Saturday, March 12, 2005
Bofinger
After our walking tour of the Picasso museum, my husband's aunt and I joined the group for lunch. The group had a reservation at Bofinger Restaurant, near Bastille. Bofinger is the oldest Alsatian brasserie in Paris. It has a beautiful art nouveau interior dining room with the most amazing stained glass dome. In fact, the interior is a protected national monument! We weren't lucky enough to be seated there. I think you need to request a table in the domed dining room when you make your reservations.
Like Brasserie Balzar, in 1996 Bofinger was bought out by the Brasserie Flo restaurants that Adam Gopnik wrote about in From Paris to the Moon.
Most of the group ordered the 23 euro "menu" for lunch and it was delicious... mushroom soup or oysters...white fish in a cream sauce or blanquette de veau....tarte au chocolate or creme brulee (you pick two courses and the meal comes with wine). Here is a picture of my friend's really wonderfully creamy foie gras (she let me taste). She got the more expensive 31 euro menu, which included three courses and a half bottle of wine. The service was attentive, the menu classic French, the food very good, the room non-smoking... along with a group of friends... it was a very nice lunch.
-- said Auntie M in Paris
6:31 PM
~bluepoppy
# posted by Anonymous : 11:57 PM
Carrie
# posted by Carrie : 7:41 AM
Another restaurant to see for the décor is Chez Julien, over on the rue du Faubourg Poissonnière. It, too, alas, is part of the Brasserie Flo galaxy. I say "alas" in this case simply because the food used to be far, far better before the Flo takeover some years ago (as it used to be at La Coupole, too, but that's another story entirely). Since Flo sold off some of the family jewels (the "Flo Prestige" caterers) a while back, the chain just doesn't seem the same. The quality seems to vary widely … glad the food was good at Bofinger !
L'Amerloque
# posted by L'Amerloque : 9:42 AM
Carrie, Thank you. There is a chance we are leaving in a few months so I'm trying to enjoy everything Paris has to offer.
L'A, I've tried two of the Brasserie Flo places so far and haven't been impressed. There are so many wonderful restaurants in Paris, why settle for "good?" Now, if you want to recommend a really good, reasonably priced dinner I am all ears!
# posted by Auntie M in Paris : 7:52 PM