France: Paris: Notes on Gaston Wijnen's "Discovering Paris Bistros"
This page is part of an ongoing effort to make and share online some notes on food writer Gaston Wijnen's useful restaurant guide, Discovering Paris Bistros
The book is now sixteen years old, but its take on the great bistros of Paris remains a cheerful and useful one. With this in mind, we've gone through its entries and made notes on which Paris restaurants Wijnen described are still in existence, and we provide contact information and (where possible) web addresses or email contact addresses for them.
Later we'll add a Google map to this page so that restaurants' locations and status will be available in graphic form as well.
The note "OK" means that a restaurant or bistro is still in operation at the location specified in the book. (Full addresses will be added later.)
"Gone" means it's vanished without a trace. If a "?" / question mark is added, it means we're not absolutely sure, having not been able to go to the address ourselves or get confirmation from someone in Paris. But normally a vanished bistro will have few or no Web references, and will be absent from the restaurant guides (though this can sometimes be deceptive: some guides don't update at all regularly). Otherwise, confirming that some other business is now operating at that address will usually mean that the restaurant is no more.
If a bistro has moved, changed hands, or changed names, we'll say so.
"?" by itself means we can't find out anything about the restaurant at all.
If you have any info to contribute about any of these bistros, please leave it in the comments section below.
Section 1 -- Bourse, Halles, Louvre:
- Le Bougainville: gone, apparently now a hotel
- A la Cloche des Halles: OK
- Aux Crux de Bourgogne: OK
- Au Duc de Richelieu: Moved: now at 3 rue Parott, 12e: Metro: Gare de Lyon: phone: 01-43 43 05 64
- Chez Léon (Le Rubis): OK (TripAdvisor poster IDs it as still open in March '07, check del.icio.us for link)
- Le Ruban Bleu: gone: now "Le Safran" vegetarian restaurant
- Runtz: OK
Section 2 -- Quartier Latin, Luxembourg, Ile St. Louis, Jardin des Plantes:
- Le Berthoud: OK
- Restaurant du Luxembourg: few Web references, most old: may be gone
- Moisonnier: probably gone: few references on Web: may now be a bookstore
- Restaurant Perraudin: OK: website: www.restaurant-perraudin.com
- Restaurant Polidor: OK?
- Au Soleil d'Austerlitz: OK
- Thé de Brumes: OK
- Le Tiburce: gone
- Chez Toutonne: OK
- Chez René: OK: erratum in printed address: 14 boulevard Saint-Germain, not 10
- Au Gourmet de l'Isle: OK? uncertain, needs a check
Section 3 -- Tour Eiffel, Invalides, Orsay:
- Au Babylone: OK
- Le Beaujolais Cler: gone
- Le Chevert (Auberge Comtoise): OK. Website: www.chevert.com
- Aux Fins Gourmets: OK
- Chez Germaine: OK (NB: an early smoke-free restaurant)
- Bistrot le Mâconnais: gone
- Le Petit Niçois: OK: website: www.lepetitnicois.com
- Aux Petits Oignons: Name changed? Possibly several times. References to former restaurant "Cote Bar". Now called either "Restaurant Le 20 de Bellechasse" or "Le Vin de bellechasse". No indication whether the cuisine / chef / patron is the same.
- Au Petit Tonneau: OK
- Au Pied de Fouet: OK
Section 4 -- Gare du Nord, Opéra:
- Le Relais Beaujolais: OK
- Chartier: OK
- La Cave Drouot: OK
- Terminus Nord: OK? Formerly part of the Flo chain.
- Restaurant La Vèzére: Gone?
Section 5 -- Beaubourg, Marais, Bastille, Gare de Lyon:
- Restaurant Antoine (Chez Marcel)>: gone
- Astier: OK. Website: www.restaurant-astier.com
- Chez Gaston: gone / OOB
- Jacques Mélac - Bistrot à Vins: gone.
- Chez Robert (Restaurant Collard): OK. Formal name changed to "l'Impasse", but still referred to as "Chez Robert".
- Au Tables de la Fontaine: Both OK (there are two restaurants of this name under the same ownership). Website: www.aux-tables-de-la-fontaine.fr
- Le Train Bleu: OK.
- Le Traversière: OK.
- Au Volcan: gone
Section 6 -- Port de Sèvres, Montparnasse, Denfert, Rochereau:
- Le Bistrot d'André: OK. Website: www.bistrot-andre.com (Note: tiny entry "hotspot" for website cunningly hidden on door of main page graphic associated with restaurant's domain name. They should fire their web designer.)
- Le Restaurant Bleu: Gone / no longer a bistro. Replaced by "Le Traiteur Bleu", an Asian restaurant.
- Le Bourbonnais: Gone. Replaced by restaurant "SMOKE".
- Le Château Poivre: Gone.
- Monsieur Lapin: Still there and apparently offers online reservations via this site. (See also this site.)
- Au Père Tranquille: There in Jan '07 (see this site.) Still there?
- Le Petit Mâchon: May still be there, but data is equivocal. Confirmation?
- Au Vins des Rues: Most recent information seems to date back to 2007. Probably still there, but should be checked.
Section 7 -- Neuilly, Porte de Maillot, Clichy, Wagram:
- Aristide: Still there. Some complaints about the service.
- A la Bonne Cuisine: Gone. Was briefly a restaurant called "La Fourchette des Anges", then a Chinese restaurant. Now a hotel.
- La Grosse Tartine: Now restaurant "Le Sud".
- Jenny Jacquet (La Truffe Noire): OK
- Ma Bourgogne: OK as of mid-2007
Section 8 -- Montmartre:
- Le Maquis: ? Most recent reference 2006.
- Aux Nègociants: OK. (Last report Dec. 2007)
Section 9 -- Port de Montreuil, Belleville, Père Lachaise:
- Au Boeuf Gros Sel: The restaurant is still there, but it has changed hands and there are reviews mourning the loss of the old regime, saying that the place is no longer anything like as good as it was.
- A La Courtille: Gone. Now "La Mer à Boire".
- Bistrot-Cave des Envierges: ? Apparently gone.
- Mère-Grand: Gone.