Pierre Gagnaire, Paris 2

We used to go to Michelin three star restaurants several times a year, but have been neglecting them recently. We did go to Astrance in January of last year, but that was before it received its third star. The last one before that was in January 2006 when we went back to our favourite restaurant anywhere, Pierre Gagnaire. So on our two night trip to Paris March 11 and 12, 2008, we went to two: Le Meurice, which I have just blogposted separately, and, of course, Pierre Gagnaire, where we had lunch on March 13 before getting on a plane back to Nice.

Le Meurice, Paris

The first time I went to Paris, in 1957, we stayed for a week at the Hotel Le Meurice.  I imagine we ate there several times, but I really do not remember. (I do remember the roof rolling back at Lasserre.)  But the hotel was not young, as I was. It has been in the same location since 1835, always striving to be the best luxury hotel in Paris.

La Coupole, Paris

La Coupole has been a well-known Paris address since 1927. Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker and Jean-Paul Sartre were regular customers. It was renovated a few years ago and is still a popular brasserie. Joëlle, Linda and I had lunch there on March 11, 2008.

Astrance 2

Astrance
4 rue Beethoven 16e
01.40.50.84.40
Closed Saturday, Sunday and Monday 

We went back to Astrance for dinner on January 17, 2007. The next morning François Simon of Le Figaro, perhaps France’s most influential food writer, wrote that he had a leak from the printer of the Michelin Guide that Astrance would receive its third star next month. So it will probably be a while before we can get another reservation as Astrance has only twenty-five places, four days a week. (For our first visit: see our blog post of June 11, 2005,

Le Procope

Le Procope
13 rue de l’Ancienne Comédie – 75006 Paris
01-40-46-79-00
http://www.procope.com 

Well, normally I would not bother to write up a blog post for a restaurant where we had a modest little lunch, but when it has been there since 1686, that is a different story. Le Procope is the oldest restaurant in France; Voltaire, Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin and Robespierre were regular clients.

La Ferme Saint Simon

La Ferme Saint Simon
6, rue de Saint Simon 7e
01 45 48 35 74
http://www.fermestsimon.com 

Twenty-three years ago we were about to spend a few days in Paris with my mother and I came to the question of where to reserve for dinners. Fortunately the issue of the Gault-Millau magazine which had just arrived had an article on the most beautiful good restaurants in Paris.

Gaya Rive Gauche par Pierre Gagnaire

Gaya Rive Gauche par Pierre Gagnaire
44, rue du Bac 7^e
01 45 44 73 73
http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/francais/cdgaia.htm 

On January 15, 2007, Linda and I dined here with Etienne. We selected it as Pierre Gagnaire is one of our favourite chefs and his new restaurant is a short walk from our hotel for this week, Le Duc de Saint Simon. We were seated right next to the window looking out onto the Rue du Bac. Two plates of various amuse-gueules, including salsify confits, were served with the champagne aperitifs.

Hôtel Duc de Saint Simon

Hôtel Duc de Saint Simon
14 rue Saint Simon 7e
01.44.39.20.20
http://www.hotelducdesaintsimon.com 

Linda and I stayed here for the first time four nights from January 15, 2007. We had seen the hotel before as we used to stay with a friend who had an apartment with a guest room nearby; but after she moved on, we tried several Paris hotels with mixed results. We were happy this time and will be back. The staff is uniformly friendly and helpful.

La Table du Lancaster

7, rue de Berri, 01 40 76 40 18,

www.hotel-lancaster.fr

(November , 2006)  Alan and Ellen are New York friends most devoted to great food, trendy restaurants and fabulous hotels. And, very knowledgeable. So when they learned we were staying at the Lancaster in Paris they told us that we must eat in their  dining room. With that recommendation, we decided to enjoy a dinner there on our last night in town.

Le Soleil

109 Avenue Michelet, 01 40 10 08 08,

www.restaurantlesoleil.com 

Sunday in Paris, and the shops at the not-to-be-missed antique market at Saint-Ouen are buzzing. Never have we seen as many, and as high quality, shops as we encountered out here.

Montalembert

3 rue de montalembert, 01 45 49 68 00, www.montalembert.com

This small hotel restaurant, tucked next door to Joël Robuchon”s Atelier, is a real find. There are only about thirty seats, some of which are banquettes along the window and others are tables. Mercifully there is no smoking in the dining room. The linens and other fabrics are all beige and brown, and on each table was a vase with tiny birds of paradise.

Les Ombres

27 Quai Branly 01 47 53 68 00,

www.lesombres-restaurant.com

Les Ombres is a brand new restaurant in Paris’s newest museum, the Musée Branley. Even with that important piece of information, it is not the easiest restaurant to find, particularly at night even with a GPS-equipped cab driver (it seems every cab driver in Paris has one) who must, therefore, not think it necessary to keep up with cultural happenings.

Le Ballon des Ternes – Paris

On January 16, 2006, three of us went to Le Ballon des Ternes, 103 avenue des Ternes, in the 17^e.   The menu is widely varied and typically bistrot, featuring oysters and other seafood.  It is not unique, by any means, in Paris, or most northern French cities, but is reliable and sympathique.  Located on the other end of the avenue from the Place des Ternes, it is quite close to Porte Maillot, with its Métro stop and convention center. 

Pierre Gagnaire

On January 17, 2006 we went to Pierre Gagnaire for dinner. This was about our fifth meal there in Paris. We had also been twice when he was still in St. Etienne. So he is one of our favorites for a major meal. At St. Etienne, where he first gained three Michelin stars before going bankrupt due to lack of local customers, his cuisine featured unexpected combinations of two or three ingredients in each dish.

Astrance

On 9 June 2005 we dined at Astrance in Paris and had a great time. It has been very trendy for the last few years and got its second Michelin star in March. You have to call two months in advance for a reservation, but somehow we got ours only six weeks ahead.