~Bon Appetit~

We are not connoisseurs of French cuisine.  I'm a bit more adventurous than my husband. He's a beef bourguignon, poulet (chicken) and porc roti (roast pork) guy.  Nonetheless, it is possible to eat well in Paris without busting the budget and have really good French food.

Most of the photos of food that I'm including are my meals.

I love  soupe a l'oignon gratinee (French Onion soup), so I have it often and try to find the best.  I have had some really bad french onion soup and I've had some that was 'to die for'.  I like it with a big slice of french bread and lots of gruyere.

This was OK, I'm not exactly sure what kind of cheese it was though~and if the cheese isn't running over the bowl, it's not enough.

This is more like it.  It was good but the more I ate, the more I sensed that it had "something" in it giving it a distinct flavor.  I couldn't put my finger on it until I got to the bottom of the bowl and scooped up a clove.  This was an Alsatian restaurant, maybe that's the way they flavor their food.

I always  lean towards quiche for lunch.  I do not know how they do it but every quiche I had was twice as big as any that I've made or had in the US.

Quiche lorraine

These are not small plates and the slice of quiche was quite large.  The salad was wonderful and as with most green salads the dressing is dijon vinaigrette.  The quiche was tomatoe and vegetables.  The carrots were finely grated and it was SO tasty.            

I wish I could cook like that!!

I voted this the BEST cheese omelette~Le Conti on rue Buci in St. Germain.

(And the omelettes are light and fluffy like the quiche~I wonder what the secret is?)

This is a favorite on every French cafe menu~Croque Madame.  It's an open-faced grilled ham & cheese on texas toast-sized bread with an egg on top.  The Croque Monsieur is the same without the egg.

This was my favorite lunch~at Le Centenaire near Invalides.  It's an avocado salad. 

The best part were the 2 pieces of toasted bread topped with thinly sliced ham and melted cheese. 

Dijon vinaigrette dressing of course.

Lunches were definitely my favorite meal and it's generally less expensive.  You can get just about anything that you can get for dinner; the servings may be a bit smaller.

When we didn't want to bother going out and eating in a restaurant, we had sandwiches.  They are like our subs, made fresh each day~sometimes to order~in the boulangerie.  Tuna (thon) sandwiches are the best. (and it's another way to save on the food expense)

For dinner we used the charcuterie quite often.  It's not only easier on the budget than eating in a restaurant but it was fabulously good with the added advantage of being able to eat in the apt. whenever we wanted.

Roast pork, spinach souflee and sauteed potatoes.  We would get extra potatoes and Woody would have them for breakfast with an egg. I asked for a serving pour deux (for 2),but it was usually enough for 2 meals.

Haricots vert (green beans), sauteed potatoes and chicken (emincees de volaille).

When I chose this, I only knew that volaille was chicken.

This was a meal that Woody had. The meat on the skewers is chicken with the standard frites.

Fries come with just about everything. After a while you really get tired of frites!  It's surprising to me that French restaurants don't serve more meals with vegetables.  This was another advantage of picking up our dinner at the charcuterie; there were always several choices of vegetable dishes.

My favorite of favorites ~ravioli avec quatre fromage (4 cheese ravioli) at La Perla.  I had it 3 times.

I got hooked on the Prosecco too.  The container in the middle is water.

Honestly I didn't eat too much dessert.  Occasionally we went out for gelato after dinner.  

When I did have dessert, I usually ordered profiteroles.

This photo does not do justice to this tasty delight.  Three cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with thick decadent chocolate and topped with whipped cream.

I think I had this more than 3 times.

I think after 4 trips to Paris we finally have the eating routine down.  We have a list of favorite restaurants and we can read the menus better; now going out to eat is not such a 'chore'.