Paris restaurant recommendations

I have the same question, James. We were just talking about places in the reservations thread. 'Aux Lyonnais' was a place I saw mentioned there that looks nice. Hopefully people will chime in here and tell us their favorite places!

We really enjoyed Cafe Montebello in the 5th. It is directly across from the side of Notre Dame---you get about the same view you would get at Tour D'Argent! We ate there three nights in June. We had the three course menu ( I chose onion soup, steak frites, and molten chocolate cake, but there are several other choices on the 26 euro menu) and a medium bottle of wine. Our Visa bill shows each meal cost $120. You could get dinner a little cheaper if you only went with two courses and just a glass of wine. The food was good and the service Parisian friendly.

http://troi.cc.rochester.edu/~tdip/tomsguidetoparis.htm

Hi James,
... The above link is Tom's Guide to Paris. The author, Tom, is a Paris resident. When you have the guide Home Page on screen, click on the EATING icon.
Then look for Aux Artistes restaurant, which Tom says is his "favorite restaurant in all the world". Be sure to check out the other places mentioned in the EATING section of the guide. If you still have question(s) you may ask Tom himself (free) by clicking on CONTACT ME icon and sending him email.
... bon appétit ! ... P

Cafe Constant, on Rue St. Dominique in the 7th. It's a Michelin starred chef's version of a cafe. It's very popular so try to get there when they open. It's the place I always want to most eat when going to Paris, even when we have reservations at much fancier, Michelin starred restaurants. Everything is fantastic. They will have some seafood choices and have had steak frites when I've been, though the menu changes. It's within your price range.

http://www.leviolondingres.com/eng_cafe.htm

check the website restoaparis.com it's in french, but arranged by arrondisement and might give you some ideas...your meal budget sounds pretty good to me, especially if that's per person..When we eat in the city we most usually take the pichets of house wine. Like it States, the wine often costs more than the food when you buy by the bottle.

Check out the August Gourmet magazine -- Gourmet in Paris. It's got tons of restaurants listed, some with descriptions of meals eaten there. I'm taking it on my next visit to Paris!

Sorry -- It's the September issue of Gourmet.

Janis - thx for the magazine suggestion. I'm trying to improve my Fr menu reading by going to websites looking for menus in Fr. Since menus change from day to day, the sites don't often include menus. This'll give me a few more to try. If anyone knows of a site that includes a menu, I'd appreciate having it.

Regina's site is a good start...but let me speak for Kent (Oregon) with a sound recommendation that you get an English version of the Guide Michelin for France, and look up the restaurants in the Arrondissement where you will be staying (or nearby). Then you will have a second great resource (besides the RS guide) for Paris and other French cities and towns. With the budget you have provided, you will find a number of very nice restaurants...the only issue will be getting reservations...since French restaurants do not subscribe to the American notion of turning tables...there is effectively only one sitting at many of the better restaurants.

Supplementing Bill's erudite post, starting this year the good folks at Michelin have made it less necessary (I won't say unnecessary) to buy their book because they have made essentially the same information available on their revamped viamichelin.com website--if you know how to find it. Here's how, for people who want to take a little extra time to make sure they're getting good value for their Paris restaurant money: go to the site, select the tab at top that has the word Restaurant in it, then select the middle tab in the resulting box at left, input France and then in the town box input 750xx, xx being the arrondisement, so for a restaurant in the 5th, input "75005 Paris" in the town box; check the Red Guide Selections box, then check the middle box Best Restaurants if you want only restaurants with at least one Michelin , there are only about 80 restaurants in all of Paris that have *, *, or *** Michelin stars. Hit Search and you'll get a list of the restaurants in that arrondisement that have at least one star. If you want a wider, and less expensive, selection of restaurants, leave the Best Restaurants box unchecked; and then you'll get all Michelin recommended restaurants, not just the ones with at least one star; 90% of the restaurants recommended by Michelin have no stars, only about 65 in Paris have even one star, but the ones they recommend but are without a star are good places and the prices will be less. There's a lot more info on Paris restaurants available, if you play around with the Search box a little. You used to have to find the Red Guide (not widely sold in most of the US) to get this info but now you can get it in a few minutes on their site--nice of the Michelin folks to do that for us.

I'll add this to the above:Picking a good restaurant in Paris has never been easier--thanks to the viamichelin website, if you know how to use it.I am over-simplifying a bit by saying there's basically 3 kinds of restaurants in Paris: 1st: Restaurants with , *, or *** Michelin stars--about 65 restaurants in all of Paris2nd: Restaurants recommended by Michelin, included in their Red Guide and website, but with no Michelin star--all the rest of the restaurants on Michelins list except those 65 in the first category3rd: All other restaurants in ParisThe restaurants in the first two categories are good restaurants in the opinon of Michelin. Those in the first category will be expensive, especially the 25 that have ** or ***. Many of the * are affordable, not inexpensive, but a real treat and you know you're getting value for your money--at least you know you're having the experience of eating food that experts on Paris food consider to be good.Why people who care about having a good food experience in Paris would go to the trouble of seeking out a restaurant in the third category isn't clear to me. No one is saying you have to eat in a Michelin restaurant, and I'm not claiming to be an expert on Paris restaurants, far from it, but at least I think I know what I don't know and know one organization, Michelin, that is widely considered by Europeans to be an expert, not the only expert, but an expert--and trying to make sure that people who write in here asking for advice on how to find good food in Paris know the basics about how they can get access to expert advice to have the best possible food experience there.