Ok, this write-up is long overdue, my apologies. And by definition not as up to date as the reports of folks who have been more recently.
It had been my plan to spend time making the photos more easily consumable by combining them… but that turned into an excuse not to ever get this done.
So I am writing the text now, with pointers to comments previously made. And will add some photos afterwards.
My thanks to all who contributed suggestions, most of all to @onzieme, and also to @sfcarole.
Dinner at Baillote our first night was very enjoyable, with no losers in the mix. Black mullet gravlax, beef tartare, St. Pierre with white asparagus and morels (particularly great), trout mi-cuite. Loved the signature pistachio soufflé dessert. A la carte prices fair. We will return.
A lunch at Les Parisiens - one of our very favorites the past couple years, and the lunch menu still a great value - was fine, but definitely not as fabulous as in the past.
Enjoyed dinner at Café des Ministères, but I have little to add over what sfcarole and others have said. The food is as noted on the heavier side. I would not dissuade anyone interested from going, but it’s not on our must-return list.
Lunch at Mallory Gabsi was excellent. One of our favorites of the trip. Lunch was not cheap but good value. This one of the few I regret not having posted more detail earlier. Everything about it - the room, amuse, bread, mignardise - made me happy. It was so good I think we will have to try dinner there once this spring, even though we usually go to these more expensive places only at lunch.
Our dinner at Benjamin Schmitt [née Hectar] was very good. Asparagus, pate en croute, a fine fish dish for me, ravioli in an interesting sauce for my wife. But given the price, we are unlikely to return.
Our Sunday night dinner at Colbert was fine (Sundays can be harder to find places open), and near to our apartment in the 6e, but I found it overpriced for what it was and would not return.
L’Évadé was perfectly good, and reasonably priced, fair value (other than the annoying 5E charge for filtered water). We might return, but not rushing back.
The next day may have been our best eating day of the trip. Lunch was at Hemicycle, a strong onz rec that I recommend at least as strongly. The 49E (55E now, I see) Menu Dejeuner is a bigger steal than the one at Les Parisiens, with 3 fabulous amuses-bouche plus wonderful mignardises to go along with great house-made bread and butter and the entrée-plat-dessert. The wines by the glass were very enjoyable, though not inexpensive. This is at the top of our list of places to return.
We found Jong-no Samgyetang based on a Heidi Ellison Paris Update review. We didn’t plan to eat that much. While the signature chicken soup we didn’t find all that impressive (perhaps worth a try if you are 4 people, and/or it’s a cold night), we will be going back for the amazing fried chicken, and possibly the scallion pancake. I have high standards for fried chicken, and this was excellent without being heavy or greasy. Prices are low.
Lunch at Akabeko where we went partly because my wife loves these kind of places, and partly because it was just up the street from our apartment. Since it was a holiday we had the 5 course menu rather than the unavailable 3 course lunch I’d been planning to order, and after the fact was glad of that “forced" non-choice. I wanted all along not to love it, but, everything was damn good, and while it’s not quite at the level of “must return first chance I get”, we will definitely return, and I do recommend it to anyone interested in these kind of French-by-a-Japanese-chef places. It’s not equal to Alliance in service, but I daresay it was better than any other similar place we’ve dined the last few years, with more small innovations / Japanese twists than the typical one, and the food was actually better than what we had at Alliance a few weeks later.
The next day for dinner, after 2 lighter meals in between, we finally went to L’Assiette, a place I’ve had for years on my list to try. Unfortunately, just didn’t love the cassoulet (sorry, @ninkat). But the creme caramel is indeed fabulous, and arguably worth a trip all by itself.
Lunch the last day was at Oktobre, where we’ve been before and had lunch with @SteveR and his lovely wife Ginny, covered elsewhere. One should always get the Hors (née Zors, from when it was still Kitchen Gallerie Bis) D’ouevres. And next time I need to remember to order the quail. I’d probably skip the place if on a short stay in Paris, but for longer stays it’s now on our “always return” list.
Final dinner of this part of the trip was at Empreinte. This was a strong onz rec, though he went for lunch, not dinner. The food was fine, but not imo special, and the prices fair. I determined that night that I simply don’t like pigeon. But my main comment is that we there on a Friday at 8:00 PM in mid-May and the place was almost empty. Which made the meal feel somewhat joyless. I remarked to my wife at the time based on this that it wouldn’t surprise me if it closes. I do see that it is still open. My recommendation for those interested would be to go for lunch.
