Richard Hesse
Café de la Nouvelle Mairie
A great place for an enjoyable, torture-free evening with friends. Pros: Good organic wines, great vibe. Cons: Food could be improved on, too many wines to taste at one sitting. It would be difficult to get any closer to the … Read More
Simonin
Fancy dishes but little atmosphere and ill-fitting, Trekkie-like waiters’ uniforms. Do you look at your waiter at a restaurant? Do you check out how he or she is dressed? Does it matter? My answers to the first two questions would … Read More
Le 1er
A detail of Le 1er’s wild comic-book-style mural. You don’t usually expect to be taken aback by a restaurant, but Le 1er managed just that. We were flying blind after a trip to a vernissage (no drink) and a hugger-mugger … Read More
Clémentine
Old-timey comfort and good, fresh food. Pros: Fresh vegetables, well-chosen wines, pleasant atmosphere.Cons: None to speak of. Attentive readers will have noticed a second arrondissement bias in my recent reviews, and this one is no exception: I’ve been checking out … Read More
La Bourse ou la Vie
The quirky decor includes a caricature of the owner drawn on the wall and pigs on the ceiling. The pepper sauce on the steak at La Bourse ou la Vie gave me a five-minute-long attack of the hiccups, my central … Read More
La Closerie des Lilas
Every struggling American writer on the way to a date with destiny has passed through the Closerie. Places associated with literary figures… hmm. The Deux Magots will forever bring to mind Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, but one can’t … Read More
Aux Charpentiers
Classic French food in a historical setting. Pros: History, interesting decor, reasonably spaced tables, plenty of local dinersCons: Somewhat distant service Aux Charpentiers is in a nice part of town, with the Eglise Saint Germain-des-Prés just round the corner and … Read More
Chez Grenouille
You won’t find nouvelle cuisine at Chez Grenouille. Pros: solid winter fare, excellent products, the restaurateur’s justified pride in his work. Cons: colorless decor The walk from my second arrondissement office up to Chez Grenouille in the ninth was longer … Read More
Ethnic Angel
Ethnic Angel is not only a supermarket with exotic foods and great wine, but also a restaurant. I recently thought I had finally made it through to the status of valued client at Julhès, the snooty deli (cheese mostly, wines, … Read More
La Perla
Bertie and the Pizzamen Bertie the Gastrohound poses with the La Perla dream team. Bertie the Gastrohound will be five years old next month. He came into our lives as a three-month-old pup on July 15, 2003, in the midst … Read More