Terraces: What are they? Tables in the Street, Garden or Park.

When I was young and naïve (a few days ago) I used to see the notation in guidebooks and lists in the newspapers about ideal restaurants to eat at in Paris that had “terraces.”  Being American, I naturally assumed these were spaces out the back, shaded, surrounded by leafy things and thoroughly delightful. Imagine my surprise at being seated 1 inch from the street, with gasoline fumes and cigarette smoke filling the air, not a breeze and while the food might have been good, it was not like sitting on a dock in Sausalito or overlooking the Maine coast. But one can find good places, with almost ideal circumstances. Let’s take the most reviled and deceptively described of tables, those with tables on the boiling hot street.  The worst example of these is l’Estrapade in the 5th where one is so close to the street that one worries more about the cars nipping your back than the mediocre food; contrasted with Le Reminet which is luckily located on the sleepy rue des Grands-Degres in the 5th, where I have rarely seen a bicycle go by, far less a car.  The latter has had a successful revival and is well worth the visit. Then we’ve got real terraces, I mean areas where there are tables on a flat area besides or around a restaurant.  The poor example of this is Le Chamarré Montmartre, much beloved by all the critics but not by myself, where there is a terrific terrace on a platform overlooking the North side of Montmartre but food that is confused and unfocused.  On the other hand, the genuine terrace at Drouant, is big enough and shaded enough and supplies top-notch food that one almost doesn’t know you’re in central Paris. A one-off type terrace is that exemplified by tables set out in one of the glorious Passages of Paris; my favorite is Passage 53; these are really sheltered spaces that don’t fit in any of the other categories. Gardens in the back are yet another sort of place described as a “terrace.”  While I had two lovely meals at the restaurant at the La Maison de l’Amérique Latine in the 7th, which has one of the most spectacular and huge back gardens spreading out from the back of the house/restaurant.  Le Telegraphe, also in the 7th, has a less impressive garden oasis but more impressive array of food. And then there are the restaurants in really big parks, one thinks of the Pre Catalan and the Grande Cascade, both of which deliver both bucolic settings and marvelous food.   I’ve never been much impressed though at the attempts to have good restos at the Butte Chaumont or the Bois de Vincennes, however. My favorite terrace places this summer then, are: Le Reminet 3, rue des Grands-Degres, 5th (Metro : St Michel, Maubert-Mutualite) T : 01.44.07.04.24 Open 7/7 Lunch menu 14 €, dinner a la carte 40-60 €. Le Telegraphe 41, rue de Lille, 7th, (Metro: Rue du Bac) T:01.58.62.10.08 Open everyday for lunch only Menus at 24.50 and 29.50, a la carte about 50-60 €. Drouant 16-18, place Gaillon, 2nd (Metro: Quatre-Septembre) T: 01.42.65.15.16 Open everyday Plat de jour 20 €, Lunch Menu 45 €, Menu-carte 67 €. Passage 53 53 Passage des Panoramas, 2nd (Metro: Grands Boulevards) T: 01 42 33 04 35 Closed Sundays A la carte 38-44 €, Le Pre Catalan Bois de Bologne (Metro: Porte-Maillot) T: 01.44.14.41.14 Menus (75 at lunch, 140 & 180 €) a la carte 220 € Closed Sundays and Mondays La Grande Cascade Bois de Boulogne (Metro: Porte Maillot) T: 01.45.27.33.51 Menus 70 and 165 €, a la carte 175 €. Closed various holidays.  Blog: John Talbott’s Paris ©by John Talbott 2009 ————- Please post your comments and let them flow. Register  HERE to do so if you need a user name and password.