Home made Paris guide, restaurants

for the restaurants, it depends a bit on your budget....

Here is a map I made: http://goo.gl/maps/oHkX

Parisian type, there is chez Prosper at Nation, a real bistro, no reservations taken, quick service, reliable staples from steak frites, anduillette, tartare, duck and huge salads.

Then there is Le Tambour, a leftover of the days when Les Halles was a bustling market that did business mainly at night, and so the restaurants nearby would be open all night. If I remember correctly the kitchen is open until 2 am after that you can order cold cuts and bread (and meet real interesting people...), until 6, then it's breakfast. Open all night from the old days, but completely different ambiance is the famous but a bit more fancy (they have oysters) Pied de Cochon just around the corner. Read Giovanni's room, by James Baldwin. Or "the Belly of paris" by Emile Zola.

Then near Odeon there is Polidor, a tall big lady with huge breasts used to be maitre there. This is the old parisian working class, cafeteria style, long tables, very good food, not expencive, they don't take credit cards.

Not too far from there (near the cafe Flore of st Germain), well, a 15 min walk at least, is Le Petit St Bernard, we call it the beuf bourgugnon place, bc it's one of their specialties. Also cheap and reliable like the one above, with lots of character, oh, and tables outside, on the same street very beautiful restaurants with art nouveau decorations etc. this is the heart of the intellectual st germain neighborhood (read Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir). Also nearby the national assembly, they say that the laws of the country are decided in these restaurants.

On the fancier side, in the bobo neighborhood of Faidherbe Chaligny, there is the classic Bistro Paul Bert (need to reserve there), I think I've had the best wine there ever, a bottle of Margaux that was to die for suggested by the waiter. Next to it they have their fish restaurant, much more expensive, so I have not tried it yet, but apparently very good.

A bit more expensive than the first set above but younger and a bit more experimental compared to the third, and very good, is L'Ebachoir (also in the same neighborhood). It's part of a wave of young restaurant owners opening up new restaurants in paris.

Finally, the classics:

Le Grand Colbert
2 Rue Vivienne
75002 Paris, France
01 42 86 87 88
legrandcolbert.fr

and the Cloiserie des Lilas, where Hemingway used to hang out (you have to read a movable feast), but at the time it was much cheaper I think, they have at least two options, restaurant (never been, too fancy) and brasserie, still expensive but not excessively.

La Closerie des Lilas
171 Boulevard du Montparnasse
75006 Paris, France
01 40 51 34 50
closeriedeslilas.fr


but when in paris you should probably also try cous cous, there are a few places on my list (chez Omar on rue de Bretagne or Clair de Lune near rue Montorgeuil).
ha ! a recent discovery, but not too cheap, depending how hungry you are, is le verre volé, near the canal st Martin, very nice wine selection, friendly staff...

anyway, as you can see the list in paris is long, there should be enough choices to keep you away from the many tourist traps,
asian food can also be very good, especially in belleville or in the 13th, and african food ! (near canal de l'ourq and boulevard jaurés, need to add it to my map) !