Fun frank report! I’m curious about the ages of your grandkids. My spring onion is almost 9 and I wonder if he’s ready for a trip to Paris (he’s well-traveled but big cities can be tough).
Great and most useful report!! …especially for someone like myself with an upcoming trip on the horizon.
My preliminary eating itinerary turned out to be a most challenging and indecisive one to compile! So many choices so little time!
So far, it includes:
La Poule au Pot and Josephine Chez Dumonet: Traditional French Bistro with diversified menu choices. Hoping they will cover as many traditional, rustic, homey dishes as possible…Escargots, Frog Legs, Foie Gras, Boeuf Bourguignon, Pigeon, Souffle, Sweetbread…etc
Clamato and Seulement Sea: Great, valued seafood that won’t break a bank!
Alliance and Pages: Michelin 1* lunches…for the star experience without paying an arm and a leg!
Akabeko, Geosmine or Hemicycle: Still trying to decide on which of these near perfect ratings, new and up-and-coming potential star recipients to pick one?!
Restaurant H, Auguste or Accents Table Bourse: Again trying to pick a ‘great value’ tasting menu dinner from these 1*
Assiette Champenoise ( Reims ): Our 3* experience.
( voted down by my kids due to cost, location and menu…Aspic, Amarinthe, Auberge Bressane and Pertinence )
Any feedback and comments are most welcome!
I have a res for Monday at Chez Dumonet. Never been. We keep making fun of it being “so damn trad!”
I wonder what a 40 euro tartare entails? I hope it’s more food than the deck of cards sized 33 euro steak au poivre at Bistro Paul Bert years ago.
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Digga—went over Christmas break with my daughter and granddaughter. Stayed in apartment on Ile Saint Louis and it was fabulous. That said, my granddaughter is now 20 and wishes she had been a bit older for the trip. We did have a great time though.
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Thanks for the great write up! In Rome now and had a great lunch and some other good meals but my planning energy is all focused on Paris! Lucky you with 3 times at Alliance.
Like you, my friend and I tend to do lunches and our final 2 will be Petrelle and Alliance. I love everything about those 2 places. Am trying for a mix of old and new, different arrondissements and variations in vibes. I’m less than a month away and still moving the pieces around. You put le Mazenay back on my list and the newest addition is reservation for Datil.
Really appreciate your impressions of food as well as ambiance which for me is as important. No snooty waiters necessary even if very good food.
Here’s a link to a thread that might make your lunch choices more difficult 
As for our own personal experience, last year our lunch at L’Assiette was excellent (most of it due to sharing it with Carmenere) and we fully intend to return this coming spring.
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Patience patience. Nobody yet knows which restos will be open on Christmas Day. Staff shortages continue to blight the restaurant industry in Paris and, last year, forced even a few of the traditionally 365/365 landmark brasseries to close at Christmas. Maybe again this year but who knows ?
Online booking engines can also be misleading. Sometimes they show no availability when it means the booking window is not yet open. The closer to the date the more reliable an online booking will be.
Start looking at the end of November or, even better, the beginning of December.
Thank you. We will follow your advice. Once I see the kitchen in our rental apartment, I might decide to cook. I love to cook at home and there is no reason that I cannot do it in Paris.
Thanks for the great report. I’ve never been to la tour d’argent and was thinking that it might be good for my husband’s birthday but your experience convinces me otherwise.
Paris By Mouth usually posts openings around Christmas/New Year’s. Last year, the list went up Nov. 11, so should be soon!
Thanks Steve for adding to my selection challenge. 
I live in the DC area and get to NYC often but the range and value in Paris is phenomenal with interesting new places opening all the time. A week was not enough in March, December it’s 2 weeks, maybe needs to be a month next year!
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Just getting back to this. I may post later about our recent and stunningly fun dinner at Le Clarence. Yes, fun — not really something we expected at such a vaunted place. But for now I will say, Carole is quite correct, the three course menu contains no meat. But what it does contain is approximately three servings per course. And that doesn’t count the various amuses, and a few other things in between. Our three-course dinner was at least 14 plates (including one extra smoked eel dish sent out by the chef). The other options at dinner were “five”
and “seven” courses. Our fabulous waiters (the staff here really has a great time and works together beautifully) confirmed that the “seven” course dinner is really closer to approximately 21 or 22 plates — and if we had done that, we would’ve been out of commission for the next day! — Jake
Thank you.
Hi again, Paris by Mouth just published their holiday round-up (off-putting headline, but I snagged a table at Granite on Jan. 1.:
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Thanks ninkat. I just received the Paris By Mouth post in my email. Glad you snagged Granite for Jan 1. We will be flying home that day.
I was able to get a reservation for Christmas Day at the Brasserie Lutetia. It has fair to middling reviews but they have a children’s menu and it is relatively close to the apartment we have rented. The apartment appears to have a very functional kitchen so “eating in” is still an option. We will make a final decision once everyone arrives. Enjoy the holidays in Paris.
Thanks! I am now scoping out Barcelona’s options where I will be for a few days between Christmas and New Year’s! Wishing you a Merry and a Happy!
Kind of a small ‘foodie’ world!! 
I too am actually doing the same, but in reverse! I have done planning for San Sebastian/Barcelona and am now doing planning for Paris and the outskirts for my upcoming trip.
For Barcelona, lucky enough to snag a table at Disfruta.
As for Paris, after spending over a week eating Western/Spanish food, I have decided to slide in a slot to have some Japanese fusion…Akabeko ( rave reviews that includes 181 Google 5.0/5.0 and 4.9/5.0 The Fork ). For this option, I have eliminated Alliance based on a foodie friend’s recommendation, who just ate there a couple of weeks ago…" chef has some good ideas but needs more time to polish…right now, execution and flavor need better work! "
Still having problems deciding on a 2*…Le Clarence vs Bruno Verjus?!
As for a 3* experience, will avoid the over-priced Paris scene and head out to Reims to try out Assiette Champenoise …initially planning to give Plenitude a try?!
Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! 
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I look forward to hearing about Akabeko. I’ve been wanting to try it.
On another note, I’m looking for a “fancy” lunch for my husband’s birthday, Previous years were Le Clarence, which was both fancy and like Jake’s meal, fun. Another year was Le Cinq when they still had a reasonable lunch. Has anyone had lunch at le Taillevent recently?
Once again, thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
I have started putting together my Trip Report here.
I’ll be there, too, at that time. Thanks for posting, ninkat! A few months ago, I pulled up last year’s Paris by Mouth list but it was behind a paywall, so glad to see this is not. We just got back from a trip, so I am way behind in my Paris planning. I’m not too concerned, though - we won’t starve. 
