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From: [e-mail] (Tom Jacob)
Subject: Paris Restaurant Review (Long)
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Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 21:09:39 GMT
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This is part 1 of a report of a recent trip to Paris. It discusses restaurants
only, and is being posted to rec.food.restaurants and to rec.travel. Part 2,
which discusses other aspects of the trip and which will appear in a few days, will be posted to rec.travel only.

PART 1: PARIS RESTAURANTS

Around the beginning of November, I posted a message asking readers which Paris
restaurant they considered the best. As I expected, the consensus was that
Jamin/Robuchon has the finest kitchen and that Taillevent is the best for the
all around grand dining experience. Surprisingly, almost no one mentioned
Lucas-Carton. Has Alain Senderens' star finally burned out?

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks after my posting, my dentist (muttering
something about wanting to take his wife to the Hotel del Coronado) informed
me that I needed $850 of dental work. We reluctantly scaled back our plans,
cancelling our reservation at Jamin (sigh). Determined to eat at least one
meal in a multi-star place, we finally settled on lunch at L'Arpege, whose
owner-chef came very highly recommended and which has a 290 F lunch menu. I
called the Tuesday we left for Paris, reserving for the next Tuesday.

On several previous trips to Paris, we had not hand much of a dining plan,
depending on following our noses supplemented by a little spur of the moment
perusal of the Michelin Guide or Gault-Millau. This time our trip had a theme:
we decided to eat most of our full meals at "little brother" restaurants, i.e.
the less expensive second restaurants associated with some of the big name
places. We also decided that for main meals, we would try places that were new
to us, and that for smaller meals, we would follow our nose.

Consequently, as far as I remember we went to none of the places recommended by
netters except for some wine bars. Many were places where we had been before,
and others just didn't get fitted in. We are, nonetheless, extremely grateful
for the advice. We certainly have a large database of places to try next year.

We were in Paris from January 6 through January 13. Reviews of restaurants
where we ate are given below.  Places we would like to have tried, in addition
to the little brothers Le Bistro d'a Cote and the Rotisserie du Beaujolais,
include the two-star Amphycles, Apicius and Jacques Cagna, as well as Pile ou
Face, Le Maraicher and La Tour de Montlhery. Another spot we intended to try
and didn't get to was the little fast food place Oh!Poivrier! on the quai des
Grands-Augustins (and elsewhere). It looked good and had decent prices for its
cold plates and sandwiches.

A couple of general observations: The no smoking ordinance seems to have had
minimal effect. I think that smoking is generally less in Paris than, say, ten
years ago, but can't attribute any of the decrease to the new ordinance,
which most places seem to be implementing half-heartedly if at all. Also,
everywhere we went we were served a little bar of Valrhona chocolate with our
coffee. In the past we have often gotten chocolates at the more upscale places,
but this time we got them everywhere, even the most unpretentious bars. I wish
that I had the Valrhona concession for Paris.

A couple of notes on style: After much deliberation, I have omitted all
accents. I don't know the French ASCII conventions and didn't like what I
tried. The TeX style also seemed to clutter the text too much. I hope that
the French readers will supply the accents and that the non-French readers
won't know the difference! I have also quoted all prices in francs. The
exchange rate was around 5.45 francs to the US dollar while we were there.

About reservations: As noted above, we reserved for dinner at L'Arpege a week
in advance. I think that in the busier seasons you probably would need to
call a little earlier to be sure of getting in. For the other places where
we had a full meal, we made same day reservations, calling about 10 am for
the lunch reservation at Bistro de l'Etoile, and around 18:00 for evening
reservations (at 20:00 or 20:30 -- horribly early in Paris, they eat later
and later every year). We had no trouble getting a reservation at any place
we called, although all of them essentially filled up by 21:00.  Do you need
to make a reservation? In the off season, maybe not always, but I think it's
a good idea.

Now to the restaurants.

Jeremy's Sandwich Shop, 43 rue Fontaine, 9th. Wednesday lunch.

     Jeremy's is a funky little sandwich shop near place Blanche that appears
     to have a mostly local clientele despite its listing in Cheap Eats (one
     customer even put her lunch on the tab). If you go there, check out the
     coffee machine in the front corner: it's shaped like a seminude female
     torso, supposedly in honor of the area's working ladies.

     A wide variety of sandwiches and salad plates are offered, along with
     fresh fruit juices and milkshakes. I had a smoked salmon and cucumber
     sandwich and a large glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Laurie had
     a Perrier and a sandwich of rare roast beef, gruyere, lettuce and tomatoes.
     Both sandwiches were more than we could eat. The total bill was a cheap
     92.60 F.

Auberge Landaise, 23 rue Clauzel, 9th. Wednesday dinner.

     A country looking place -- exposed beams, whitewashed stone walls, heavy
     wooden furniture -- with two rooms expertly served by a single waiter
     with a bit of assistance from the proprietors, the Auberge Landaise
     serves up hearty Southwestern cooking.

     We ran across this restaurant early in the evening while strolling around
     the neighborhood of our hotel, liked its looks and decided to inquire about
     a table for dinner later. When we walked in, everyone almost panicked, but
     smiles broke out when we explained that we weren't any readier for dinner
     than they were. When we came back at 8:00, still the first customers to
     arrive, a table was all set up for us with an amuse-gueule of saucisson and
     sesame and cheese flavored puff pastry strips. By 9:30 it was filled with
     locals, many of whom seemed to be regular customers.

     For the first course, we both had a simple salad, the frisee Landaise, of
     curly endive, mache and trevise lettuce topped with meltingly tender
     preserved duck gizzards). For her second course, Laurie had an "elemental"
     confit de canard. (You will notice that she's given to greater fits of
     poetry than I.) I had cuisse de canard aux cepes, a duck leg served with
     meaty cepes and a dark sauce of red wine and duck stock. Both dishes were
     garnished with garlicky pommes a l'huile. Except that my duck was way too
     salty, everything was excellent. For a wine, we chose a 1988 Domaine de
     Diusse Madiran (150 F), a rich hearty wine that was just slightly tannic.
     We were surprised to get Ferrarelle for the water. Apparently the Italians
     are taking aggressive advantage of the open trade: we saw Italian water all
     over Paris all week. For dessert, we both had a mixture of citron, passion
     fruit and cassis sorbets. With our coffee, we were served a plate of
     almond tuiles and orange flavored chocolates.

     The restaurant has a deep but not very wide collection of vintage Armagnacs
     dating back to 1908. Most of the most recent (last 40 years or so) were
     from Michel Trepout. I had a glass of velvety Marquis de Roquebrune 1950
     (170 F the glass).

     Despite the one problem dish, we liked this place very much and will
     probably go back sometime. The total bill was 761 F (a more reasonable
     591 F without the Armagnac).

Lafayette Gourmet, boulevard Haussmann at rue Mogador in the Galeries Lafayette
department store, 9th. Thursday lunch.

     As the name implies, Lafayette Gourmet is a gourmet food shop in the
     Galeries Lafayette department store. Several of its departments are set
     up as little islands where you can get a light meal as well as buy products
     to take home. For example, one side of the cheese island is a counter with
     seats for about eight customers. Nearby are a few of the tall table-stool
     combinations you find in fast food places. There are similar areas serving
     caviar and smoked fish (Petrossian), grilled meats and fresh fish.

     We chose the cheese island, sitting at the counter. The rest of the
     customers appeared to be neighborhood workers. I had a cheese plate
     consisting of a giant salad dressed with vinaigrette and covered with
     slices of tete de moine, tomme de chevre, roquefort, brie, vacherin and
     a strong cow's milk cheese with caraway seeds that I couldn't identify.
     The cheeses were all good although a couple of them, especially the brie,
     were aged a little more than I prefer. Laurie had a roquefort lover's
     dream, the same giant salad with the vinaigrette, covered with a creamy
     roquefort dressing as well as several slices of roquefort.

     With a couple of glasses of Sancerre rouge, the bill came to 196 F.

Gaya, 17 rue Duphot, 1st. Thursday dinner.

     When Jean-Claude Goumard bought Prunier, the grand old fish place that
     had finally closed after years of decline, he renamed his old restaurant,
     just down the street, Gaya and turned it into a simple fish bistro. It has
     the right look, with walls covered with blue and white Portuguese tiles
     that have been there since the '20s, banquettes and lots of old dark wood
     furnishings.

     Having an upscale restaurant and a bistro allow Goumard to contract for
     fishermen's entire catches, with the more expensive fish, like daurade,
     going to Goumard-Prunier and the cheaper ones, like dorade, to Gaya where
     they are simply and deliciously prepared.

     To start, Laurie had an outstanding soupe de poisson, while I had a bowl of
     small clams and mussels "mariniere", i.e. cooked with white wine, shallots
     and herbs. Laurie then had grilled dorade with a basil sauce while I chose
     aile de raie bouclee au chou, poached skate wing served over braised baby
     cabbage and surrounded by a fantastic chive beurre blanc. We both had pear
     sorbet (all desserts are made down the street at Goumard-Prunier) and
     coffee for dessert.

     During the meal, we had made friends with a boisterous group of Portuguese
     at the next table who treated us to a glass of port to end our meal. I
     rarely enjoy drinking port (I usually don't like port; it seems always to
     have a sherried taste to me, and I *hate* sherry), but this port had a
     bright clean fruity flavor that I really liked. Now if I only knew what it
     was.

     With a bottle of 1991 Sancerre Blanc from Domaine de Saint Pierre (195 F)
     and a half bottle of Badoit, the bill came to 704 F for a most enjoyable
     evening.

Bistro de l'Etoile, 19 rue Lauriston, 16th. Friday lunch.

     One of three bistros of this name run by two-star chef Guy Savoy, this is
     a small place near the Arc de Triomphe crowded with tables that, at
     lunchtime, are crowded with a well-dressed business crowd. The daily
     specials, written on the mirrors that circle the room, run to traditional
     bistro fare done up smartly, with an emphasis on variety meats -- beef
     tongue, hog jowls, brains, etc.

     For a first course, I had salad tiede de queue de boeuf en ravigote au
     chou et a la moelle (as you can see, Savoy is not a believer in terse menu
     descriptions). This was a spicy salad of oxtail that had been braised with
     carrots, onions and other aromatics, served warm over wilted baby cabbage
     leaves and topped with a piece of marrow. An outstanding dish. Laurie had a
     simple green salad dressed with walnut oil and good red wine vinegar. For
     the second course, I had piece de veau fondante, mijotee au vin rouge,
     carottes caramelisees. This is one case where my French failed me: I
     understood all the words, but got something completely different from my
     expectation. What I expected were veal croquettes (fondante) simmered
     (mijotee) in red wine, with caramelized carrots. What I got appeared to be
     roasted veal sauced with pan juices and red wine, with noncaramelized
     carrots. It was ok, but not something I was really in the mood for. Laurie
     had rable de lapereau "marine roti" aux herbes, puree des pois casses. This
     was exactly as expected: saddle of young rabbit, marinated in herbs and
     then roasted, served with pureed peas. For dessert I had a good chocolate
     fondant with preserved clementines; Laurie had an exquisite very thin warm
     apple tarte.

     The service was fast and efficient, even a little brusque, befitting a busy
     lunchtime spot. As far as we could tell, we were the only foreigners. I
     would expect that at night the pace would slow down considerably and the
     clientele would be more international.

     With a carafe of the house Beaujolais, a half bottle of Badoit and coffee,
     the total bill came to 448 F.

L'Ecluse, 15 quai des Grands-Augustins, 5th. Friday dinner.

     This is a stylish wine bar a few doors down from place St-Michel. It is
     part of a chain specializing in Bordeaux wines and serving a small but
     interesting carte of items prepared fresh daily in a central "laboratory".
     Service from the three-man frontroom staff was friendly and efficient.

     I had a plate of good charcuterie, a watercress salad and two glasses of a
     very good 1988 Fronsac from Chateau Herve-Laroque. Back in the '70s,
     Fronsac was supposed to be the next big Bordeaux appellation. Its boomlet
     fizzled, however, and now Fronsac is hard to find in the US. A pity, since
     this can be a luscious, fruity wine with a big nose. Laurie had chicken
     breast with an herb stuffing, watercress salad and a glass of the 1990
     Chateau Hostens-Picant, a white Bordeaux from Saint-Foy-Bordeaux. This was
     a new appellation to me. The books say that these wines are usually
     semi-sweet, but this one was a typical dry white Bordeaux.  For dessert I
     had a glass of a slightly thin, but tasty, 1984 Chateau Coutet; Laurie had
     the chocolate cake.

     With the food, four glasses of wine, a half bottle of Badoit and coffee,
     and a bill of only 320 F, we left quite satisfied.

Le Repaire de Bacchus, 13 rue du Cherche-Midi, 6th. Saturday lunch.

     Mostly a wine shop, this tiny place across from the Poilane bakery has
     seats for about six customers. It offers a choice of a a charcuterie plate
     or a cheese plate, accompanied by Poilane bread and a glass of about six
     different wines of the week.

     We both ordered plates of charcuterie. With hers, Laurie had a 1991 Chateau
     Haute-Fabregues Faugeres. I had a 1985 Cuvee de la Commanderie du Bontemps
     Medoc. The Medoc was everything it should be; the Faugeres was fantastic.
     When it came time for a second glass, I switched to the Faugeres.

     For the excellent charcuterie and four glasses of wine, we paid 170 F.

Mariage Freres, 13 rue des Grands-Augustins, 6th. Saturday afternoon.

     I suppose that this place just has to be experienced. A tea shop dating
     from the 19th century, it serves over 350 different teas, along with
     pastries and cold lunch items. The menu comes with a thick book called
     something like The Art of Tea, which describes in great detail how to
     choose the appropriate tea for the occasion. And if you still can't
     decide, then the oh-so-serious waiters can help you make just the right
     selection. I had a green tea mousse, with a pot of Mikado, an aromatic
     blend of Chinese teas. Laurie had a vanilla thing with raspberry sauce,
     washed down by cinnamon flavored tea. Neither pastry was worth the 40 F;
     the teas, however, were outstanding. Next time we'll skip the fancy
     pastries and have scones with our tea. The total bill for pastry and tea
     was a chere 142 F.

     Mariage Freres is a classy place that takes its tea very, very seriously.
     If you're a tea fanatic, it's a must stop. If you're not, it's probably
     better just to head around the corner to L'Ecluse for another glass of
     good Bordeaux.

Bistro du Dome, 1 rue Delambre, 14th. Saturday night.

     Joyce's old Dome has turned into an upscale seafood house (with a bit of
     the old cafe up front) and spawned an informal bistro across the street
     that specializes, like Gaya, in simple preparations of the freshest fish.

     This is a gay place with a ceiling covered with molded glass light fixtures
     nestled among grape leaves, lots of greenery and tables filled with happy
     customers. Unlike most Parisian places, the Bistro du Dome seems to turn
     most of its tables (at least on Saturday night), packing in the customers
     early and late.

     In keeping with the spirit of the place, we chose simple dishes and were
     rewarded with our second memorable seafood meal of the trip. I had
     delicately fried rouget (a little too large still very good), followed by
     a whole small daurade baked with thyme. Laurie had grilled fresh sardines
     and sea scallops (with their coral -- why don't we get the coral in the
     US?) Provencal style. With the seafood we drank a bottle of 1987 Clos du
     Bourg Vouvray (96 F). For dessert Laurie had cassis and grapefruit sorbets,
     while I had a pear and prunes poached in red wine and served with a thin
     sweet sauce of red wine, pear juice, cinnamon and allspice. This was the
     most satisfying poached pear I have ever had.

     With coffee and a half bottle of Badoit, the bill was only 491 F.

A la Grignoterie, 21 quai des Grands-Augustins, 6th. Sunday lunch.

     This is a simple little salad and quiche place, with a variety of salad
     plates and a selection of quiches that changes daily. Laurie had quiche
     lorraine; I had a tomato-onion-mustard quiche. A green salad comes with
     the quiche. The house wine is a decent Pays de Var.

     The quiches were good, and we can recommend A la Grignoterie for a quick
     lunch or dinner. In the afternoon it is a salon de the. Judging by our
     desserts, I'd try someplace else. My creme caramel was curdled and had a
     refrigerator taste. Laurie had crummy mousse of some sort.

     I don't seem to have written down what we paid, but I think that it was
     about 150 F for the quiches, desserts, two glasses of wine and two coffees.

Cafe Drouant, 18 place Gaillon, 2nd. Sunday dinner.

     Paris is full of restaurants like Maxim's or Laperouse that have been
     reduced from their Belle Epoque grandeur down to expensive, tarted up
     tourist traps. We had always placed Drouant in that category until good
     reviews by Robert Noah and Catharine Reynolds stirred our interest. So,
     thinking that it would be fun to relive its between-the-wars luxury for
     a night, we decided to head there Sunday evening.

     Drouant is really two restaurants sharing a common kitchen. On the right
     as you enter is the very formal main restaurant, and on the left is the
     cheaper, livelier cafe. True to our little brother theme, we chose Cafe
     Drouant, aggressively Art Deco with a famous gold fish-motif ceiling,
     deco lamps mounted on mirrors and a spectacular '50s jukebox. Lots of
     leather, marble and dark paneling complete the impression of glamorous
     luxury.

     At dinner on weekdays and all day on Sunday, the cafe has a 230 F menu
     that includes three courses, a glass of wine and coffee.  For her starter,
     Laurie had an excellent salade de foie gras a l'huile de noix ("the best
     foie gras I ever had"). I had fondant de poireau et pommes de terre au
     saumon, sort of an individual sized terrine of layers of salmon, potatoes
     and leeks bound together with a bit of mayonnaise. For our second, we both
     had Coquelet warren grillee au diable, a young rooster flattened (Laurie
     calls it "smashed chicken"), grilled and served with a peppery wine and
     vinegar sauce. For the wine, we had two glasses each of a decent 1991 Cotes
     Catalane Chardonnay from P. Puig. Dessert was chocolate cake for her, and a
     mixture of pear, raspberry and passion fruit sorbets for me.

     Now for the down side: Despite of the experts' enthusiasm, we can't
     recommend Cafe Drouant. The food tasted like it had been cooked by an
     anal-retentive Cordon Bleu graduate who takes the best ingredients and
     then prepares them by precisely following step-by-step a recipe he learned
     in school. The food was "perfectly" cooked but completely lacking in soul.
     The second problem area was the service. This restaurant had more service
     staff per customer than any other place we ate, including the two-star
     L'Arpege. The staff were experts at the entrance and exit bows and
     flourishes, but the rest of the time, there was a lot of bustling around
     but very little good service. For example, another table ordered a bottle
     of wine, which was placed in an out-of-reach ice bucket. Normally that
     would be ok: Drouant definitely gives the impression of being the kind of
     place where there is someone whose only job is to refill wine glasses.
     Wrong impression. Several times the wine glasses sat empty or very low
     while the staff rushed about accomplishing very little. And I had to almost
     tackle the waitress to get more bread. The third thing we didn't like was
     the attitude. The place was full of tourists (mostly Japanese) and
     definitely had a tourist trap feel about it. Despite the oily reception at
     the door, you got the impression (subtly, mind you, this is a classy place)
     that you were regarded as an uncultured foreign rube not to be taken
     seriously as a diner.

     If we had it to do over again, we would try the Rotisserie du Beaujolais,
     which is also open on Sunday night.

     With an extra glass of wine each (30 F the glass) and a half bottle of
     Badoit, the bill came to 542 F.

Fauchon, place de la Madeleine, 8th. Monday lunch.

     After staring hungrily at Fauchon's window displays for years, we decided
     this time to try out their self-service located in the basement of the
     section of Fauchon located behind the Madeleine on rue de Seze. There are
     separate counters for drinks, pastries, cold plates and hot plates, and a
     small dining area accommodating about 50 diners. The day we were there, the
     customers seemed about one-third neighborhood workers, one-third tourists
     and one-third well-dressed older Parisian women shoppers.

     To get your food, you go you go from counter to counter placing your order
     and having the selected items entered on a little "credit card". When you
     have finished ordering, you take your card to a cashier, pay and receive a
     ticket for each item chosen. The tickets are then taken back to the
     counters and traded for your dishes.

     We both had a smoked trout plate and a bottle of Badoit. In Fauchon
     fashion the plates were very pretty, the trout decorated with cucumber
     scales and a sprig of red currants in gelee and surrounded by colorful
     diced vegetables. For dessert Laurie had a wonderfully tart and creamy
     tarte au citron, while I had to settle for a merely perfect pear-chocolate
     tarte. The bill was approximately 150 F.

Rotisserie d'en Face, 2 rue Christine, 6th. Monday dinner.

     This is the second restaurant of two-star chef Jacques Cagna, located
     just around the corner from his eponymous grand grand place. There is
     nothing grand about the Rotisserie d'en Face, however, except the food.
     The room is rather self-consciously rustic, with brick floors, country
     style furniture with paper tablecloths, and pictures of livestock on the
     walls. Service is much like at the Bistro du Dome, informal but friendly
     and efficient.

     The food is fine home cooking dressed up a bit. To start, Laurie had
     snail and mushroom ravioli in a bouillabaisse broth, while I had salade
     maraichere, a winter salad of carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, lima beans,
     zucchini, cherry tomatoes and cornes (What are cornes? Do they have an
     English name?). For a second, we both had the parmentier de confit de
     lapin et son jus au thym, sort of a "pot pie" of succulent pieces of
     rabbit in a thyme flavored sauce encased in a little cylinder of mashed
     potatoes, surrounded by a wild mushroom fricassee. The bread was a
     perfectly rustic homemade five-grain bread. For a wine, the waiter
     suggested a 1991 Olga Raffault Chinon Prime Cuvee (130 F) that went
     perfectly with the rabbit. For dessert Laurie had fromage blanc with sour
     cherries and I had a pear clafoutis, both outstanding.

     The Rotisserie d'en Face has a three-course 175 F menu. At lunch, you can
     choose two courses for 140 F. We both had the 175 F menu. The total price,
     including the wine, coffee and a half bottle of San Pellegrino was 528 F.

     This restaurant seems to have a closer relationship to its more expensive
     sibling than some of the others. It is literally just right around the
     corner, and both Jacques Cagna and his sister came through while we were
     there to check things out. It is deservedly very popular, with a raucous
     crowd of people having a good time. It's open late and when we left, a
     little after 10:00, the bar was crowded with people waiting for a table.

L'Arpege, 84 rue de Varenne, 7th. Tuesday lunch.

     We chose L'Arpege because we had decided to economize on our "fancy" meal.
     Two-star chef-owner Alain Passard has the reputation of being one of the
     most exciting cooks in town, and the restaurant offers a bargain five
     course 290 F menu at lunchtime. It seemed like the perfect combination.

     Once we saw the carte, however, our tight-fisted plans went out the window.
     The amuse-gueule was a chaud-froid d'oeuf a la creme. A lightly poached egg
     yolk was placed at the bottom of an egg shell and topped with a tart, light
     mixture of whipped egg white and creme fraiche. A little drop of syrup on
     top accented perfectly the savory flavors of the dish. For her entree,
     Laurie had languistines de Guilvine au caviar (220 F), a sort of carpaccio
     of langoustines that had been pounded flat, accented with a bit of cayenne,
     and surrounded by little pearls of caviar that floated in a reduction of
     fish broth and cream. I had rougets barbets a la tapenade de sardine
     (180 F), a larger, lesser type of rouget, pan grilled and served with a
     smooth, gutsy sardine tapenade. (This was also the entree on the 290 F
     menu). It was fantastic. However, I am still kicking myself for a moment
     of cheapness. I should have paid the 140 F more and gotten the carpaccio
     de St-Jacques aux truffes, wonderful thin coins of raw scallop interleaved
     with little coins of black truffle. It was a beautiful, and I am sure,
     fantastic dish. Fo our main course, we chose game and had poule faisan au
     genievre for two (440 F), a wild pheasant hen (I have a piece of shot for
     evidence), perfectly scented with juniper and roasted while we had our
     first course. The pheasant was expertly deboned at the table and just as
     expertly reassembled with the innards placed on the side. The  innards
     looked awful, but once we tasted them we gobbled them up. The plates are
     ungarnished, so Laurie chose a salad of mixed wild greens and I had a plate
     of sauteed winter vegetables. For dessert, the waiter recommended the
     millefeuille vanille au whiskey, which was the most delicate millefeuille
     I have ever had. Laurie had feuilletage au chocolat, several delicate
     chocolate pastry leaves sandwiching a chocolate cream. Exquisite. With the
     coffee came the classiest act of the day: a typical little plate of goodies
     came with the coffee, tuiles, macaroons, chocolates, etc. Then, after we
     had greedily devoured all of them, the waiter brought out another plate,
     all different from the first plate! We resisted the temptation to see how
     long he could keep it up.

     With the pheasant, we drank a 1988 J. M. Boillot Beaune Montrevenots
     (280 F), a supple, elegant, medium-bodied Burgundy. The water was Italian
     again -- Ferrarelle.

     L'Arpege is fancy, having recently been decked out in the most tastefully
     expensive materials, but not stuffy. The frontroom staff are young but very
     smooth. (With one glitch: As we left, they very efficiently had our coats
     waiting for us at the door. The only problem was that I hadn't worn a
     coat.) Our reservation was for 1:00 and, except for two women chatting with
     the chef, we were the last customers to leave at 3:30. From beginning to
     end the service was attentive and gracious without ever descending to
     obsequiousness or snobbery. Even after we were the last customers left and
     most of the staff were discreetly twiddling their thumbs, the waiter was
     still trying to press "just a bit more" coffee on us. It was a great meal
     and a great dining experience.

     The total was 1410 F. As I mentioned, there is a 290 F five course lunch
     menu (amuse-gueule, entree, main course, cheese, dessert), as well as
     several 690 F menus available both at lunch and dinner. Except for the
     special lunch menu, there are not separate cartes for lunch and dinner.
     Whether you eat a la carte or choose one of the menus, you get your money's
     worth.

Le Jardin du Fruit, 41 quai des Grands-Augustins, 6th. Tuesday dinner.

     Since our lunch at L'Arpege didn't end until 3:30, we didn't want much for
     dinner. In the evening we strolled around the Louvre and along the Seine,
     planning to stop somewhere like Taverne Henri IV for a light supper.
     However, we fooled around too long and places had begun to close by the
     time we were ready, so we headed down toward place St. Michel to find a
     simple place still open. On the way we ran across Le Jardin du Fruit
     which, despite its name, is mostly a creperie. It's a youthful place,
     opening and closing late and featuring a continuous program of music
     videos. To get to the toilets, you go downstairs and through an early '70s
     living room complete with shag rug, tv and large sleeping dog. The kitchen
     is also down there, and the kitchen staff, idle for the moment, were
     lounging around watching tv.

     The crepes were pretty good. Laurie had a ham and blue cheese one; I had
     lardons, potatoes and cheese. We shared a tasty poire and cinnamon crepe
     for dessert. No coffee -- the machine was broken.  With a half carafe of
     1991 Haut Poitou rouge (only a couple of levels above plonk but drinkable
     enough) and a half bottle of Badoit, we paid 167 F.

Juveniles, 47 rue de Richelieu, 1st. Wednesday lunch.

     A wine bar that fit our theme, Juveniles is the less serious sibling of
     Willi's, specializing in tapas and Spanish and less "serious" French wines.
     We made a delicious lunch of a 50 cl carafe of the 1991 Domaine des
     Entrefaux Crozes-Hermitage (60 F), eggplant tapenade, Spanish tortilla,
     good jambon cru from Auvergne and gratineed potatoes. Dessert was a big
     bar of Valrhona chocolate and a coffee. The bill came to 210 F.

La Luna, 69 rue du Rocher, 8th. Wednesday dinner.

     Good reviews in the Oct-Nov 1992 Gault-Millau magazine and Jan 1993
     Gourmet led us to this little seafood restaurant on a side street between
     the Parc Monceau and Gare St-Lazare. Burled wood paneling and a dusky red
     wall covering gave the room an informally elegant feel. Service was
     friendly and efficient.

     Although owner is Norman, the place had the feel of the south, and the
     menu reflected that southernness. For her first course, Laurie had mussels
     in a saffron cream sauce. I wanted the sauteed razor clams, but they were
     out, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to have once more my
     favorite fish, the little rougets de roche, this time fried and accompanied
     by a tapenade made from bitter oil-cured olives and herbs. For the main
     course Laurie had filets from a larger rouget (too large to be rouget de
     roche, perhaps they were grondin), grilled over wood and served with the
     tapenade. I had "andalusian" bouillabaisse, large chunks of fish and strips
     of pimiento in a spicy tomatoey fish broth. The wine list was a little
     pricy, and we chose a flowery, dry 1991 Sancerre de Bue from Gerard Morin
     (180 F). It was good, although a light red might have been better with the
     bouillabaisse. For dessert I decided on soupe d'agrumes au Sauternes.
     I understood all the words -- citrus fruit soup with Sauternes -- but
     unlike at Bistro de l'Etoile, I had no idea what I was getting. It turned
     out to consist of fresh grapefruit and orange sections arranged in a
     shallow bowl around candied orange peel, with about a quarter cup of
     Sauternes poured over it. It was just the right thing to follow the
     bouillabaisse. Laurie had nougat glace vodka au miel, kind of a nougat ice
     cream with a vodka-honey sauce. The coffee was a good Brazilian Santos.

     With coffee, a half bottle of Badoit and a large glass of Marquis de
     Roquebrune Armagnac VVS for me, the total came to 773 F (713 F without
     the Armagnac).

Which places were our favorites? Leaving out L'Arpege, which is in a category
all to itself, and Cafe Drouant, which is in a completely different category
all to itself, we would have to say Gaya and the Rotisserie d'en Face. The
cooking was uniformly excellent at all three seafood places, but we enjoyed
the evening at Gaya very much. Of course, for the price there is a lot to be
said in favor of the Bistro du Dome. I don't mean to slight La Luna. There is
absolutely nothing wrong with the cooking, service or atmosphere. Perhaps, it
was just the mood we were in or some other intangible, but we just preferred
Gaya. Of the other three places, the cooking at Rotisserie d'en Face and Bistro
de l'Etoile was significantly better that the cooking at Auberge Landaise and
both were cheaper. I would like to try the Bistro de l'Etoile at night to get a
fair comparison. But we liked the cooking at Rotisserie d'en Face a little
better and the atmosphere a lot better, so that's our place of choice.

Tom Jacob
Department of Computer Science
University of North Texas