Paris is romantic by default.  The city of light has seduced travelers with the charms of its architecture, style, and food for as long as its residents have been leaving even casual visitors with sentimental memories to last a lifetime.  “We’ll always have Paris” might be a line from an old movie but it’s also how many travelers have felt about their time there.

What more perfect a place to enjoy a Valentine’s Day dinner than Paris? 
While French cooking has gotten a run for its money in the past few years from the likes of Ferran Adrià, Yotam Ottolenghi, and most recently René Redzepi, Paris is still home to some of the best restaurants in the world.  Even if the pendulum swings toward the aforementioned celebrity chefs joining forces and serving forest twigs covered in chickpea foam, Paris will always be a place to experience and enjoy some of the finest cooking available anywhere.

Not every table worth a trip to Paris is a big-budget grand palace, but if your taste runs toward a more elegant and gastronomic experience, Paris is the place to indulge.  Whether you’re having a blow-out meal at a Michelin 3-star establishment or steak-frites at a corner bistro, you can be sure that your food has been prepared with the same loving attention to detail.  And the same goes for the quality of the wine you’ll encounter.

I don’t get to Paris nearly as often as I’d like to, but even through I’ve dined splendidly from New York to Istanbul and Shanghai and from Oslo to Cape Town, I’ll always have Paris.

Popping the Cork
Champagne is always a prefect choice for a special occasion and in Paris you’ll find a varied selection of brands and vintages.  The wine steward or sommelier of any good restaurant will be able to recommend the perfect choice, but having a little knowledge beforehand doesn’t hurt either.  Here’s some background about Champagne, plus my personal favorite brands:

While the invention of this most seductive wine has been attributed variously to monks, rich widows, and even the devil himself, it seems that naturally occurring sparkling wines were known as early as the first half of the sixteenth century.  Those early examples of the wine that would eventually come to be called Champagne were either accidentally or then deliberately bottled before fermentation had stopped, thus creating a bubbly effervescence once the wine bottle was opened. 

By the mid-1500s fully fermented wine was made to sparkle by adding a ‘dosage’ of sugar as it was bottled, thus creating a second fermentation.   This is still called the ‘methode champenoise’ or Champagne method.  Though the possibility to create sparkling wine in this way was known for a long time, it took years before strong enough bottles and armature to hold down the corks would be invented; once they were, Champagne was well on its way to becoming the favorite of wine drinkers it has remained to this day.

Here are a few terms you’ll see on labels and what they mean:

Extra brut, brut, extra-dry, sec, and demi sec all refer to the amount of sugar added to provoke the second fermentation, Extra brut being the driest and demi sec the sweetest.

Blanc de blancs is Champagne made from white grapes, usually Chardonnay.

Blanc de noirs refers to Champagne made from black grapes, usually Pinot noir or Pinot meunier; the wine remains white because the skins are removed immediately after pressing.

Champagne rosé is made by adding a small proportion of red wine to white or more rarely by adding a small proportion of black grapes to the press and leaving the skins in the wine for the initial fermentation.

Don’t know which brand is best?  Here is a short list of my favorites, three in the top category and three more that are excellent but of lesser repute (and price).

Krug is the all-out choice for the best of the best and the price always reflects this.

Taittinger, especially its Comtes de Champagne line is also one of the top ten brands.

Jacques Selosses might not be as familiar as many other frequently exported Champagnes, but it is also a contender for a place in the top 5.

Egli-Ouriet, Billecart Salmon (especially the rosé), and Nicolas Feuillatte might not be quite as fancy as the previously mentioned brands but they’re also excellent Champagnes.

The Stars
Like the big-name restaurants in any city, the following, my favorites, all require a big budget, as well as confirmed reservation.  Tables at restaurants of this type can be booked solid months in advance, so make sure to plan accordingly.  If you’ll be in Paris more than a few days a helpful concierge can often book you a table at a multi-starred establishment.  Dining at one of these restaurants can easily run to between 300 and 400 Euros a person.  Making it lunch instead of dinner will halve the cost.

Le Grand Vefour has occupied its enviable location under the arcades of the Palais Royal for over 200 years.  Put on the gastronomic map by previous chef-owner Raymond Oliver, the restaurant is currently owned and run by Guy Martin.  Winter menu selections include ravioli of foie gras with truffles, Bresse chicken with truffles and crayfish (a classic), and roasted lobster with Belgian endive and a licorice jus.  Finish up with a disk of hazelnut and milk chocolate mousse with caramel ice cream and a pinch of fleur de sel.
Le Grand Vefour (closed Saturday and Sunday)
17 Rue de Beaujolais
75001 Paris
+331 4296 5627

www.grand-vefour.com  l’Arpege is a place I’ve long considered my “personal” 3-star restaurant because it’s right up the street from an inexpensive hotel where I always stay in Paris.  Because of the easy commute, I’ve had a number of memorable lunches and dinners there.  Chef-owner Alain Passard has continued with his magically light cuisine that emphasizes ethereal vegetable preparations without being vegetarian.  Don’t miss his signature egg shell filled with custardy eggs scented with maple syrup, grilled sweetbreads with horseradish, or pineapple with lime and olive oil.  Never garish, always deeply flavorful and light, this is what elegant gastronomic cooking is all about.
l’Arpege (closed Saturday)
84 Rue de Varenne
75007 Paris
+331 4705 0906

www.alain-passard.com  Pierre Gagnaire was the acknowledged “bad boy” of French cuisine long before Ferran Adria had even dreamed of shooting diluted food out of a whipped cream canister.  Since he started impressing clients and critics alike at his first restaurant in Saint Etienne, Gagnaire has always taken classics in a new direction and picked and chosen everything he likes best from every cuisine on the planet without descending to anything so vulgar as fusion.  I remember an early visit when a cold onion soup was one of the pre-appetizers.  As my dining companion and I tasted it simultaneously we both looked up and said, “Watermelon!” The sweet crunch perfectly offset the salty sweetness of the long-simmered onions.  Today you’ll find plenty of Asian touches on the menu chez Gagnaire, but you’ll also be treated to such French classics as a hochepot of beef, veal, cabbage, and root vegetables.  Dining at Gagnaire is an unforgettable experience.
Pierre Gagnaire (closed Saturday and Sunday)
6 Rue Balzac
75008 Paris
+331 5836 1250

www.pierre-gagnaire.com The Bistros
I would never be able to make up my mind if I had to choose between a multi-starred place and a no-star bistro with gutsy cooking.  Here are a few of my favorites.  They might not be booked months in advance, but in Paris reserving is always a good idea, especially if you want a table at a specific time.

 La Fontaine de Marsis warm and cozy in cold weather and the upstairs room is a perfect refuge from the Parisian winter.  In warm weather the tables spill into the square next to the restaurant and you can linger over a coffee after lunch and plan the next bout of shopping or sight-seeing.  Don’t expect any surprises, especially not when the check arrives, but you’ll enjoy such classics as oeufs en meurette (poached eggs in a meaty red wine sauce), Dover sole meuniere, or braised beef cheeks with carrots.  I don’t know what President Obama and the First Lady ordered, but I’m sure they enjoyed it. 
La Fontaine de Mars (open every day)
129 rue Saint-Dominique
75007 Paris
+331 4705 4644

www.fontainedemars.com Le Baratin created quite a sensation when it was plastered all over the old Gourmet magazine a few years ago.  Fortunately nothing has changed; both the gutsy food and the excellent if slightly kinky wine choices are better than ever.  Situated in Belleville, the birthplace of Edith Piaf as well as Paris’ Chinatown, Le Baratin is owned and run by Raquel Carena who is in the kitchen, and her husband Philippe Pinoteau tends the bar and chooses the wines.  I still remember a coarse-textured and addictively good baked chicken liver paté that I had there at least 10 years ago.  Today you can choose among dishes like red tuna tartare with Maldon salt and miso and malt vinegar or veal with crisp eggplant ribbons.  Try the bread pudding with dulce de leche to finish.
Le Baratin
3 rue Jouye-Rouve
75020 Paris
+331 4349 3970

Bofinger
Paris was once filled with real Alsatian brasseries like Bofinger, but today less than a handful survive.  The same fate might have befallen Bofinger but it was cleverly and thankfully saved by the Flo restaurant group, one of the few chains that takes over older establishments without tampering with their food or its quality.  Of course the thing to have at Bofinger is choucroute, rich braised sauerkraut with the classic accompaniments of braised pork belly, smoked ham, sausages, and a boiled potato or two.  I had always liked Bofinger and had been there many times, but I once asked Pierre Hermé, who is from Alsace, where he likes to have choucroute and Bofinger was his top choice.  In season, there’s also exquisite seafood served on those enormous platters on stands that look almost more French than the Eiffel tower.
Bofinger
5 Rue de la Bastille
75004 Paris
+331 4272 8782

www.bofingerparis.com If you’d like to surf for some other choices, here are a couple of ultra-reliable sites that offer Paris restaurant reporting and reviews:

www.parisbymouth.com