In a "touristy" neighborhood, restaurants that have a soul

"Near the Opéra restaurants are foreign, overpriced or boring" - ??

Start of an answer - restaurants that honor their past

•Opéra •After dark •Cuisine & wine •City of kings

•Services for private travelers •Services for groups

: A place where one is instantly glad to have come

: Filming a scene from "Something's Gotta Give", with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton

•Turn-of-the-19th-century éclat (shown above)

The festive ambiance and reasonable prices explain why so many Parisian habitués, including theater people, come after the show. A famous actor (Michel Blanc) discreetly dined behind us...

•Landmark since the 19th century

To attract 500 clients noon and night, one must be exceptional. The traditional cuisine is good, the prices low, the service excellent, the immense space memorable for its atmosphere and for its past, and the ambiance such that you may end the soirée by exchanging addresses with neighbors at the next table.

•A café on a garden's edge...

was among the first places to serve ice cream (in the 1780's). During the Revolution, it became the meeting-place for Robespierre's first great opponents (the Girondins). A few years later a stringy-haired Corsican officer on half-pay ran up a bill that he never settled. And today, portraits of France's last royal family (Louis-Philippe, his wife and children) grace a wall. The cuisine's elegance honors this past, yet prices are reasonable.

Or the refined cuisine of an actess turned chef

: This former actress and Dior model has had several restaurants and frequent write-ups.

An exceptionally personal restaurant nestles in a tiny street behind Palais-Royal. Authentic panels from the Orient Express line the walls of vaulted "caves" and la patronne and her son serve delicate cuisine by candlelight.

A cooking lesson through which one prepares the specialities to be served later can precede dinner...