08 September 2020

Le Bouillon Chartier

I mentioned that when my sister was in Paris in 2007, we went for lunch to the Bouillon Chartier restaurant in the area known as Les Grands Boulevards, not far from the Palais Garnier opera house. What's a bouillon? Here's a definition in French: Restaurant bon marché à prix fixe, créé au XIXe siècle.... On y servait à l'origine du bœuf bouilli et son bouillon. Ce menu, copieux mais économique, s'accrut ensuite de quelques autres plats. Here's what Chartier looks like:


What the French above says is that a bouillon is a low-cost, fixed-price restaurant that was invented in the 19th century. Originally such restaurants served boiled beef in its own bouillon. The servings were large. Over time other dishes were added to the menu. Here's Chartier's current menu — these are just the main courses:


One of the reasons I decided to go have lunch chez Chartier with my sister and our friend was that I had had dinner there twice back in 1997 with my mother and my sister's then-15-year-old daughter. They really liked it, especially my niece. Our youngish waiter flirted with her and she was in heaven. She wanted nothing more than to go back chez Chartier as soon as possible for another dinner, and we did. The food there is good if not great, the prices are not high, and the atmosphere is memorable. Here's a link to a page where you can view the other parts of the menu — appetizers, vegetables, desserts, etc.


Chartier now has a second restaurant on the Left Bank, at Montparnasse, and very close to the Tour Montparnasse  skyscraper. Anyway, with my mother and niece in 1997, we had a second dinner chez Chartier. We were shown into the restaurant and seated at a table in a different location from the first time. The flirty waiter didn't wait on us, and my niece was crushed. As our food came, however, the young waiter noticed us and, as soon as he had a minute, he came over to say hello to us. He took my niece's hand and kissed it gallantly. I thought she was going to faint. It was all a lot of fun. That's Chartier for you — fun, memorable, decent French food, an informal atmosphere, and not a big investment.


Be aware that Chartier doesn't take reservations, and the line to get in can be long. The waiters wear what you might consider to be a costume. The tablecloths are covered with paper so they don't get stained by spills. The waiters write down your order on the table paper, and then add up your bill on it too. Bread baskets get passed from one table to another, with some pieces of baguette added as needed. Don't be surprised if you are seated at a table with people you don't know and who got there ahead of you.


Let's see if this link to a 360º view of the interior of the restaurant works. And here's a link to a photo gallery on the restaurant's web site. Finally, here's a link to a post I wrote about our lunch chez Chartier 13 years ago, with more details about the food and our interactions with the staff. When I lived in Paris (1979-82), my apartment wasn't a very long walk from chez Chartier. I wasn't earning a lot of money as a teacher, so I went there often when I wanted a restaurant meal. As CHM mentioned, I took him to Chartier once, maybe 10 or 12 years ago.

Above is Chartier's menu as you see it in the restaurant.
 

28 comments:

  1. That's the kind of glorious French room you want to see on a trip to Paris, and one you can tell everyone about back home. Plus, flirty French waiters are always fun, whatever your age.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most of the dishes on the menu are French classics. Unlike you, Ken, I have no memory of what I had when we were there; it was probably very good. If it had been bad, I'd had remembered. Even though the food was affordable, the restaurant didn't look cheap. Nice atmosphere with a 19th century touch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First lonk didn't work :
      400. That’s an error.

      Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request. That’s all we know.

      Second link didn't open anything.

      Third link worked fine.

      Delete
    2. All three links work fine on my PC. Every link also works on my Android tablet, even if they are slow to open.

      Do you have your laptop or are you doing everything on the iPad these days?

      Delete
    3. There are four links in the post, by the way.

      Delete
    4. When you're stuck in bed almost 24/7, a laptop is not very convenient; I use only my mini Ipad. I just clicked on the first link and, like link # 3 it keeps loading. I tried again to click on the other links with the same result, only # 4 opens. I'm curious to know what other commenters will have to say.

      Delete
    5. Hi chm and Ken! The links are working fine for me, both on my desktop, and on my iPad, both in Chrome.
      This was a fun re-visit chez Chartier, which I went to only once, with Jane and Aimée, Ken, at your suggestion (I'm thinking it was a suggestion in the little booklet about getting used to living in Paris, that you provided for us, as students). It's really great that it is still there. It's such a great-looking place. I'm going to be showing the posts to my French-4s, who are just starting their recipe-reading unit.

      Ken, at your convenience, I'm going to post two of the food photos on FaceBook, since I can't just link to them here... I'm not sure what they are. Looking at the menu, and Googling a bit, I'm pretty sure that one of them is Tripoux, but the other...? ... maybe Tête de veau?

      Delete
    6. Thanks, Judy. Walt can open the links on his PC too. I just got them to open, slowly, on a different Android tablet, too. I'll have a look at Facebook for those photos.

      Delete
  3. Did you know there is a Bouillon Chartier on Place du 18-juin (former place de Rennes) in Montparnasse?

    https://www.parisdigest.com/paris-news/bouillon-chartier-montparnasse.htm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol, Ken. What can you expect at three in the morning?

      Delete
    2. Well, with the second link I get an error and the third one keeps on loading...

      Delete
    3. No. Just like 1and 3, it keeps on loading and nothing happens.

      Delete
    4. Here is what I get when I open your blog in Firefox instead of Duckduckgo.com and click on the first link. Link 3 is the same.
      Error Loading Page
      An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made.

      I already told you about link 2.

      Delete
    5. CHM, if you paste this URL into your browser:

      https://www.bouillon-chartier.com/

      and it still doesn't work, there are two possible problems. One might be that your tablet's time setting is out of sync with Chartier's time setting. I'm not sure I know what that means. The other is that your tablet has some fundamental incompatibility with the Chartier web site... which seems kind of flaky to me anyway.

      Delete
    6. Does this URL work?

      https://www.vogue.fr/lifestyle-en/article/a-new-bouillon-chartier-has-opened-in-montparnasse-paris

      Here it is live.

      Delete
    7. Yes, this last link works fine. As I understand it, Bouillon Montparnasse existed in the early 1900s, but changed hands later. It was revived in the same location.

      Delete
  4. This looks like just the kind of restaurant I would have loved to have gone to in Paris.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've always enjoyed it, without having expectations of being blown away by the food.

      Delete
  5. All of the links worked for me with Firefox. A very interesting post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, TH. I don't know what is going on with CHM's tablet.

      Delete
  6. Chartier looks great. A fun place to spend an afternoon on a cold day and what a nice interior. Love the story about your niece! I'll start with the frisee aux lardons, then the pave au poivre frites. Hmmm confit de canard looks good too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just this past spring was the first time I had read of these Bouillon restaurants in Paris. My daughter said, "MOM...a couple of years ago after my trip to Paris I reported to ALL of my classes about my visit there and about the chain! Your memory is SHOT! Looks like fun, Ken. Maybe when I get there a waiter will flirt with me! Lucky for your niece! What a fun memory for her to have about Paris! How lucky for you when you were working that you could eat so cheaply in such grand surroundings! Diogenes - I must go back to that menu and pick out what I'll have when I go!!!


    Mary in Oregon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The next time I get to go to Paris I'll try the Chartier at Montparnasse.

      Delete
  8. What a great post, thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your niece will always remember the hand kiss at Chartier in Paris! I enjoyed eating there once upon a time.

    ReplyDelete

What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?