit of the Left Bank of the 20th century, a 4-star chain mentality in a pretty body. Le Bon Marché still offered fine department store shopping but entering the Lutetia was like going to the mall.

It’s time now to reconsider that point of view.

Since 2010 the Lutetia has been the property of the Israeli Alrov Group. Though still under Concorde management, the Lutetia is in the process of reclaiming its discreet yet showy side, a duality that a hotel must master in order to garner attention in the absence of a glowing article in The New York Times, a few glossy magazine spreads, a juicy sex scandal or Starwood points.

The Lutetia has a ways to go if its owners fantasize about joining the ranks of the “palaces,” as they top-tier hotels are known in France, yet the building was designed with as much luxury in mind as the famous names of the Right Bank, so the physical potential remains. Meanwhile, 5-star status mostly requires the will do so at this point. In any case, this is a property worth keeping an eye on.

As a business destination this been a sure bet all along at the right price. It has now been successful of late in enhancing its design, art, and literary cred, which has helped shake off its chain reputation, making it more appealing for free-spirited leisure travelers.

The Lutetia is a 4-star hotel, among the city’s finest in that category, especially for such a large hotel by Paris standards. But stars alone do not make a hotel; travelers should be wary of the star inflation over the past two years as France has harmonized its categories in line with other European countries. Five-stars are not always more prestigious than four.

The Lutetia has more upgrading to do in terms of service and in some of the rooms in order to restore its wow power through and through. Nevertheless, many of the rooms are on fine footing and nearly all have have size in their favor, even the 7th floor rooms, originally reserved for chauffeurs and other personnel accompanying the fortuned clientele. And certain aspects of the Lutetia are clearly intended for a 5-star or even palace clientele. In particular, there are several drole or chic and in some cases spectacular designer suites that, along with works of art in the public spaces and the Art Deco spirit of the building, earns the Lutetia its designer cred.

The more eye-popping of those designer suites—signature suites, they’re called—are clearly intended for high-end travelers, e.g. the 1300-square-foot fifth-floor suite decorated by the sculptor Arman on the themes of music and African art; the Littéraire Suite with its own library; the shoe-themed suite with works by the artist Thierry Bisch; the filmmaker David Lynch has decorated a suite that is an ode to his adoration of Paris. The 7th-floor Hiquily Suite can only be thought of as the female nude suite since they appear everywhere: lamps, table bases, mirrors, etc.

Museum-quality photography adorns the walls of several suites that have been decorated in collaboration with Paris’s Maison Européene de la Photographie. Some of the signature suites have stunning views out to the Eiffel Tower or over the center of the capital. These suites are generally beyond the budget of 4-star travelers and even many 5-star travelers. Yet the more self-assured 5-star travelers who generally look toward the Right Bank for luxury hotel options will not feel like their slumming by considering this Left Bank 4-star option.

Space limitations on the central Left Bank ensure that smaller 3- to 5-star hotels are bound to dominate the hotelscape in the area. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that the Lutetia is fighting for its reputation and doing a good job of ensuring a place where visitors can live large on the Left Bank.

For those staying in a 4- or 5-star hotel where boutique may be a code word for a lobby you don’t want to sit in and a receptionist who serves as bartender, it’s worth keeping the Lutetia in mind when in search for a somewhat sophisticated place for:

– a meal: Paris, a gastronomic restaurant (one Michelin star) cheffed by Philippe Renard and decorated by Sonia Rykiel, open Mon.-Fri.; Le Lutetia, a brasserie, open daily; a “jazzy brunch” served Sundays noon-2:30pm Sept-May;

– a literary event: among them, events held by the association Les Mots Parleurs, which organizes readings and literary encounters at the hotel one Saturday evening per month;

– a musical evening: in particular jazz in the lounge-bar Wednesday to Saturday evenings, 10pm to 1am, under the programming of in-house pianist Daniel Roca, and

– a drink at Le Bar du Lutetia. Did I mention that I have a cocktail named after me here? No? Well, continue to “Gary’s Cocktail at the Bar of the Hotel Lutetia” for a singular account of how that came about.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

Hotel Lutetia. 45 boulevard Raspail, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01 49 54 46 46. Metro Sèvres-Babylone. Small spa area. Stylish cigarette and cigar room by the bar. A monthly schedule of literary and jazz events and exhibitions at the Lutetia can be found here.

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Le Petit Verdot is one of them. It’s delicious, confident, owner-served, subtly off-beat and in a world of its own yet completely at home in the 6th arrondissement, making for one of the most pleasant and curious dining experiences I’ve had in Paris in recent months.

Le Petit Verdot, named for a grape varietal, isn’t the kind of restaurant that gets stars and other fancy ratings; they don’t give them to restaurants that have only one waiter who’s also the sommelier who’s also the owner. He’s Hide Ishazuka, he’s from Japan, he bows to a compliment, and he stands out from the lot in offering excellent French cuisine and knowledgeable wine talk in the upper moderate price range.

Mr. Ishazuka’s chef  and others on the staff are from Japan as well. In a broader view, Le Petit Verdot is part of the incursion of Japanese chefs, pastry chefs and sommeliers into French gastronomy. But one can be part of history and still stand out on one’s own.

There’s a delicacy to the preparations here but without frou-frou. Fine savors are brought together, not in the form of kitchen acrobatics, gadgetry and concept food, but as a culinary union of distinctly French Graces in a most ordinary setting.

Dinner runs about 55-60€ for three courses à la carte – small portions, you’ll want and you’ll savor all three – plus wine. Mr. Ishazuka once worked as sommelier at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Pauillac in the Bordeaux region. His wine selection (from inexpensive to quite honorable) isn’t so much a list as a personal library. Mr. Ishazuka is not the type to intimidate or impress but simply guide, if you like. Don’t choose without asking the librarian his take before following whatever narrative that tempts you.

With the most low-key storefront on rue du Cherche-Midi and no menu posted outside, Le Petit Verdot might appear abandoned or between owners if you were to walk by during closing hours.

Inside, the décor is as plain as the service staircase in a manor house in Normandy, with seating split on two levels, neither more precious than the other. There is seating for 20-25 depending on Mr. Ishazuka’s sense of a full restaurant for that meal. Catering to the needs of diners on two levels, Mr. Ishazuka won’t be within sight every moment of your meal, yet he’s very attentive, personable when the situations requires, and never seems rushed.

Restaurant spaces for foodies are now designed in part to create buzz, even the white noise of full restaurant. But even when full that isn’t the case here, where seating is too limited and service is too solitary. Cross-table conversation and indiscreet glances at the dishes of others is possible—the atmosphere is far from formal—but come here prepared to enjoy the company at your table, your meal and your contact with Mr. Ishazuka or go elsewhere.

I can understand that the subdued nature of Le Petit Verdot and the lack of buzz-atmosphere would turn some people off and keep others away, but with the right company, someone whose presence you can enjoy without external stimulus (phones off), Hide Ishazuka’s delicious and understated Cherche-Midi hideaway is an attractive and refreshing treat.

Le Petit Verdot. 75 rue du Cherche Midi, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01 42 22 38 27. Metro Saint-Placide or Rennes. Open Tues.-Sat. lunch and dinner. Seating is largely by reservation only, though no harm in trying a last-minute call.

(c) 2012, Gary Lee Kraut

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The décor brightens to Louis Seize, Empire, and Napoleon III (not Victorian) in the 62 bedrooms, yet the sense of tradition remains undeterred. The hotel was fully renovated in 2000, but other than wifi, cable, well-positioned TVs, and air conditioning in the rooms, it fully inhabits its classic French décor, a mix of well-mannered motifs in yellow-gold, green, red, and blue-gray, with white-framed armchairs, fabric-covered walls, canopied beds (in the junior suites), and classic writing tables. Time hasn’t stood still at the Victoria Palace Hotel, it simply moves at a very livable pace.

Situated in the nook of a short street, the hotel feels confidential without snobbery and offers very good comfort without pretension. Those looking for glitter and gloss should head toward more modernista hotels in this category where, at equal price, the décor may be brighter and the space likely smaller. The rooms at the Victoria Palace are all spacious by Paris standards, with standard (“deluxe”) rooms averaging a comfortable 250 square feet and junior suites at 375 square feet. There are also four one-bedroom suites.

The Victoria Palace is a rarity in the 4-star hotel landscape of Paris in that it is owner Philippe Schmitt’s only hotel, he comes to the office here, and he lives nearby. The hotel, built in 1913, long after the deaths of the aforementioned Napoleon (1873) and Victoria (1901), was bought by Mr. Schmitt’s father in 1936. Though there are no records indicating why the hotel was originally given the name Victoria, he says that it was “probably” named in honor of Spanish Queen Victoria Eugenia.

After a drink with Michael Erwin, the director of sales, in the hotel bar (which I won’t call Victorian but where I could only think to order Port), I did some research and learned that Victoria Eugenia grew up in Victorian England and was the granddaughter of British Queen Victoria. Sufficiently disturbed by thoughts of European royalty, I then went up to my room, a junior suite that I regretted having for only one night, to write up some notes before going out to dinner.

My room, as all the rooms here, had a writing table and hotel stationery in a leather folder. That may sound standard for any hotel sporting 3, 4 or 5 stars, but in most of them you scarcely pay attention to the table unless looking for a place to empty your pocket change or set down a laptop or purse. Furthermore, in most hotels you see it as a desk not as a writing table.

Mine wasn’t anything special as writing tables go, a simple straight-legged wooden affair with a glass top, but within the old-fashioned atmosphere of the room and of the hotel I was inspired to use it to pen a letter on monogrammed VP hotel stationery, even if I had to invent a recipient:

“Dear Aunt Fedora, A short note to let you know that I’ve arrived in Paris and checked in at the lovely hotel you recommended. It’s just as you described, except that I’d call the hotel bar Napoleon III rather than Victorian. Off to dinner now. More tomorrow. Fondly, …”

If it wasn’t returned to the hotel then someone in Dayton, Ohio is now dreaming of Paris. As well she should.

Victoria Palace Hotel, 6 rue Blaise-Desgoffe, 6th arrondissement. Tel. 01 45 49 70 00. www.victoriapalace.com. Metro Saint Placide.

© 2010, Gary Lee Kraut

YOUR VICTORIA PALACE HOTEL THREE-MINUTE RADIUS GUIDE

The pace quickens by the time you get to the corner at rue de Rennes, the major artery between the Saint Germain and Montparnasse quarters. The Saint Placide metro stop is nearby. The hotel is a 10-minute walk from the boutiquey heart of the Saint Germain quarter in one direction, from the Luxembourg Garden in another, and from the brassy brasseries of the Montparnasse quarter in yet another. Within the more immediate neighborhood you’ll find the following:

– Your closest parking garage: The hotel has its own next door.

– Your closest pharmacy: Pharmacie Slakmon, 145 rue de Rennes.
– Your morning jog: A 2-mile run takes you straight to the Luxembourg Garden, once around the park, and back. Add a little over a mile for each additional lap around the park.

Your Hunger and Thirst
– Your grocery store: Franprix, at the corner by the hotel, 2 rue Blaise Desgoffe.

– Your food shops: Food shops gather on rue Notre-Dame des Champs, by the Saint-Placide metro stop. There you’ll find Gilles Vérot (#3), a great local deli that’s ever proud of having been named head cheese champion of France in 1997 (good terrines and pates if you aren’t a head cheese fan), and Thevenin (#5), a decent pastry shop-bakery. Nearby there’s a fruit and vegetable stand, a pharmacy, a Chinese take-out, and, if you’re feeling homesick, a place called Bagels and Brownies (#12).
Rue du Cherche-Midi is the other food shop zone in your neighborhood, with Bio Génération (#68-70), an organic grocery and healthy whatnot shop; fishmonger Poissonnerie Lise Yvon (#52), not because you’re planning on cooking but so that you’ll know what’s what on the menu, and Le Potager du Midi (#108), a cute little fruit and vegetable stand.
Several minutes beyond the 3-minute radius is the Raspail outdoor food market, held Tues.-Fri. 7 a.m. – 2/2:30 p.m., and its manifestation as an organic food market on Sun., same time. Also beyond the neighborhood radius are the food shops on rue de Sevres and most notably the appetizing Grande Epicerie (#38).
– Your delicious pastries: Coronova, 47 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire.

– Your chocolate shops: Philippe Pascoët, 52 rue Saint Placide, and Jean-Charles Rochoux, 16 rue d’Assas, are top choices. Also nearby are A La Mère de Famille (candied chestnuts) and Puyricard (a company based in Provence), 106 rue du Cherche-Midi.

– Your wine shops: Le Gastronaute (organic), 117 rue du Cherche-Midi; Enoteca (Italian), 77 rue du Cherche-Midi; Le Vin en Tête (varied), 53 rue Saint Placide; Le Vin en Bouche, 27 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire.

– Your cozy bistro and tearoom: L’Horloge, 72 rue du Cherche Midi.
– Your sweet little lunch and tea room: Mamie Gateaux, 66 rue du Cherche-Midi. Open 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.
– Your light Berber-leaning lunch and tearoom: Chez les Filles, 64 rue du Cherche-Midi. Open noon – 6 p.m. “Berber Brunch” served Sunday 12:30-5:30 p.m.
– Your reliable busy brasserie-café: Le Rousseau, 45 rue du Cherche-Midi.
– Your quirky little find: Le Petit Verdot, 75 rue du Cherche-Midi.
– Your classic, old-fashion, quality bistro specializing in meat dishes: Joséphine (Chez Dumonet), 117 rue du Cherche-Midi. Tel. 01 45 48 52 40.
– The hotel also provides a dependable list of local restaurants. Inquire at the reception.

Notable shops
– Your Paris wig and toupee shop: MC-Maison de la Chevelure, 77 rue de Vaugirard.
– Your Paris wedding gown: Les Mariées de Provence, 24 rue de l’Abbé Grégoire; Catherine Varnier, 48 rue d’Assas; Mi & Canna, 59 boulevard Raspail.
– Your luxury dog accessories: Dog & Design, 110 rue du Cherche-Midi.
– Your second-hand clothing etc. shops: Chercheminippes, 102, 109, 110, 111, 114, 124 rue du Cherche-Midi. Yes, six different shops.
– Your major electronics etc. store: FNAC, 136 rue de Rennes.

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“I buy my calf directly from the farmer—130 to 140 kilos, five months old. I pay the slaughterhouse. I get it delivered.”

That’s Mr. Lamiot talking about the Ferrandaise, a race from the hills of Auvergne region in the center of France. Once THE cow of Auvergne, the Ferrandaise, like the Norman cow (of Normandy), dwindled in numbers in favor of the breed-em-and-reap approach of the industrial cattle industry. However, in the past few decades the Ferrandaise, like the Norman, has made a comeback in less intensive breeding.

The menu here changes about every six weeks with a nice variety of starters and of hearty main courses of fish, fowl, lamb, and pork, so all tastes can be met. But the veal and associated parts form its centerpiece: braised, grilled, tongue, sweetbreads.

Mr. Lamiot knows his product intimately, but he isn’t the chef. Have a look at this photo and you’ll see that the chef is actually a 12-year-old boy named Kevin.

Okay, maybe Kevin’s a little more than 12, but he still looks like he should be playing hooky rather than poaching tongue and braising veal!

I’m not one to order tongue, but I’m not one to refuse a taste from a dining companion’s plate either. It was delicious, truly, almost sweet in its tenderness.

My choice was a thick butcher’s cut of veal with ratatouille of (organic) veggies, a dish so direct and earnest as to be just what a guy wants after exploring a quarter that’s best known for its glossy charm, romantic park, and designer pastries.

Desserts at La Ferrandaise, among them a memorable mille-feuille, maintain the restaurant’s consistent quality, but to pursue the regional adventure at least one person at the table should order the plate of regional cow cheeses—Saint-Nectaire, Bleu de Laqueuille, and Fourme de Rochefort, that evening—which fairly mild in French terms yet offer a taste of the farm.

Service is kindly. In fact, this is a well-behaved restaurant that naturally attracts international travelers staying in the many hotels in the area, hence the menu in Japanese and English. Nevertheless, I especially appreciate the lack of pretension of La Ferrandaise and the way its proprietor neither denies his its location near the Luxembourg Garden nor his roots in rural France.

This quarter is chock full of decent mid-range restaurants proposing 30-45€ fixed-price menus. La Ferrandaise is among the best of them.

La Ferrandaise 8 rue de Vaugirard, 6th arrondissement. Metro Odéon, RER Luxembourg. Tel. 01 43 26 36 36.www.laferrandaise.com. Closed Sat. lunch, Sun.

© 2009, Gary Lee Kraut

Restaurant retested and reapproved in 2010. Slight upgrade of decor, same tasty, hearty fare.

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