The Question Is: Where To Eat?

I'd have to say that the most daunting, or actually, painstaking part of a visit to Paris has to be "where to eat".

It's naturally assumed that nearly any establishment in Paris will serve comestibles on a level several degrees more considered than the typical American restaurant or cafe.

However, after a morning or even a whole day of walking, the intellectual and emotional desire to experience Parisian cuisine and cafe culture is likely to release the trap door and give way to that basest of instincts: actual hunger.

While walking through the Rue de Buci a few years ago, I succumbed to an Italian spaghetti dinner. The meal was not bad. But the idea that I had forsaken Le Deux Magots (unbeknownst, it was only a few blocks away) in favor of something I could have made at home, ate at me for days.

It was the worst possible irony. In Paris, City of Light and a thousand estimable bistro choices, I made the sad choice of immediate gustatory gratification. It was as if a benefactor had written a blank check, and I had penned in "$10.00".

Therefore, I intend to (gasp) coordinate with my wife in advance on what we shall see and do while in Paris, this time. Then, I shall consult the invaluable book "The Food Lover's Guide to Paris" by Patricia Wells, and plot out a selection of restaurants within the general vicinity of where we'll be. Heck, I might even Google Map out the routes.

Another reliable contemporary resource is the rising young French food critic (or saveur) Clotilde Dusouleir from her website www.chocolateandzucchini.com.

That way, I do believe we will never go hungry, nor will we suffer the malaise of ill-chosen restaurants. We will, as any respectable Frenchman does, have planned our day around lunch.