We’ll be staying there this week and next, Oct. 21-30. We have a few pages of recs mostly from natives, but any others would be welcome too. Mrs. O is fluent, Mr. O can order from a menu and ask where’s the potty … Good markets are important too, since this time we have an apartment with a real kitchen.
Several things:
-At 16 Boulevard Montmartre (edge of the 9th, toward the trendy 10th) is Le Bat. Great happy hour until 7pm or so & excellent small plates & wines. We went several times last year.
-John Talbott (ex eGullet & regular CH poster) has a great blog http://johntalbottsparis.typepad.com with almost daily restaurant reviews. Just be aware that he goes for lunch, not dinner.
-while I’m at it, CH’s France board (which I guess that relevant posts can now be accessed by using either the Paris or France location tags) has always been one of the strongest CH local groups & I don’t think it’s been totally destroyed yet, although I haven’t seen some of the regular posters there in awhile. You might want to check it out.
A lot of the regulars are still posting but not as frequently.
Hi Will, my Frenchie in-laws recommend Le Richer. It’s indeed in the 9eme:
John Talbott liked Mamou also:
Thanks for the recs, but as it turned out we tried only two that anyone at all had recommended, only one of which is in the 9th – Chartier was listed on another site that is apparently English; it is a tourist trap but a pretty good one and quite self-aware about it. Looooooong line to get in on Saturday night, but good solid (okay, and a bit stolid) cooking and not expensive. Exit through the gift shop, and I bought my best apron ever for 18E. The other rec was from an old friend, for Au Pied de Fouet on the Left Bank. There are two locations, both about the size of a walk-in closet with a mezzanine; we went to the one not on Rue Babylon (as recommended) but on St.-Benoit by accident, and had about our best meal of the trip: merely a giant lamb shank slow-braised with honey and North African spices and purée de pommes de terre. One plate each at about 13E a pop. Nice wine, and shared a wedge of clafoutis (no pits!) for dessert. Stunning.
Other standouts: the cassoulet at the Café de Theatre just down Rue Blanche from where we stayed, the pot-au-feu at whatever place at the Clignancourt market is just the name of its area – Le Biron, I think – and the mixed-grill plat du jour at Nemrod, near the Bon Marché. Oh, and Tania’s duck confit and my brandade de morue at Marguerite on Rue des Martyres. The daily baguette from the boulangerie at Rue Blanche and Rue de Douai had to be the best 0.9E I ever spent on anything, too.
This was supposed to be a one-shot thing, but actually living in Paris, in an apartment in a real neighborhood, was such a daily treat we decided to make it a biennial event. At least as long as we can still walk five miles a day and climb a lot of stairs!
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I neglected to mention a couple of other standouts. One was a very pleasant dinner at a Moroccan place on Rue Blanche called L’Avenir. Some nice olives etcetera to start, and then we both ordered the couscous. Tania got lamb stew with hers, and I had Merguez. Both delicious, and I need to learn how to make couscous that ethereal and still have a lovely rich flavor. I’m suspecting their raw ingredients are better than I can get …
The other lovely accident was a café about a block away from the Bon Marché, called Nemrod. Waiter was lots of fun, apparently likes Americans, and Tania got that Tète de Veau she’d been lusting for since her last 20-some years ago, and I had a Mixed Grill that offered a giant lamb chop, a small slab of some excellent if anonymous beef, and a lovely sausage, with a large and nicely-browned serving of Pommes de Terre Dauphinoise filling the other half of the plate. Our tour of the Bon Marché’s food department had given us quite an appetite, and this covered it very well.