Vintage

February 26, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Vintage Value Serge Gainsbourg, who watches from the photos on the wall, would probably have approved of the wine list. It was the chalkboard wine list in the window that drew me to Vintage. It contained many of the top … Read More

Le Repaire de Cartouche

February 19, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Dickensian Hideaway Dark-honey-colored wood paneling and quaint murals. Named after Cartouche, a notorious highwayman operating in and around Paris at the turn of the 18th century, Le Repaire de Cartouche, some food bloggers allege, practices its own form of highway … Read More

Mon Vieil Ami

February 12, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Go East with Westermann The decor is clean and understated, with a half-timbered backdrop. In one of this restaurant’s previous incarnations, long, long before Mon Vieil Ami was launched four years ago by Antoine Westermann, the Michelin-starred (for his restaurant … Read More

The Improfessionals

February 8, 2008 | By Linda Healey | Archive

Improv à la Carte Mark Jane and Clara McBride in improvisational mode. Photo: Tom Tollenaere Paris has a number of popular improvisational theater groups, competitions and festivals, but only one troupe, the five-year-old Improfessionals, works in English. Currently playing monthly … Read More

Les Amis des Messina

February 5, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Sideways to the Messinas’ The name of this Sicilian restaurant – Les Amis des Messina – refers to the friends of the Messina family, and the slick PR on the restaurant’s Web site says that the first restaurant on the … Read More

Le Grand Colbert

January 29, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Vintage Lunch The fanciful “Pompeian” decor sets the tone. Le Grand Colbert is vintage Paris, a tour operator’s dream, except that the tour operators seem to leave it alone. After several unsuccessful attempts to book a table at a relatively … Read More

L’Oxalis

January 15, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Mom-and-Pop Bistro Fusion The paneled walls don’t provide the ideal setting for the fine food and wine. As you turn into Rue Ferdinand Flocon in the further reaches of the 18th arrondissement, you are rewarded for the hike with a … Read More

Au Bascou

Basquing in Fine Food and Drink

January 8, 2008 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Reading Jonathan Nossiter’s musings on wine, the universe and everything, reviewed here last week, and Hugh Johnson’s delightful A Life Uncorked, a Christmas gift, has made me eager to delve deeper into the dreadfully complicated world of wine, so I … Read More

Ribouldingue

December 18, 2007 | By Richard Hesse | Archive

Variety Meats: The Spice of Life The pretty, cozy interior of Ribouldingue, with mirrors to infinity. “Ribouldingue” is one of those yummy words that you can chew and chomp and turn over on your tongue like a well-polished oral worry-bead. … Read More

Mélac Bistrot à Vins

December 18, 2007 | By Nick Hammond | Archive

Through the Grapevine No shortage of wine here. With the smoking ban in French restaurants about to take effect on January 1, 2008, it is well worth praising a pioneer like Jacques Mélac, who has had a no-smoking policy for … Read More