Bob W. wrote: >My brothers and I are spending a long weekend in Paris. We are >tentatively scheduled to eat at these moderate-priced places: Le Nemrod; >La Maison du Valais; La Ferme Saint-Hubert; Cafe Max; Chez Paul; Le Rubis >wine bar; Astier. These meals will be augmented by frequent stops for >chocolate, ice cream, bread, pastries, cheese, etc. > >Any thoughts on these places? Robert Buxbaum, this means you! > Lucky I caught this. I've been busy and skimming articles all too quickly. I almost by passed it as uninteresting (moderate priced). Moderate priced meals are great when it comes time to pick up the tab, OK to eat, but not as much fun to talk about. ;-) I don't know most of these, first hand. I have eaten well and poorly at le Nemrod. It's not a restaurant, but a cafe/brasserie. Look for hearty food and sloppy service. The carafe wines are decent there. The 'good' lunch consisted of sausages and potatoes. I had the andouillette with fries and my wife had some other sausage with aligote. Andouillette is a sausage of chitlins, tripe, whatever. It can be very barnyard in smell and taste. I suspect, for Americans it's an acquired taste. The one at le Nemrod was quite good, IMHO. Aligote (which is also the name of a lesser wine produced in Burgundy) is a potato dish. Basicly it's mashed potatoes with cantal cheese. Rather delicious, if not very delicate. The (French) fires were pretty good as I recall. Another lunch a year later was rather disappointing. An omelet of no distinction was served at the same time as the soup my wife ordered and my sandwich, while on Poilane's bread was not exactly on the freshest slices I had ever encountered. The rest of the places are unknown or known second hand, to me. Treat yourself to a crepe on the street. They vary in price. As I recall they were a lot cheaper on the blvd. Montparnase than on St. Germain. The department stores have good food shops for all sorts of things like cheese, charcuterie, etc. Bon Marche, near le Nemrod is a favorite. The "supermarket" is on the first floor. The rue Mouffetard in the 5th arr. is a great street for food shopping if you want little cheese shops, bakeries etc. Check out Patricia Wells' Food Lover's Guide to Paris for info on food shops, candy stores, etc. of the first order. One restaurant we did eat in recently, that might fit your bill, is les Bookinistes. It's run by a protege of Guy Savoy. The menu was quite interesting and creative. It's on the quay des Grands Augustins. Dinner for two, with a nice bottle of wine ran about $120. The dollar is up a bit since then. I'm sure you could save a few bucks by skipping coffe, drinking tap water and drinking a lesser wine, perhaps in a carafe, but remember that includes the service charge as well as the rather high 20.6% tax. What part of Paris are you staying in?
Paris, France
Moderate-Priced Dining in Paris
Bob W. wrote: >My brothers and I are spending a long weekend in Paris. We are >tentatively scheduled to eat at these moderate-priced places: Le Nemrod; >La Maison du Valais; La Ferme Saint-Hubert; Cafe Max; Chez Paul; Le Rubis >wine bar; Astier. These meals will be augmented by frequent stops for >chocolate, ice cream, bread, pastries, cheese, etc. [...] I have eaten at some of these places: (1) La Ferme St. Hubert: good location (near the Madeleine), which I often consider for a quick lunch. Very crowded, moderately quick service. I enjoy the roquefort croquettes. For serious cheese lovers, I would recommend the business man's lunch (M-F) at Androuet. (2) Chez Paul: One of my most disappointing "bistrot" experiences in Paris. I felt the food was vastly overpriced. YMMV, and most people disagree with me on this. (3) Astier: One of the true delights. I've heard it changed owners a few years back, but I have not noticed any appreciable drop in quality. A cheese board to die for in a bistrot. Be sure to reserve a table (preferably on the first floor in the back.) There is usually a good promotional wine or two, but the extended wine list is a place where you can find real gems at fair prices for a Parisian restaurant. Have you also considered La Lozere, 6 rue Hautefeuille? Bon appetit! Chuck From [email removed] Sun Feb 23 08:51:36 EST 1997 Article: 31022 of rec.food.restaurants