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Restaurants that have a soul...
in neighborhoods to discover
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 - This chef creates his dishes entirely from scratch, with fresh produce. He even makes his own ice cream.
Restaurant reviews swamp the media. Many are superficial, bestowing noblesse on places that are undeserving. Establishments that are deserving often don't want reviews in magazines that tourists see: They know that a brief flurry of foreign visitors will drive their regulars away and in the long run be bad for business.
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 - Clients send thank-yous from everywhere. This is the best inexpensive restaurant we know (three-course menu, 17€50).
There are restaurants, however, for which Parisians secretly hoard the addresses. They don't want too many outsiders "spoiling" them.
We point our small and select membership to restaurants that are discreet and cherished, or whose celebrity is justified.
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- As well, we explain how they fit into their neighborhoods. For example, celebrated restaurants and cafés used to line "les boulevards", Europe's epicenter of pleasure...(between the Opéra and the Porte Saint-Denis)
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...but today fast-foods, chain-stores and ethnic restaurants are so omnipresent that the spirit of the past is hard to imagine.
Yet a few places do authentically represent tradition.
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- Here the turn-of-the-19th-century atmosphere makes one instantly glad to have come
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 - A place where one is instantly glad to have come
 - Filming a scene from "Something's Gotta Give", with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton
The festive ambiance, reasonable prices and genuine "Gay 'Nineties" decor explain why so many Parisians are habitués. Theater people come after the show ...
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So do foreign celebrities. Visitors of ours found David Lynch dining a table away.
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- For Paris's great cuisine one now goes elsewhere
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 - An establishment that lives up to the legend
"My wife and I are coming to Paris for our 25th wedding anniversary? What would be the most fabulous and romantic place for that celebration?" asked a Las Vegas casino owner.
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We asked the advice of this guide's director.
The visitors were delighted.
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- We continue to ask his advice
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 - He edits the "Lebey" restaurant guidebooks.
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 - The restaurant that he recommended
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There are exceptions to the hype mentioned above, The "Guide Lebey" is one of them.
If you see this sticker on a restaurant door, you may be sure that the value is excellent. The guide itself (in French) will assess the establishment honestly.
Credits: little restaurant / Catherine Aubin : filming / Olivier Benoist ; large restaurant / Claude Abron; chandelier / Maître d'; diners / M'aître d'; guidebook sticker / Catherine Aubin
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 - Unexpected Paris guided tours
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