We have been in our PARIS RENTAL apartment for 4 weeks, and unfortunately have to
come home....(back in the US..now)

Here are some observations...(YMMV)

You can spend a lot of money at a restaurant or, you can spend a moderate amount,
and have an excellent meal. We did not try any "cheap" restaurants.

I don't understand people who worry about reservations months in advance, to
obsessive for us, we are more spontaneous.

We did "copy" some reviews into favorites in the laptop a lot of them were recommendations made on
posts, unfortunately we forgot to look at them...

There are 9,000 (maybe less) reataurants in Paris, probably 80% of them
will give you a good to excellent meal. In all of our travels in Europe over
the last 15 years we have had perhaps 2 (maybe 4) meals) that were not great...
not bad, but not great...10 that were only fair to good...the rest have been
excellent to outstanding.

Just this past 4 weeks we "found" some very nice places to eat.

ANTINEA (5eme)
(01 43 26 62 15), 18 rue Maitre Albert, our meals for 2, shared salad
and a shared pizza 50cl of house wine and bottled water E 35
a shared salad and 2 veal dishes wine and water E 55.
The owner and his wife run the dining room, the food comes from a kitchen
downstairs...They are really nice people, friendly, they will recognise you
after your 2nd dinner, (he speaks English) it is very near to the Maubert/
Mutualite Metro on a small street. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

DELIKAT & ZEN (5 eme)
(01 43 26 50 22) 5 rue de Pontoise
Also located on a little street We happened to stroll by and
were interested in the lovely interior, we went in spoke to the owner
and decided to make a reservation for the next evening.As a restaurant it is very different in its
interior, a lot of the tables
and chairs are living room type furniture...very unique...and the owner a wonderfully
pleasant woman will explain the menu in English
We had a salad of mixed greens, shrimp, crabmeat, and salmon, then a seared
tuna that had been marinated in citrus with whipped delicious potatoes was one
dish the other was veal medallions with the "home fried baked potatoes" that
seem to be very French., We had 2 delicious deserts, 50cl of house wine, water
and our bill for 2 was about E 70. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Our last night (saturday) dinner we decided to try Delikat & Zen one more time, it was just as
good as the last time, we had the E 26 menu, starters, a duck breast with the "home fries"
and a tillapia with mashed potatoes..1/2 wine, 1 beer and Pellegrino and 2 exquitite
deserts and 2 decaf espressos E80

ATALIER MAITRE ALBERT A GUY SAVOY RESTAURANT ( 5 eme)
This is just around the corner from our apartment, and was our Splurge" dinner.
(01 56 81 30 01) This is another reataurant that we happened to walk by, looked
in, it looked good (and had that expensive look) We reserved and arrived at
our appointed time, were very nicely greeted, and were pleased by the deco.
Here is the breakdown of the meal 2 Kir Royals....E 28.!!!! (A BIT EXPENSIVE??) 1 Graves Guy Savoy
(Red) E 36.... 1 Eaux...4.40.... 2 salads (chicken liver over greens..excellent)
E 20, 2 Tranche de boeuf...(medium size slices of roast beef) with potatoes that
were mashed made into balls and lightly deep fried, E 54, and 1 Millefeuille
desert...total E 153.40...a nice meal but really seemed to be very overpriced when
you can have as good a meal at Advocat & Zen for half that price.

Re:
Fete Galant
Our first time in the apartment on Rue Ecole Polytechnique, Fete was right downstairs in the building,
we had an incredble duck breast dinner there....on another trip we stayed in the same apartment
and enjoyed the duck again...I had highly recommended this restaurant...now unfortunately
I cannot recommend this restaurant again.
We had dinner there last week, and I was disappointed, not that the duck breast was not good, but
the dinner seemed to be about half the size, the vegi's were not up to the last few times...is this what
happens when a small restaurant gets too popular?

Quite a few of our lunches were Bisto (Cafe) fare, Croque Monsiour, wonderfully arranged
salads...usually choice of about 4 kinds (usually tuna, cheese, ham, and greens
with hard cooked eggs sliced potatoes green beans, Onion soups..about E 20 to 30.
Pannini and sandwiches at the "bakeries" for picnic lunches, even some very tasty
wraps at a place in the Maubert/Mutualite Metro plaza. Take a sandwich to a park'
have it with a bottle of water or wine sitting and watching the passing "parade"

We did a lot of shopping and cooking in the apartment for dinners, simple meals
Pasta with sausage, Chicken with mushrooms, some "store bought" rotissirie chickens,
and a few dinners of take out from a great Greek store, also right around the corner.
Le Piree, (01 43 26 33 67) 47 Blvd. Saint Germain (5eme) they have stuffed grape leaves,
fallafel, squid and shrimp salads, Tzatsiki, and all kinds of goodies.

Over in the Marais we had a great Fallafel at L' AS DU FALLAFELL (4 eme) 01 48 87 63 60
34 rue des Rosiers...you can sit inside or have a take Fallafel that will be enough for
a complete meal for about E 7...

Shop at a local Monoprix for other prepaired food, Salmon Fume...smoked Norwegian salmon,
cheaper here than anywhere else,..great for breakfast on bagette slices with cream cheese.
Make a point of going to Grand Epicure..it's right next to Bon Marche...you will be amazed
at the selection of foods....

Ride the Metro and busses, it's really easy once you figure out how to determine the direction
you want to go by looking at the map and following the line # to the end of the direction,
buy carnets of 10 tickets E 11 or weekly Carte Orange E 16 depending on how many trips you think you
will take in a week...tickets are good for the Metro and busses.

Sit in a cafe in the afternoon and have wine or espresso..you can sit for hours if you wish,
read a newspaper, sketch, write in your "journal" do a S/T travel report,
they will not ask you to pay until you are ready to leave.

On a rainy day see an American Movie in VO (version original, English with French subtitles)

Enjoy a concert in a local church, these are posted on billboards usually in whatever neighborhood
you are in...we have seen some great performances. Some groups playing in the metro stations
are very good,(not the guys on the trains who are begging)

Here is a thought for you, we were thinking to bring a snack to CDG for the plane (or waiting)
but decided that they might not allow it through secutity (who knows what "they" will do)
so instead we thought to perhaps buy one in the terminal when we were past security...
Bagette sandwich locally E 4.5 at CDG E 17....what a mark up....

We used Parishuttle.com service for transfer to the apartment and back to CDG, paid by credit
card from the USA, E 76 roundtrip for 2...excellent service 6 people shared the van...(both ways)

In the apartment there were "adequate" pots, pans, glassware and silverware, however no sharp
knives (we always bring our own anyway) but since we had guests for dinner 2 nights and no very
large pot we needed to
break our pasta (Barilla jar sauce, and fresh sausage one time and chicken breasts with
mushrooms, all with a salad of really fresh greens (picked right out of a bushel,
the "butcher" will thin slice your chicken if you ask...(make the right hand motions).
But you will be surprised how you can "make do" without all the gadgets we all have.

Immodium is a good idea (have some handy, different water and foods)

Bring along (or buy there...they are inexpensive)..American to French plug adapters so you
can charge multiple items overnight (most newer battery chargers are good for 100 to 240 volt
you just need the plug adapter.

American brand soda (pop) is almost as expensive as wine...but Franprix has soda called Leader brand
that is like supermarket brands here in the US at about 1/5 the price.
Have a look at the prepaired desserts, I had the most delicious chocolate mousse, and a kind of
creme caramel (right near the butter and packaged spreads)

You may want to bring an alarm clock for the early pickup, apartments we have been in didn't even have
a clock.

Crepes...all over the city there are "crepe" stands..they are delicious filled with everything you
can imagine...ham, tuna, eggs combos of...our favorite is nutella dnd banana.

ALWAYS carry your umbrella, it goes from nice and sunny to showers quickly...we have 2 very small ones.

The AF terminal still uses busses to take you to the planes from the gate...looks like the construction
is almost finished for direct loading, we rode past what appears to be a new terminal being completed,
there was a practice mock up of the side of a plane...for learning to use the moving gate "arms"?

Are Paris city drivers better than anywhere else? In a month we did not see one accident..not even a
fenderbender...surprising with all that traffic..scooters...bikes..

Our last 4 apartments hae been in the latin Quarter, we seem to like that area best...reminds me of
Greenwich Village in NYC, always some activity in the street, even late at night, unfortunately
when you are trying to sleep with the windows open...

Garbage pickup...every day in the middle of the night (or so it seemed) what a racket...

Most of all remember this is THEIR COUNTRY, TRY TO FIT IN..try to speak a little French, Bon Jour
on entering a shop, they will appreciate it...they will know that you are american..you can't hide it,
most, if not all shop owners are willing to help you if you need it.

Prices on food items are high...but remember the items are in kilos...2.2 pounds...so what seems
"outrageous" is just very "expensive"

If you have aproblem with the change in a shop hold coins out, they will work it out for you, hold out a
bunch of coins, they will take what is necessary, I have not been overcharged...unlike somewhere else I
could mention....

And as a personal note....We saw so many tourists, Americans, and others inappropriately dressed.
You are a representative of the United States...dress up, be nice, be an ambassador for the US, not an
"ugly, loud, obnoxious American"

glad you enjoy Paris ,and yes there are really 14 000 restos/cafes/brasseries in Paris.
You hit the marks in everything else.
You will be back...

Your tips are much appreciated, since we're heading to Paris next week for the first time. I have to ask what made the Americans inappropriately dressed?

Pedmar, yes we will be back...we seem to be drawn to Paris.
As far as "MY" observation I think it is the white sneakers and strap type undershirts.
Parisians, like everyone else seem to be wearing jeans...no problem there...

quote:

Originally posted by Longing:
Your tips are much appreciated, since we're heading to Paris next week for the first time. I have to ask what made the Americans inappropriately dressed?

Shorts, and clothes that otherwise reveal too much (although tasteful tanks on the ladies are fine). Sneakers.

One note; we actually found produce to be much more reasonably priced in Paris than here at home in Connecticut.

Daka - just come back from a few days in Paris _ wish I'd seen your reccomendations for restaurants before we left! (We were in the 5th) One thing made me laugh in you list - we did see a VO film on a rainy day ! the idea being that the daughter whose trip it was (to improve French) could check on the subtitles occasionally, whilst the younger sister would not be totally perplexed the whoe time. She was very patient during the 2 other films we saw, just in French.

As one of the girls said, as we cruised around deciding what and where to eat - you need never go hungry in Paris as a tourist.

We did see a couple of collisions though (big arguements to watch- excellent for improving idiomatic French!) and shunt parking that I ony thought my neighbour indulged in !

I really don't think ayone should be overly concerned about sneakers. It is expected that torists will be doing a lot of walking and need to keep their feet happy. As to the rest of the clothes, Paris is a large city--dress as you would for any large, cosmopolitan city anywhere in the warm weather and keep it age and weight appropriate.

The restaurant tips are quite helpful.Although last year we splurged more than we probably will be able to this year given the weaker dollar. Some really well known restaurants require several months advance for reservations. And these will also require more formal clothing, e.g Taillevant assumes men will wear jacket and tie for dinner.

Bistros are less formal as is eating outside.

Most of the sloppy tourists we saw were either in groups and/or not Americans.