Chez Denis, With Kids

Chez Denis (5, rue des Prouvaires, Paris / 01 42 36 21 82) is a favorite bistro of mine. Besides the fact that we were both created in the same year, Chez Denis is a great place to get snails, organ meats, terrines of fish or meat, and one of the better steak tartare I have had. Its loud, smoky, and crowded. The waiters don't even secretly know English. You're on your own.

Eating there with kids was worth it, but a bit of a challenge, especially if you have finicky eaters. To start with they have two soft drinks, Coca Cola and Orangina. For you, they have excellent house wine and a decent list. The bread, not the best I have had in Paris, was a thick, dark, peasant style bread that was not enjoyed by any of the four children in our party. There was nothing at all to feed a child from the list of appetizers, although I did offer boys 1 and 2 all the snails they could eat (neither took me up on it). With some difficulty, we were able to convince the waiter (more out of language difficulties than because of "Frenchiness" as he seemed rather nice) to bring out one order of fries as an appetizer. We tried to get the kids a plain lettuce salad, but all they had was frisee. For you, the frisee comes with nice, greasy tasty croutons and an excellent vinegarette dressing. The terrines were excellent too.

The reason that my kids thought this place was great, and ultimately the reason I do too, is the steak. I am usually fan of American beef, and love steakhouses. But this place rocks. I had steak tartare myself, and if any of you people have any comments on the potential evils of raw eggs in raw hamburger please try to remember who is the gastroenterologist here. The enterocote and the onglette were both excellent. One piece of advice I have is to remember that in Paris, "medium" is medium rare, blue is effectively raw, and there is some name in between them which is more rare than rare usually is in the states and less blue than blue usually is.

Desserts were also great for the kids. They have an over sized ramekin of chocolate mousse which was a favorite of all four kids there. For adults, there are a variety of bistro style desserts which are fine.

One final thing to remember is that in addition to the posted menu, there is also a bar menu. Make sure to take a look on your way in. They will serve you parts of it at your table.

Where to Have Lunch Near The Musée d'Orsay

The lovely wife loves the Musée d'Orsay. And what’s not to like? Great impressionist art in an imposing 19th century train station make this museum a pleasure to be in and look at. Since it takes sustenance to climb the stairs and avoid the escalators its important to eat lunch before you go in the afternoon or have a ready place to go after spending the morning there. If you take two children this moves from being important to actually being a mission. This became apparent when the eatery suggested by our "Paris with Kids" guidebook turned out to be a fancy, poofy place not . So we walked around, hungry children threatening us at every turn. And fortunately we found Au Corrier de Lyon (17, Rue du Bac, Paris 75007: tel 01 42 61 12 98), located less than two blocks from the museum. The place is as French as you can get; the hostess seated us in the “no smoking section” of two tables with ashtrays at arms length away in case you change your mind. The menu is printed in English as well French, but we were the only non-Francophones in the place. And the food, in traditional café style was served quick and was great. I had the sautéed chicken with fries, the kids the faux-fillet with the same fries and the lovely wife a salad nicoise. All were excellent, and the service was great. I would come back, with or without children.

Best Baguette in Paris

Sorry not to have posted over the past few days, but there was so much to do in Paris that it was near impossible to take any time to write about any of the numerous food options to be had. One thing I will say, as this is the first time that I have traveled to Paris with Boy 1 and Boy 2, is that the types of places you would have avoided like the plague as a single traveler are rather good. This includes the cafes in the Tuileries, which have good coffee, decent wine, and acceptable food. One piece of advice is to avoid their “special” croque mousier, which was tasty but a bit goopy. The fries at the cafeteria at the Eiffel Tower are acceptable, and the sandwiches ok, except they really do use to much butter. When you are waiting hours to climb to the top of Notre Dame, the takeout sandwich place with the yellow sign across the street from the line has an excellent chicken sandwich. The crepes at the stand near the carousel in the Tulleries are freshly made and rather good after a brisk go-round.

One thing we did do was to go back to our old neighborhood in the 17th arrondissement. There, off the Place de Ternes, we went to a boulangerie/patessiere that had advertised itself as having won “the best baguette in Paris” award for 2006. The store, J.P. Cohier (270 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré), is easily reached after a quick look at the Arc De Triumph. The store is a typical bakery featuring bread, pastries and cold drinks. There are some stools and some outdoor seating. In addition to the baguette, we felt obliged to try some éclairs, a few croissants, some pain chocolate, and a maroon. All the pastries were excellent, and, true to the award, the baguette may have been the best I have ever eaten. A crunchy, yet bitable outside, an velvety, almost egg like inside, and a phenomenal bouquet. I would show you a picture, but the four of us ate the whole thing walking up Rue Wagram, so all you can see is the wrapper. I did find one English Website describing Mr. Cohier and his work. This site has some bread photos. The bread was so good that number one son asked if it could be flown in, and while I doubt it will be done, its certainly worth the brief walk from the Arc de Triumph to eat this amazing piece of bread.