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NOTES ON EATING OUT

In North America, we don’t have very strict definitions for places to eat—besides specific categories like diners, drive-ins, fast-food places, and seafood shacks, every eating establishment is really a restaurant, whether modest or elaborate. The restaurant may specialize in a single type of cuisine or feature a variety of foods, but the name of a place doesn’t always indicate how expensive it is or what diners will find there. In France, there is a basic understanding of what diners can expect whether at a café, brasserie, salon de thé, bar à vin, and so forth, and visitors who don’t already know these differences may find them very helpful, not only for the price ranges but for the types of food on offer. Here’s a brief list of what you’ll find in Paris:

Bar à vin: Wine bars are numerous in Paris, and I love them. For me, they are almost always where I prefer to eat because I can try many great wines by the glass that I can’t afford by the bottle and eat light fare chosen specifically to pair well with the wine. Most wine bars are casual, though a few offer actual meals, and are generally inexpensive to moderately priced.

Bistro: Traditionally un bistro is a small, casual restaurant that’s family owned and operated. The menu selections change daily, though only a few dishes are offered, and wine comes in one red and one white variety, usually by the carafe. Prices tend to be modest. However, note that other bistros are quite fancy establishments, with prices to match.

Boulangerie: Though of course a boulangerie stocks bread, many also bake savory items filled with cheese, herbs, olives, slices of ham, or pâté that are terrific for eating en plein air (outdoors), so don’t overlook a boulangerie—or a pâtisserie for that matter. Though known primarily for desserts, pâtisseries often also bake savory items that are easily transported to a picnic blanket or park bench.

Brasserie: The word brasserie derives from brasseur (brewer), so you can be sure beer will be on the menu. It’s typically offered as une pression (on tap) or un demi (about a third of a liter), but you may also find un formidable, a very large glass like those served at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. Most Parisian brasseries also serve specialties from the region of Alsace, which means you’ll find lots of sausages, wursts, sauerkraut, and delicious Alsatian white wine.

Café: Daniel Young, in The Paris Café Cookbook, defines a café as “any establishment where you can stop in for nothing more than a beverage and stay for as long as you like.” This is why both a bistro and a brasserie may also be considered cafés. It is worth repeating that you can order nothing more than a coffee or a glass of beer or wine and sit at a café for many hours and no one will hurry you along. (Though your waiter may ask you to settle the bill if he or she is going off duty.) Light fare, such as sandwiches, omelettes, salads, and baked goods in the morning, is what to generally expect at a café.

Charcuterie: Like a boulangerie, fromagerie (cheese shop), or pâtisserie, a charcuterie—which offers prepared foods—is good to remember for putting together a pique-nique or any meal on the go. A typical charcuterie might have an assortment of cooked hams, sausages, duck confit, and pâté as well as breads, cheeses, smoked fish, quiche, pizza, salads, and terrines. Most everything may be eaten at room temperature, or you can ask them to heat it up.

Restaurant: Though a bistro can sometimes be a restaurant, and a good restaurant can be inexpensive, generally un restaurant is a fancier establishment with a printed menu (as opposed to one handwritten on a chalkboard) and usually costs more. Some Parisian restaurants specialize in seafood or vegetarian cuisine, or the cooking from a particular region of France, or simply a style that is creative and contemporary.

Salon de thé: Tea salons in Paris bear only a slight resemblance to those in England. As Patricia Wells has noted: “Parisians don’t fool around with frail