Another birthday possibility: Au Petit Tonneau, 20 rue Surcouf (7th) was once run by Mme. Ginette Boyer, if not the first, then very nearly the first woman chef/owner to run a bistro in Paris, for whom the expression "cuisine de femme" was coined. She’s retired, and Jais Mimoun, who used to work for Eric Fréchon at “Epicure” in The Bristol, is now running the kitchen. The place is small but not hard to find, the staff, at least when I was there last in 2008, was pleasant and helpful, and there was a pretty good list (I remember a lot of Rhone and Beaujolais). Not outstanding, but cozy, and definitely typical.
One other thought: L’Epi Dupin. It’s got a kind of
show-bizzy web site now, but I am assured by my Perigordian friends that the restaurant remains solid.
François Pasteau, Erwan Lévêque and Florent Mavit are still on the job as they were when we first visited the place in 2000, courtesy of Patricia Welles, the other nice lady from Wisconsin who likes Paris best. The best description I can come up with is that they take Southwestern standards—duck, pig, foie gras, cepes, etc.—and fool around with them in a non-molecular way. The list has some wines you’d expect from Cahors and Madiran, but also Domaine Gauby. Seating can be ridiculously tight--more than once we were recruited by the wait staff to pass dishes to people at tables they couldn't reach--but the whole thing is fun, the food is excellent, and it is not heart-stoppingly expensive. Metro: Sevres-Babylon.
