Les Capucines 4, boulevard des Capucines (9e) Opera 47-45
If you find yourself near the Opéra, perhaps with a stack of mail just picked up at the American Express, here is a good place to sit down, read your mail, enjoy an apéritif and a luncheon up-stairs. The Grands Boulevards once boasted many noble restaurants. Paillard and Margucry among them, but most of them have faded. Les Capucines resembles many others along the wide, sheltered boulevards. It is modern, gay, sophisticated, but with this difference: Its food is definitely Superior, probably the best near this central crossroads of Paris. Us wines are good, prices fair.
But maybe you find yourself near the Opéra and you don't want a copious luncheon, Perhaps it is blasphemous to mention it in the same paragraph, but there is a big, animated Brazilian coffee shop near by, on the corner of the rue du 4 Scptembre and the avenue de I'Opéra, where the snacks and sandwiches are good, the coffee wonderful, and the prices derisively low.
L' Escargot-Montorgeuil 38, rue Montorgeuil (le) Central 83-51
On this narrow, busy street near the Paris market thrived one of the greatest of French restaurants. This was the Roeher de Cancale, and from the stories they tell about its cooking and its habitues, it must have been a corker, It has a notable successor today in the old-fashioned establishment named for the snail and dedicated to such specialties as onion soup, frogs' legs, and entrecôte marchand de vin. Needless to say, the snails are incomparable. L'Escargot-Montnrgeuil (it has had to add the hyphenated Monlorgeuil to distinguish it from a snailish competitor), has a great chef, a notable wine cellar, and the long-established facilities for buying the best at Les Halles next door. Paris gourmets, who like its outmoded rococo atmosphere, take it very seriously. Closed Monday and during August.
Chez Tante Louise 41, rue Boissy-d' Anglas (8e) Anjou 28-19
If you happen to he assailed with hunger while visiting the American Embassy, a happy and fairly priced solution awaits you in this cheerful, modern restaurant not far away. The patron is cordial and cooperative. So are the capable lasses who serve you. The chef is adept at preparing some of the ample dishes of the Franrhc-Comté, a welcome change from traditional Paris fare. Thus you will find poulet de Bresse and quenelles de brocket, prepared à la franc-comtoise, and a particularly seductive co q an vin jnrassienne. The restaurant may be crowded at noon, but there is room for everyone at dinnertime.
Weber 23, rue Royale (8e) Anjou 27-90
This is a boulevard favorite of long standing, of course, famed particularly for its sidewalk café, which is one of the most agreeable in Paris. If you love to watch your fellow creatures Stroll by, this is as good a vantage point as any. Furthermore, here is a restaurant which has broken with the hard and fast tradition. You can order one or two dishes cbez Weber without plowing through a whole meal—with prices accordingly reduced. Here is a happy solution for those who yearn for a light lunch. For decades Weber has been famous as an after theater rendezvous for a fondue, a Welsh rabbit, or a simple oeuf sur le plat and a glass of beer. Prices are quite reasonable.
Now we move away from the heart of Paris, toward the Are de Triomphe, in easy steps.
Le Cabaret 4, avenue Franklin-Roosevelt (8e) Elysée 20-98
The fashionable heart of epicurean Paris is shifting, and very definitely, to (he area surrounding the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées. You sense a very different atmosphere in the animated, fastidious restaurants which have enjoyed such a startling success in this neighborhood. They are a bit more reminiscent of New York, and 1 hazard the guess that our composite GOURMET family will enjoy them more. Le Cabaret, for example, is a most intriguing place, patronized by good-looking women and well-pointed-up gentlemen. It is very Parisian, opulent, and attractive. The saucy portrait of a pert Paris wench named Chou. painted by Jean Gabriel Domergue, greets you as you come in the door and reappears, in reduced scale, on the cover of the carte du jour. She's a tempting dish, all right, but people come for something more substantial, namely the celebrated specialties of Monsieur Georges Rabu. Here is a name to remember. The brothers Rabu, Georges and Henri, are two of the most respected restaurateurs in Paris. Their wine cellar is imposing, their waiters have style, and their chef, Monsieur Dierstein, is one of the very best. In addition to a most engaging sidewalk terrace, there are a few charming Louis XVI and Kegence dining salons, in case you care to throw a small dinner party. The prices are entirely fair. The name Cabaret is misleading. You won't find the remotest trace of an orchestra or a torch singer in the place.
Berkeley 7, avenue Matignon (8e) Balzat 47-79
Four enticing restaurauts rub elbows with each other along this aristocratic street as it branches off from the Rond-Point. All of them are good, but you will do well to pick the Berkeley, last of the four. It has earned the reputation 'of being one of the very top places in Paris. Every French fin bee I know has nodded enthusiastically when its name was mentioned. Berkeley has a great deal of style. What might be called its winter garden is absolutely charming, and its wide glass-enclosed terrace represents just about the ultimate in what can be done to a sidewalk. The clientele is a good cross section of Parisian élégance, and if pretty women stimulate your appetite for food, you should be ravenous. Here is a distinguished dining place, and without outrageous prices to overshadow the pleasure.
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