Located on the lively rue Paul Bert Le Temps au Temps is a very small restaurant made very popular by Parisian chef Sylvain Sendra who has opened a new restaurant, Itinéraires, in the 5th arrondissement. Le Temps au Temps is now in the hands of Sylvain Sendra’s former sous-chef but the 26 seats of this tiny restaurant are still always full and reservations must be made. The food is simple and comforting; the dishes are well composed and the ingredients carefully selected. Dinner is 20€ for a main dish, 27€ for an appetizer+main dish or a main dish+dessert. Wine is not included. If you are interested in trying the tenderest part of the beef, try the beef cheek (a French traditional delicacy) and its celery mousseline, it’s delicious. The menu changes regularly according to what is seasonal.

Le Temps au Temps
13 Rue Paul Bert
75011 Paris
tel: 01.43.79.63.40
Metro: Faidherbe - Chaligny

W-Sun: 12pm-1.30pm / 8pm-10.30pm
Closed on Monday, Tuesday, for Christmas and in August.

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When 70’s formica countertops meet 90’s track lighting, you have Le Petit Café on rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. It is a very small and charming little neighborhood café, with 8 tables (6 tables of 4 and 2 tables of 2) and a bar — a small formica bar. It is tended by the lovely Arlette, a lady in her early seventies, who bakes the sweet tarts and the delicious quiches herself. I walked in really hungry one day and even though it was tea time she made me up a plate of quiche Lorraine and cruditées (shredded carrots, celery remoulade, red cabbage and some diced beets). It totally hit the spot.
Le Petit Café is a very mellow place, a little corner of peace and quiet in the middle of the very busy Faubourg Saint-Antoine—the cabinetmakers’ neighborhood since the Middle Ages.

Le Petit Café
89 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine
75011 Paris
tel: 01.43.43.11.63
Metro: Ledru-Rollin

M: 1pm-7pm
Tu-Sat: 10am-7pm
Closed on Sunday

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You are done visiting the Louvre, you are starving and you have a craving for a burger? L’Emile has a good cheeseburger on their menu and it is served with crispy french fries. The meat is juicy, the bun is sweet and soft and it comes with crispy bacon, onions, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, a sweet dill pickle and thousand island dressing. That is probably the only item on L’Emile’s menu that is American, everything else is French: tartare, lamb roast, beef sirloin with Bearnaise sauce… Main dishes are around 25€, the cheeseburger is 17€ (14€ at lunch time). The kitchen closes at 11.30pm but drinks can still be ordered until 2am.

L’Emile
8 Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
75001 Paris
tel: 01.42.60.08.00
Metro: Louvre-Rivoli

M-F: 12am-2pm / 8pm-11.30pm
Sat: 8pm-11.30pm
Closed on Sunday

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Le Fumoir in Paris has been mentioned everywhere, from the Paris guides to the NYTimes. It’s location is prime, it is right across the street from the world’s most visited museum — the Louvre. It’s very central, serves food all day, has a few tables on the sidewalk that are heated during the cold days and are hard to get when it’s warm and sunny. Le Fumoir has a cozy atmosphere, 1940’s music, dim lights, leather chairs and dark wooden tables, the espressos are served with speculoos (cinnamon cookies) and water, lots of it—my American friends should appreciate that. It’s a few steps away from one of my favorite places in Paris: the cour carrée du Louvre. The cour carrée du Louvre is most beautiful, i think, at dusk. I was once alone there (probably unlikely to happen ever again) until someone walked by and stopped for a short while, it was just the two of us, me and Isabella Rossellini.

Le Fumoir
6 Rue de l’Amiral Coligny
75001 Paris
tel: 01.42.92.00.24
Metro: Louvre-Rivoli

M-Sun: 11am-2am
All year round.

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Dining at L’Ecailler du Bistrot makes me happy. Might be a combination of the really tasty food—their seaweed butter is out of this world, it tastes like caviar— the wine, the friendly and busy staff who laughs with us at our jokes while taking an empty plate away, and the British customer who knocks down our pepper shaker while sitting down and then knocks down his menu board. It’s a cozy place with wooden tables, white dishes, blue and yellow napkins, mosaic floors and soft lighting. The place has a lot of charm and an old soul feel to it. The restaurant owner (her family owns an oyster farm in South Brittany) has made oysters the specialty of L’Ecailler du Bistrot. Whether you choose the platter of extra fresh seafood, the oysters shucked to order, the half lobster in its special butter sauce with fries on the side, or any other dish from the appetizers to the desserts, you will be delighted. And for dessert, if the fromage blanc Fontainebleau served with raspberry coulis happens to be on the chalk board, then order it. Trust me. They also do oysters and seafood platters to go! I highly recommend making a reservation.

L’Ecailler du Bistrot
22 Rue Paul Bert
75011 Paris
tel: 01.43.72.76.77
Metro: Faidherbe-Chaligny, Charonne

Tu-Sat: 12pm-2.30pm / 7.30pm-11pm
Closed on Sunday, Monday and one month in summer.

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La Tour Eiffel. How to visit the Eiffel Tower.
It’s cheap (12€) to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower but the average wait to get to the elevator is 2 hours. To avoid waiting in line you can always opt for the stairs to reach the 1st and 2nd floor (the top floor is only accessible via the elevator). Each of the 1st and 2nd floors can be reached in about 10-15 minutes after a 20-minute wait at the staircase entrance. For those who aren’t into exercising and/or don’t want to wake up with sore calves for the next two days, here’s another option to get to the Eiffel Tower’s 2nd (and most interesting) floor while bypassing every line: Le Jules Verne restaurant.

My idea of a very special visit to the most visited monument in the world is to have lunch, or dinner, at the prestigious Jules Verne restaurant. Enjoy world-famous Chef Alain Ducasse’s gourmet contemporary French cuisine 377 feet above sea level with a breathtaking view of Paris. A private elevator (south pillar) takes you to the Jules Verne restaurant so you don’t have to worry about the lines. If you are coming to Paris on vacation and fancy having a meal on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, then you should definitely plan ahead. Sometimes it takes up to 3 months to book a table. Reservations can be made online or by phone: 33 (0)1.45.55.61.44. The online calender lets you know what the available dates are, with a little bit of luck you might find some opening during your visit.

To give you an idea of the prices: the lunch menu is 80€ (120€ with wine) and the dinner one is 200€. A la carte, appetizers are around 65€ and main dishes about 75€. The cheese plate or desserts are all 24€. Here are a few dishes on the menu:
-appetizers:
“Pressed chicken and foie gras layers with black truffle,
toasted country finger bread”
“Marinated gilt-head bream, domestic caviar, mimosa garnish, lemon condiment”
-main dishes:
“Roasted Imperial langoustines, green vegetables, infused bacon”
“Pan-seared beef tournedos & fresh duck foie gras,
souffléed potatoes, Perigueux sauce”
-desserts:
“Bitter chocolate soufflé, Bourbon vanilla ice cream”
“Light wild strawberry and coconut cake, lime-coconut sorbet”

For more information on the restaurant go to Le Jules Verne.

There are other restaurant options -minus the private elevator- on the Eiffel Tower, such as the more affordable Les Buffets de la Tour Eiffel (ground level, 1st floor and 2nd floor) and Altitude 95 (1st floor).

Some practical information about the Eiffel Tower:
-It is open year round 7 days a week from:
9.30am - 11pm / January 1 to June 12 and September 1 to December 31
Final lift up at 11pm (10.30pm for top floor)
Final staircase admittance at 6pm
9am - midnight / June 13 to August 31
Final lift up at midnight (11pm for top floor)
Final staircase admittance at midnight.
-Smoking isn’t allowed on the Eiffel Tower.
-NO pets allowed.
-Non-foldable strollers are not allowed.
-The top floor is not accessible to visitors in wheelchairs.

If you plan to visit the Eiffel Tower in a group, check out the online reservation to purchase your tickets in advance and choose a day and time for your visit.

Eiffel Tower
Champs de Mars
75007 Paris
tel: 01.44.11.23.23
Metro: Dupleix, Bir-Hakeim, Ecole Militaire, Trocadéro
RER: Champs de Mars - Tour Eiffel

7/7

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Breizh Café in Paris is the crêperie at its best. The galettes (name given to savory crêpes made out of buckwheat flour) are an absolute delight. The menu offers an interesting variation of toppings, going from the classic galette complète (ham, egg and cheese) to less traditional ones such as the “fourme d’ambert” served with blue cheese, grapes and walnuts. All the ingredients are top of the line: from free-range to organic goods, you can be sure that you will be served the best. There’s a long list of ciders to choose from, all carefully picked, as well as Breton beers and Breton coca-cola (Breizh cola!)
Aside from the very lovely people working there and the perfect crêpes, there’s one more thing that I find particularly satisfying: Breizh Café’s opening hours - it’s open non-stop from lunch to dinner Wednesday through Sunday.
If you choose to eat at the regular French hours (12pm-2pm and 8pm-10.30pm) I would highly recommend you make a reservation. Otherwise you should be fine just walking in. And how about paying Breizh Café a visit around 4pm for a sweet crêpe such as the applesauce-salty caramel-vanilla ice-cream one, for those too are highly worth the detour.
Paris’ Breizh Café is in the Marais, catercorner from the Musée Picasso gardens.

Breizh Café
109 Rue Vieille du Temple
75003 Paris
tel: 01.42.72.13.77
Metro: Saint-Sebastien-Froissart

W-Sat: 12pm-11pm
Sun: 12pm-10pm
Closed on Monday and Tuesday

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