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Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [133]

By Root 1161 0

scene of sun-drenched revelers, while he lived here—and Maurice Utrillo, Montmartre painter par excellence. The museum recaps the area’s history; the strong points are the many Toulouse-Lautrec posters and original Eric Satie scores. Temporary exhibitions focus on famous residents like Jean Marais, the late, dashing actor who dabbled in painting and sculpture. Check out the view from the second floor of the tiny vineyard—the only one in Paris—on Rue des Saules. There’s some basic info available in English. | 12 rue Cortot, Montmartre | 75018 | 01–49–25–89–37 | www.museedemontmartre.fr | €8 | Wed.–Sun. 11–6 | Station: Lamarck Caulaincourt.

Place du Tertre.

This once-charming square, now generally teems with crowds of tourists and hordes of street artists clamoring to do your portrait. The ubiquitous souvenir shops were once home to artists who for decades called this tumbling square (tertre means “hillock”) home. For an easy descent from the top of the hill, walk to the back of the square and find Rue du Calvaire, which is actually a picturesque staircase. | Station: Abbesses.

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A new wave of culinary confidence is running through one of the world’s great food cities and spilling over both banks of the Seine. Whether cooking up grand-mère’s roast chicken and riz au lait or placing a whimsical hat of cotton candy atop wild-strawberry-and-rose ice cream, Paris chefs are breaking free from the tyranny of tradition and following their passions.

But self-expression is not the only driving force behind the changes. A traditional high-end restaurant can be prohibitively expensive to operate. As a result, more casual bistros and cafés have become attractive businesses for even top chefs, making the cooking of geniuses such as Joël Robuchon and Pierre Gagnaire more accessible to all (even if these star chefs rarely cook in their lower-priced restaurants).

Like the chefs themselves, Paris diners are breaking away—albeit cautiously—from tradition. New restaurants and sandwich bars are multiplying rapidly. And because Parisians are more widely traveled than in the past, many ethnic restaurants are making fewer concessions to French tastes, resulting in far better food.

PRICES AND RESERVATIONS

By French law, prices must include tax and tip (service compris or prix nets), but pocket change left on the table in basic places, or an additional 5% in better restaurants, is always appreciated. Beware of bills stamped “Service Not Included” in English or restaurants slyly using American-style credit-card slips, hoping that you’ll be confused and add the habitual 15% tip. In neither case should you tip beyond the guidelines suggested above.

Here are a few key sentences for booking, if needed: “Bonjour madame/monsieur (ma’am, sir; say bonsoir after 6 PM). Je voudrais faire une reservation pour X (1, un/une; 2, deux; 4, quatre; 6, six) personnes pour le diner (dinner)/le déjeuner (lunch) aujourd’hui à X heu res (today at X o’clock)/demain à X heures (tomorrow at X o’clock)/lundi (Monday), mardi (Tuesday), mercredi (Wednesday), jeudi (Thursday), vendredi (Friday), samedi (Saturday), dimanche (Sunday) à X heures (at X time). Le nom est (your own name). Merci. Au revoir.” Many of these restaurants have their own Web sites and you can e-mail them for reservations instead of making a telephone call—readers report that they get fast and courteous replies. Note that

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Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [133]

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