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Fodor’s Choice | Il Vino.

$$$$ | FRENCH FUSION | It might seem audacious to present hungry diners with nothing more than a wine list, but the gamble is paying off for Enrico Bernardo at his newly opened restaurant with a branch in Courcheval. Winner of the world’s best sommelier award in 2005, this charismatic Italian has left the George V to oversee a dining room where food plays second fiddle (in status, not quality). The hip decor—plum banquettes, body-hugging white chairs, a few high tables—has attracted a mostly young clientele that’s happy to play the game by ordering one of the blind, multicourse tasting menus for €75 or €100. This might bring you a white Mâcon with saffron risotto, crisp Malvasia with crabmeat and black radish, a full-bodied red from Puglia with Provençal-style lamb, sherrylikevin jaune d’Arbois with aged Comté cheese, and sweet Jurançon with berry crumble. You can also order individual wine-food combinations à la carte or pick a bottle straight from the cellar and ask for a meal to match. | 13 bd. de la Tour-Maubourg, Invalides | 75007 | 01–44–11–72–00 | AE, DC, MC, V | Station: Invalides

Jules Verne.

$$$$ | HAUTE FRENCH | Alain Ducasse doesn’t set his sights low, so it was no real surprise when he took over this prestigious dining room on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, and had designer Patrick Jouin give the room a neo-futuristic look in shades of brown. Sauces and pastries are prepared in a kitchen below the Champ de Mars before being whisked up the elevator to the kitchen, which is overseen by young chef Pascal Féraud. Most accessible is the €85 lunch menu (weekdays only), which brings you à la carte dishes in slightly smaller portions. Spend more (about €150–€200 per person) and you’ll be entitled to more lavish dishes such as lobster with celery root and black truffle, and fricassee of Bresse chicken with crayfish. For dessert the kitchen reinterprets French classics, as in an unsinkable pink grapefruit soufflé with grapefruit sorbet. Book months ahead or try your luck at the last minute. | Tour Eiffel, south pillar, Av. Gustave Eiffel | 01–45–55–61–44 | Reservations essential; jacket required | AE, DC, MC, V | Station: Bir-Hakeim .

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon.

$$$–$$$$ | MODERN FRENCH | Famed chef Joël Robuchon retired from the restaurant business for several years before opening this red-and-black-lacquer space with a bento-box-meets-tapas aesthetic. High seats surround two U-shape bars, and this novel plan encourages neighbors to share recommendations and opinions. Robuchon’s devoted kitchen staff whip up “small plates” for grazing (€10–€25) as well as full portions, which turn out to be the better bargain. Highlights from the oft-changing menu have included an intense tomato jelly topped with avocado purée and thin-crusted mackerel tart, although his inauthentic (but who’s complaining?) take on carbonara with cream and Alsatian bacon, and the merlan Colbert (fried herb butter) remain signature dishes. Bookings are taken for the first sittings only at lunch and dinner. | 5 rue Montalembert, St-Germain-des-Prés | 75007 | 01–42–22–56–56 | MC, V | Station: Rue du Bac

Le Café Constant.

$ | BISTRO | Middle-aged Parisians are a nostalgic bunch, which explains the popularity of this down-to-earth venue from esteemed chef Christian Constant. This is a relatively humble bistro with cream-color walls, red banquettes, and wooden tables. The menu reads like a French cookbook from the 1970s—who cooks veal cordon bleu these days?—but with Constant overseeing the kitchen, the dishes taste even better than you remember. There’s delicious and creamy lentil soup with morsels of foie gras, and the artichoke salad comes with fresh—not bottled or frozen—hearts. A towering vacherin (meringue layered with ice cream) might bring this delightfully retro meal to a close. On weekdays there is a bargain lunch menu for €16 (two courses) or €23 (three courses). | 139 rue St-Dominique, Invalides | 75007 | 01–47–53–73–34 | Reservations not