Pudlo Paris

by Gilles Pudlowski

Organised by arrondissement, the guide lists and describes almost 1000 restaurants, starting with the Grandes Tables - the paragons of the capital's culinary scene - followed by literate and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1892145480
• ISBN13: 9781892145482
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Little Bookroom
• Length: 418 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.6" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Don't go to Paris without your Pudlo

In previous visits to Paris we'd relied on recommendations from friends reviews found on travel websites, and luck. Then you're in Paris and find that the recommended restaurants are far from where you are... or that our friends' taste is rather pedestrian. This time we took the Pudlo guide with us. As a result we ate heavenly - yet as inexpensively as it's possible while the $ is low and the Euro high. The guide is conveniently divided by city areas (arrondissments) so wherever you find yourself at lunch or dinner time, you can just pick a nearby restaurant that's recommended. Restaurants are also marked by price range and decor, and there are a handful of "Pudlo's favorites" -- every one of those was fantastic food. We'll never go to Paris again without the most recent Pudlo in hand.

Priceless companion

We just returned from Paris and I have to say that I wish EVERY major city had a Pudlo guide. I'm sure they're out there in some guise, but this one is simply perfect. I've used Zagat before and in the States have had pretty good results. However, in Europe, I've found that many Zagat reviewers don't quite get the European dining experience. You find scores of complaints about rude waiters, cramped tables and service taking too long. They don't do these fabulous restaurants justice because they base their experiences on wide-open American restaurants with waiters that speak their language who want to turn their tables as fast as possible. Many of the reviews in Zagat get downright annoying. The Pudlo Paris guide was fantastic. It didn't matter which arrondissement you were in, you were never more than a block from a perfect dining experince, whether it was in a noisy bistro or a white tablecloth temple of gastronomy. I'll never go back without it!

If any Paris restaurant review book can be said to be definitive.

For a tourist attempting to plan a Paris vacation, one of the most daunting tasks is planning meals. Unlike most cities where there are a couple of city-defining establishments, Paris is simply awash in wonderful restaurants, with over-the-top , bust your budget choices and quaint, simple good value eateries, with everything in between. While some might argue that its difficult to get a truly bad meal in Paris, it is a revelation to find a place that is not on the top ten list of Fodors or Zagat that blows your taste buds away. Pudlo is the book that every tourist planning a Parisian getaway should reference. There are few establishments missed, few unjustly skewered and few undeservedly lauded. Even some of the old chestnuts that are usually treated with disdain in competing books appear to be freshly reviewed, bringing back into consideration classics such as the Tour D'Argent. I am certain that the depth of Pudlo's now international reach will disappoint some Parisians who now will find les americains in some of their most precious and heretofore private culinary domains.

More useful than Zagat or Michelin --- the new gold standard

A year or so ago, a blogger with a special love for Paris bemoaned the way Americans read English-language restaurant guides and then make predictable choices: "I've given up the occasionally useful Patricia Wells [The Food Lover's Guide to Paris, because every self-respecting American foodie would never find herself eating anywhere in Paris without first checking with the good Ms. Wells. This often results in the mass descending of American food tourists on places she favored. Walking through the door of La Regalade these days feels like one has just been magically transported to Manhattan." The blogger took solace in one enduring reality: "My Pudlo is still only available in French. When a translated version is published, then I will really scream." Well, scream your head off, darling. It's here: the first-ever English language edition of Gilles Pudlowski's voluminous-yet-handy guide to 1,000 Paris restaurants, 300 wine bars, tea shops, cafes and several hundred gourmet groceries. He gives awards: best chef of the year, international restaurant of the year, young chef of the year, bistro of the year --- even best hostess of the year. He lists new restaurants, with ratings (one to three "plates") and prices. He summarizes the "best" restaurants. He collects restaurants that are the "best value for the money." And he smartly organizes this mass of information and opinion by collecting restaurants in arrondisements, with informative short essays at the beginning of each one. Gilles Pudlowski is not just a critic. In that French way, he's a public intellectual: a historian of regional French cooking, a novelist, cookbook author. As a foodie, he's a bit limited; he seems to be obsessed with "produce". And he ends almost every mini-review the same way, with praise for the restaurant's wine list. Still, if you're off to Paris --- or, given the exchange rate, of a mind to read and dream about Paris --- this is the book to buy. Not Zagat? Not Zagat, except as a handy --- because it's alphabetical --- backup. And for a very simple reason: Zagat tells you what tens of thousands of unknown people liked, Pudlo is one man's opinion. Okay, with a little help --- he uses "twenty or so professional and amateur researchers." Still, I think my point holds: You do better dealing with one, reasonably consistent point-of-view than with a legion of unknowns. Pudlo's point-of-view comes across as one of sensible optimism. He finds this a very good time: "Paris has never provided us with as many new opportunities to celebrate at reasonable prices." [Looking at those prices, you may conclude there was a problem in the translation here.] His chef of the year is female. And he has a knack for suggesting restaurants you've never heard of in a way that makes you want to go immediately. The quickest way to test a critic is to compare his impressions of restaurants you know well with your take on those establishments. I was with him on Le Caveau du Palais, an old fa

If you love Paris...

We've spent a lot of time in Paris, especially for the last 15 years on business. We're not big name restaurant people. It's not that we avoid them, we just don't always have time or the inclination to drop half the family fortune. We've never had a bad meal in Paris. Sometimes you just don't feel like making a meal an expedition. Other times, you have your mouth set on something. Pudlo sorts it out by districts in a way anyone who understands the system will find agreeable.. Pudlo is an old new reliable for the French. This is the first time it's been in English, but it's worthwhile. As a test we picked some our favorite restaurants. Most of them were there, including the dishes that we thought we most noteworthy (some exotic). A few were not - and many of the ordinary restaurants we choose would not be in anyone's guide. But it's more useful that most other guides. Just check the menus for price before you eat.