PARIS and LYON

[marinee24]

Hello!
We are traveling to Paris and Lyon in May.Please recommend the best place for steak tartare in Paris .
Any suggestions on restaurants in Lyon will be greatly appreciated .
Thanks,Marina

[ChefJune]

The "Sunday brunch" at Rue LeBec in the Confluence (Lyon) is really not to be missed. Excellent value, delicious food, gorgeous views all around.

Are you looking for traditional Lyonnaise food, or more modern?

[marinee24]

We are gluttons : (
Anything and everything,and then a little more...
We arrive in Paris on the second of May(our 9th or 10th time),and leave from Lisbon (first time in Portugal) on the 10 th of May.No other firm plans.We decided to go to Lyon because it's close enough to Paris by train,and there are cheap flights to Lisbon...We love steak tartare,and wanted to try a new place in Paris.I figured CH will know a good one.You guys rock! Thank you SOOOOO much! Any suggestions are GREATLY appreciated! Marina

[marinee24]

Thank you so much!

[souphie]

Chez Denise la Tour de Monthléry

[Delucacheesemonger]

Tru dat

[boredough]

I hope you can help settle this for me & my husband: We are booked for dinner at Chez Denise on the last day before they close for their summer vacation. My husband is concerned that the restaurant might not be in top form, that they will just be "cleaning out the kitchen" before closing, & their ingredients might not be as fresh as usual. Do any of you (including DCM & souphie) have any thoughts on this matter? Thanks...

[Delucacheesemonger]

i would think not, the restaurants l was involved with never skimped before a vacation other than not to purchase a very big something, but you may be correct. When are they going on vacation ? if l am here l might go that day to see as well.

[Parigi]

One can count on a restaurant like chez Denise always to have fresh ingredients. But precisely because a restaurant like that stocks only fresh ingredients in limited supply, the risk is that it may run out of dishes on the menu on the last day before holiday. Also, part of the staff might have left already. I did have such experience of going to a resto - not chez Denise, on a last day before holiday. More than half of the dishes on the menu were not available, and the resto seems either short staffed, or the staff was already on an impenetrable holiday dream.
Actually I would avoid a resto's last day before holiday myself.

[boredough]

Thanks to both DCM & Parigi. We are booked on July 13 (vacation starts the 14th) - but the lack of complete menu availability would be extremely disappointing, even if the quality of what will be available might be absolutely fine. I guess we'd be better off somewhere else...

[Delucacheesemonger]

That may be a record on a future res from Chez Denise, good job. l like people who plan ahead

[boredough]

oh that's SOP for me...if I've made up my mind where I want to dine. Haven't been to Chez Denise in many years and thought it was time to go back (having seen it mentioned so often on CH). Will keep it in mind for the next time we're in Paris.

[Delucacheesemonger]

After 20+ years, it is still my first meal every trip. Email me if back in autumn, l can join you

[boredough]

Does Sept 10-12 qualify as autumn? :-) We should be back in Paris then...

[Delucacheesemonger]

Not back till 17th, am in St Jean de Luz the week previous, drats

[boredough]

drats 2 fois

[rswatkins]

The menu at Chez Denise is so extensive that even if half of the dishes aren't available, you should be able to eat very well. And sometimes the reverse is true: I've been the beneficiary of a cleaning-out-the-larder attitude at other restaurants on the night before vacation.

[boredough]

We thought of that possibility (larder cleaning) but one never knows what to expect...We're doing Chez l'Ami Jean the following night, so I think it would be food overload anyway.
:-(

[mangeur]

Exactly our experience one year at Les Papilles. It seems like everything was super-sized. Plus the joyous exuberance of a kitchen and staff anticipating vacation the next day. A thoroughly memorable evening.