…inventive and appealing as he’s opened two other popular Paris bistros, AG Saint-Germain and AG Les Halles. “The reason I cook is to make people happy,” says Geaam, who has…

…of ‘grower’ Champagnes, or Champagnes from small producers like Laherte Frères, a small producer based on the Montagne de Reims just outside of Reims. This makes Substance one of the…

…in the film that inspired the bistro’s name, Papillon, Saintagne had escaped from the island (McQueen escapes from Devil’s Island, the infamous penal colony off the coast of French Guiana),…

…the vegetables were perfectly cooked, too, and they ranged from the classics–carrots, leeks, baby artichokes and potatoes–to romanesco and purple cauliflower. Bruno’s scallops in their shells were succulent, lightly caramelized…

…decide between a winter vacation in the Seychelles or the Maldives, while the two immaculately coiffed and dressed ladies of a certain age on the other flank talked about their…

…the city’s covered market, which is open daily. Les Fromages de Sylvain, Allée du Curry (all of the aisles in Les Halles de Nimes are named after herbs or spices),…

…les Choisilles and two good pours by the glass from Yves Cuilleron–his Les Candives red and Roussane VDF white. Les Batignolles has been short a signature table since chef Christophe…

…on the ground floor (rez-de-chaussée) of the Frank Gehry tower on the grounds of the LUMA Foundation. Coming through the door, there’s a bar and a few tables in a…

…of other countries and cultures. Spoon 2 doesn’t play to such teeth-grinding cliches, but on the other hand the pale pink ‘red’ Thai curry served in a Portuguese cataplana dish…

…with mayonnaise, another dish as Gallic as Charles de Gaulle’s nose, and cod persille (parsley butter with tomatoes and bread crumbs). Then I glanced at the wine list, which was…

…said. Well, whether I understood what he and partner Thierry Costes (son of one of the Costes brothers) had in mind or not, they’ve done a bang-up job with this…

…dish and a ruddy fish soup of filled with mussels, cuttlefish, monkfish cockles and sliced potatoes. “What makes it different from a bouillabaisse is that it tastes like there’s some…

…rooms, retro lighting fixtures, warm friendly service, and interesting menu, Les Poulettes Batignolles has immediately become a local hit with an enthusiastic following of regulars. Since Marie once lived in…

…of Agen prunes. There were lots of other appealing dishes on the menu, though, including cod with baby artichokes, yellow pollack with cockles and a shellfish jus, entrecôte, and grilled…

…seeing the world clearly as putting on my glasses every morning after the alarm clock goes off. What I found wilting, however, was the implication that food writing is somehow…

…Louvre-Rivoli or Les Halles. Open Monday-Friday for lunch and dinner. Closed Saturday and Sunday. Tél (33) 01-40-13-64-06, Prix-fixe menus 58 Euros (lunch), 75 Euros (five courses), 95 Euros (seven courses)….

…that’s served under silver-plated domes. I’m talking about great little bistros like L’Armoise in Antibes or Agua and L’Ecole de Nice in Nice. So the definitive superlative I’m awarding here…

…began with sea bass carpaccio interleaved with razor-fine slices of nectarine, and continued with a suite of superb dishes, among them a cube of avocado and monkfish in a shallow…

…with chef Christophe Aribert of the two-star Les Terrasses in Uriage near Grenoble running the kitchen. Looking to cheer ourselves up on a rain-swept Saturday night during a disappointing summer,…

…Texture. The yellow tomato sauce? Low-acidity to balance the sweetness of the sparingly applied fig jam. The two cheeses? Different textures and salinities. Try it, you’ll like it is all…