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Here's my post from chowhound. By the way, FWIW, I find chowhound--France and Italy, altho still very uneven, to be far more credible sources of info than chowhound--Chicago.

"Les Papilles (30 r. Guy Lussac). The highlight. As mentioned elsewhere on this board elsewhere this small restaurant/epicerie offers only one meal, altho you choose your wine from the shelves at 6 euros above retail. The dinner we had was very au bonne mere--leek pottage, lamb stew w/ primeurs, panna cotta--nothing that I could not make myself at home, but with an intensity of flavor I could never recapture chez moi. A memorable experience, particularly at 98 euros.

Pre Verre (corner of r. Thenard and r. Sommerard). Wonderfully inventive cooking on a 26.5 euro menu. Choices are very limited and you'll need to be flexible, but all of our selections were excellent. They included a watercress soup, a terrine of foie gras and petit pois, a delightfully rich cochon de lait, and a papillote of banana and mango (enlivened by a touch of cayenne!) for dessert.

Many meals at wine bars consisting of plates of charcuterie or fromage, all of them good in varying degrees, with strong selections of wines. In particular:

Taverne Henri IV: An old favorite at the tip of the Ile de la Cite, with a surprisngly local "feel" to its crowded interior despite its central location.

Pipos (where r Descartes mets r. de l'ecole polytechnique). Robust assiettes (mostlly cold) and a good place to stop for an after-dinner cordial, if you don't mind a little smoke.

L'Ecluse (15 quai des Augustine and elsewhere): Fromage not as interesting as the above, but some good Bordeaux and a wider menu. Considering its location (a couple of steps from the tourist-ridden Boul St. Mich) it turned out to be a good choice. I recommend particularly the assortment of goose and duck (foie gras, confit, gesier) at about 20 euro.

By the way if anyone's interested in the name of a 16th-18th century chateau for about 120 euro/day in the Loir (not the Loire) valley, where you are truly treated as a member of the family, feel free to send me an e-mail. A wonderful restaurant, Le Cheval Blanc, is in walking distance."

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

So where is the Loir valley (I tried to Google it, but Google assumed I was wrong and added the final "e")?

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Here's a good start:

http://www.vallee-du-loir.com/

More specifically, google "troo france" for the village where we stayed, and the chateau is here:

http://www.chateauxcountry.com/fr/depar ... voute.html

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

You could force the issue by googling for [+loir valley].

I can't say anything intelligent about your actual question, but I tried that out of curiosity (cause I'm like that) and saw much better results.

Well, I can point to this map I found.

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Joe G.

"Whatever may be wrong with the world, at least it has some good things to eat." -- Cowboy Jack Clement

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd add to this one, since the title still fits. Again, since some of the original recs were from Chowhound, I've posted my report first there and revised it slightly for here:

I've given up trying to find that perfect "neighborhood" restaurant in central Paris, packed with locals and devoid of tourists. I've come to the conclusion that if I know about it through my most trustworthy sources, than others of my ilk will, too, and flock to it, probably long before I can get there. (You want to be surrounded by Engllsh-speaking tourists? Then head off to that obscure, cutting-edge joint just mentioned in the NYT, and you'll get your wish.) But, so what? If a restaurant's any good (and, often, if it wants to survive), it will do what it does best no matter the nationality of the clientele, and our dinner destinations last week--all in the LQ and all 50-60 euros total per head--fit that bill.

Our favorite, to which we returned for a second meal, was Au Buisson Ardente (25, rue Jussieu). I hesitate to recommend any particular dishes since mostly everything was superb (and we sampled about 60% of the menu) but the croustillard de raie and the mango tatin deserve special mention.

The entire youthful team there seemed to enjoy what they were doing and our company. On the other hand, the folks at Christophe (8, rue Descartes) didn't. The chef really knows his way around a piece of viande, and all of our plats were perfectly prepared, but I've spent some time thinking about a phrase to describe the general ambiance of the place and the service, and what I've come up with is "aggressive indifference." We won't be back.

And again on the other hand, the well known (and often under fire for its service) Balzar (49, rue des Ecoles) was a blast. Now, I wouldn't walk through their doors with an attitude, but after breaking through what seemed to be a very thin layer of ice, I found it to be everything I was looking for in a typical brasserie: a wooded-leathered-mirrored interior, a boisterous atmosphere, and traditional dishes well done. Of special note were the choucroute, the poulet, and a really drunken baba rhum (apparently my wife was supposed to tell the waiter when to stop pouring on the rum; she didn't, so he didn't. Needless to say, none of us needed a digestif and to top it all off, the waiter left the bottle of rum on the table, just in case he hadn't soaked the baba enough. How's that for service?)

And here are a few spots out of the Quarter that do seem to serve occasional regulars, as well as dependable lunches: Le Petite Fer a Cheval (30, rue Vieille de Temps), near the Carnavalet, and very good for sandwiches and charcuterie; and right at the eastern tip of Ile de la Cite (and also mentioned in my previous account) is Taverne Henri IV, which we've always especially liked for its wine selections and plats du jour.

And, finally, one that is off the beaten path. About a metra stop north of Cimetiere de Pere Lachaise, in an area that doesn't seem replete with traditional French lunch options, is La Boulangerie (15, rue des Panoyaux). Since their lunch plats (a curry and a veal parmesan) didn't appeal to us, we decided to order from their dinner menu and make this the primary meal of the day. We were rewarded with some excellent wine and some excellent wine sauces and my lapin farci turned out to be another of the highlights of another satisfying culinary expedition in Paris.

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

A couple of observations from a recent visit, not entirely devoted to the Left Bank, but this seemed like the best place to stick them.

So, the Left Bank. This is what I had to say about Les Papilles in 2007:

"Les Papilles (30 r. Guy Lussac). As mentioned on this board elsewhere this small restaurant/epicerie offers only one meal, altho you choose your wine from the shelves at 6 euros above retail. The dinner we had was very au bonne mere--leek pottage, lamb stew w/ primeurs, panna cotta--nothing that I could not make myself at home, but with an intensity of flavor I could never recapture chez moi. A memorable experience, particularly at 98 euros for the two of us."

Since then Les Papilles has been featured twice in the NY Times and popped up in all sorts of other places, so I reserved with some trepidation, feeling that it might have been thoroughly Anglicized by now. Once I arrived in Paris, however, I moved our reservation up from 7:30 to 9:30, and whether it was this more Paris-friendly dinner-hour or the one-meal-and-one-meal-only-served policy acting as a tourist-barrier, we were pretty much surrounded by French-speaking customers. Moreover, the meal was as good as I remembered--this time an eggplant bisque poured over feta cheese and crème fraiche, followed by pork belly braised in vegetables and beans, a cheese course, and a panna cotta dessert. A little pricier than the previous time (the exchange rate was pretty much of a disaster area), but still a satisfying venue for French comfort food.

And on the other bank, just above Boulevard Haussmann at the edge of Montmartre, is a place that anyone interested in the history of restaurants needs to visit. There were about 250 "bouillons" in Paris at the turn of the last century, and one of the few now remaining -- perhaps the last truly authentic one (i.e., it hasn't changed much in any respect since it opened in 1896), is restaurant Chartier (at 7, rue Faubourg Montmartre). I don't necessarily recommend this place for its food -- which is usually good, simple, and cheap -- and I do recommend that you go at lunch (for the experience) and not for dinner (where the food options elsewhere are so much better). If you do go, you'll get a unique chance to experience what a fast-food restaurant was like for average Parisian (and perhaps many other urban) workers in 1900. They have their own website here (http://www.restaurant-chartier.com/www/visit/) which is, as might be expected, rather quaint, but a more informative review can be found here (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/02/bouillon-chartier/).

Anyway, I would no more recommend Chartier over, say, a starred restaurant for your one day in Paris than I would the catacombs over the Louvre. But if anyone were compiling a list of Parisian GNRs, I'd wager Chartier would be a charter member.

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

Still on the Left Bank, but this year a little further afield:

In the 14th, we liked La Cagouille, a fairly basic seafood house just above one of the seedier districts of Montparnasse. Their menu is on a chalkboard, and since the food is fresh from the market you'll discover what's being caught and sold that day. When we were there the standouts were the meaty razor clams ("couteaux" (knives) in French), the grilled dorade, and the scallops; all simply prepared without any unusual pirouettes from the kitchen. Pricey, but not so much for Paris, and there is a limited prix fixe menu that allows for some cost shaving. A keeper.

(La Cagouille
10 Place Constantin Brancusi
75014 Paris, France
01 43 22 09 01)

Further out in the 15th we tried Jadis, a fashionable bistro that's been receiving some enthusiastic press. With a prix fixe menu of 36 euros, it's a pretty good value for inventive dishes with a considerable flair. Standouts here were an oyster veloute (its flavor punctuated by crispy chunks of andouillette), perfectly cooked slices of gigot of lamb (its flavor punctuated by salsify and chunks of kidney), and a hunk (literally) of suckling pig, accompanied by a pyramid of carrots, raisins, dates, and confit of lemon. The serving staff was young and all in black, and friendly enough I guess, although with an attitude bordering on the ironic, as if Paris were trying to impersonate Manhattan or vice versa. It was worth the trip for the food, but we preferred the ambience of . . .

(Jadis
208 Rue Croix Nivert
75015
01 45 57 73 20)

L'Epigramme. Right in the heart of St.-Germaine-des-Pres, this small bistro--somewhat hidden on a side street, and with only 10 tables--manages to preserve a fairly sedate atmosphere in a frenetic neighborhood. We also found the staff to be extremely welcoming, and largely because of that, I'd gladly return, although not if I were famished, since the portions are sparse. But the food was good and also as inventive as Jadis. They, too, depend on the daily market, so their menu is scrawled on a chalkboard and difficult to predict. But if the roasted saddle of lamb were on the menu (which can be ordered rare, sometimes unusual for a roasted meat) or the duck breast, these would be good choices. Thanks to the patron we also discovered a very drinkable and reasonable Minervois which we later purchased at Rue Mouffetard for 11 euros.

(L'Epigramme
9 Rue de l'Éperon
75006
01 44 41 00 09)

For lunch we returned to Taverne Henri IV just off the Pont Neuf on the Ile de la Cite, and I continue to recommend it for their wine-bar fare, but also for their plats du jour (stuffed cabbage and a seafood casserole, this time). Get there by 12:15 if you want to be assured a seat. We also returned to Le Petit Fer a Cheval in the Marais, but that seems to have slipped a couple of notches (at least for lunch, although we were a little late which might account for the tepid andouilette and the limp frites). We probably won't be back there, but we'll definitely make the trek again up to Jacques Genin Chocolates (133, rue de Turenne), and don't fail to try a couple of the caramels, particularly the mango/passion fruit. Outrageously priced at about 1 euro each, they're worth every centime.

And, if anyone's interested in recommendations for places to stay/eat in the Fontainebleau/Troyes/Orleans regions feel free too pm.

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)

Good call on Taverne Henri IV. Genuinely Paris. I always think when I'm there that that's where Maigret must have eaten many a time, with the PJ so close by. Once my wife and I were sitting in the little parc-ette in front of the place, discussing exactly that notion, when a nearby local started laughing and winking at us, and whistling a tune that must have been the theme song of some of the movies.

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

As a matter of fact, according to its proprietor, the Taverne appears in 14 of the Simenon novels (http://robertgiraud.blog.lemonde.fr/201 ... pond-plus/); the author and his creation also used to haunt Ma Bourgogne up at the Place des Vosges (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/holid ... inued.html), once home of the best croque monsieur in Paris, but, alas, no more.

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"The fork with two prongs is in use in northern Europe. In England, they’re armed with a steel trident, a fork with three prongs. In France we have a fork with four prongs; it’s the height of civilization." Eugene Briffault (1846)