Paris: Restaurant News

Chefs don't sell bistros that are perennially booked. So when Yves Camdeborde, one of Paris's most popular cooks, decided to let go of La Régalade to buy the tiny Relais Saint-Germain hotel, it was astonishing. At the property's new restaurant, Le Comptoir, Camdeborde offers a terrific brasserie menu all day. Then, at 7 p.m., he sets out fresh linen and flowers and serves a fancier—but extremely reasonable—$50 five-course menu that includes his excellent versions of classics like truffle-and-foie-gras-packed tournedos Rossinias well as more innovative dishes, like an intense chicken bouillon with silky tapioca pearls and duck liver ravioli. The hotel breakfast of coddled eggs, Ibérico ham, flawless pastries and bread with Breton butter is spectacular. DETAILS 9 Carrefour de l'Odéon; 011-33-1-43-29-12-05.

Published August 2005