FAQ: No English spoken please.

FAQ: No English spoken please.

Especially on the web, people want to find restaurants or bistros in Paris that are “authentic,” where the “locals go” and where they won’t hear any English (or presumably any other “foreign” language) spoken. Paradoxically, the same folks also are afraid they won’t understand the menu and want to be sure someone on the staff speaks English.

Well, have I got the solution to the problem.

First, as I’ve been advising for years – go at lunch, when the visitors are either in museums or gobbling down a quick lunch near one and the folks one is likely to run into are working stiffs on lunch breaks.

The day before this was written, for instance, Colette and I dejeuned at the 122, a place that advertises its food as from yesterday and tomorrow, tucked in the midst of government/ministry buildings and has been for the 18 months since it opened - “undiscovered” by our countrymen, despite the excellent cooking and fantastic welcome/service.

Second, go to places that are new, not to be the first there, as many boast on the web and in the print media, but because the early reviews are usually in the French media at Figaroscope, A Nous Paris, l’Express and Le Fooding. (Shameless self-advertisement: A quick way to get these is by consulting the weekly Digest here on Mondays or Tuesdays.) In addition, the new food bloggers collective – Paris By Mouth – in English and French has fairly prompt reviews of recently opened places.

Just the week before this written Colette and I ate at Jeanne A., Moustache and Casse Noix, all of which only opened this Fall-Winter and most of which will be ignored by visitors until all the guidebooks are out.

Third, go when Americans do not – at lunch as I said above, after 9 PM and on holidays.

Again, just last weekend, on New Year’s Day, when little but the brasseries and hotel dining rooms are functioning, Colette and I dined with friends at Lao Lang Xang 2, a Lao-Thai-Viet charmer where we usually go on Christian holidays. Here, not surprisingly, the “foreign” languages are Asian.

Some favorites where these criteria can be met are:

Le 122: Bistrot d'Hier et Aujourd'hui
122, rue de Grenelle in the 7th (Metro: Solferino)
T: 01.45.56.07.42
Closed weekends, open for lunch Mondays-Fridays, dinner weekdays except Thursday and has an "afterwork apero-dinatore" from 6:30-10 PM except Thursdays.
Lunch formula at 16,50, menu-carte at 35 and 20 €.

Jeanne A.
42 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud in the 11th (Metro: Oberkampf)
T: 01.43.55.09.49
Closed Tuesday-Thursday
A la carte 30-40 E.

Moustache
3, rue Sainte-Beuve in the 6th (Metros: Vavin or ND des Champs)
T: 01.42.22.56.65
Closed Sundays; open for dinner only on Saturday and Monday.
A la carte about 40 E without beverages.

Le Casse Noix
56, rue de la Fédération in the 15th, (Metro: Bir-Hakeim or Dupleix)
T:, 01.45.66.09.01
Closed weekends
Has a variety of formulas, menu-cartes and specials that run one anywhere from 16 to 35 € for a meal.

Lao Lane Xang 2
102, Ave d’Ivry, 13th (Metro: Tolbiac)
T: 01 58 89 00 00
Closed Wednesdays
Lunch menu 10,80 €, 20–25 € à la carte