CNN Travel: New crop of Paris restaurants are putting old French classics back on the menu

April 22, 2019

A peal of high-pitched laughter rises sharply above the din of restaurant chatter from a table of three older French women -- likely friends, perhaps sisters -- who have just shared a moment of mirth over empty, chocolate-stained dessert plates.

A few tables over, a pair of scholarly looking silver-haired gentlemen in tweed blazers, turtlenecks and shiny Oxford shoes, is tucking into plates of sauerkraut and sausage, perhaps discussing philosophy, perhaps catching up on life over their weekly luncheon date.

It's a Saturday afternoon inside the recently opened Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse and the Art Nouveau dining rooms are full of mostly local Parisians who have come for the promise of cheap and cheerful French comfort foods at bargain basement prices.

You could call it another kind of French travel paradox: Against a sumptuous setting of brass rails, carved wood, painted glass ceilings, orb light fixtures and ceramic tiled walls, diners tuck into classic French dishes such as leeks vinaigrette, snails, boeuf bourguignon and calf's head -- retro classics that have become increasingly hard to come by in Paris -- for between three to 10 euros apiece (or less than $11).

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