On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I’m guessing that this was submitted as part of the Paris series, but I somehow missed that! Oh well, lunch in Paris works for me any time.
slipz
One of our favorite places to pick up a bite to eat while wandering the Jewish Quarter. Pretty popular if not exactly haute cuisine.
This is a lunch line. It’s pretty impressive, perhaps 50 meters long. You may wonder what french delight the draw is.
Why Fallafel, of course! It is damn good and all the French you have to know is oui or non when asked if you want it “spicy” or not. A short stroll to Place des Vosges for an impromptu picnic and you’re all set for the rest of the day.
Just some nostalgia. That roof is no more.
Wag
Oui, s’il vous plaît!
Chetan Murthy
I remember eating falafel sammies there in 1991. I think the sign was red-on-white back then.
ETA: not that I actually remember what it tasted like, but …. the best approx to an Israeli falafel sandwich I’ve had in the US, has been at Oren’s Hummus in the Bay Area. The “Sabich”.
slipz
@Chetan Murthy:
Apparently Lenny Kravitz bestowed his seal of approval on this place several years ago. Its popularity skyrocketed. Seriously, google ” Kravits Falafel”
Elizabelle
But the Notre Dame gargoyles are eternal. I hope.
Lapassionara
Thank you! I love the spicy sauce on the falafel there.
Uncle Cosmo
I remember couscous at one of the joints along Rue Xavier Privas…and what I came to call “Tunis fish” sammies and pommes frites from takeaway windows on Rue St.-Severin. In a sunny early afternoon you carried the grub down the street in the opposite direction from the Boule’ Mich’ til you reached St. Julien-le-Pauvre and the Parc Rene Viviani, where you took a seat to feed the sparrows, pigeons and yourself and watch the light play over the bulk of Notre-Dame that rose up over the trees beyond the far side of the Parc.
Over 40 years ago, in fact…
Taken with good 35mm film in about as cheap a range-finder as one could buy in 1980, you can count the stones on ND. Blown up to a 20″x30″ poster, it’s held pride of placement in my living room for nearly as long as I’ve lived there.
(all quotes from Paul Simon, “Bookends”)
(ETA: and a hearty FYWP for thwarting every attempt to correct the formatting you screwed up…)
Steve in the ATL
@Elizabelle: ”Nous sommes les gargouilles!”
phdesmond
@Steve in the ATL:
je mange ma ratatouille
en regardant des vieilles gargouilles.
dnfree
We were there in 2011! Iconic restaurant for vegetarians. When the “Paris” posts began, I thought of it again. Thanks for sharing!
scav
Line I was in was for ice cream at Berthillon, on the Île Saint-Louis, back when it was the only one (ancient of days). After a mass at Notre Dame the first time. I remember the clump of falafel shops in the latin quarter, but somehow missed the ones in le Marais alas!
rlc
Last time I was there it was late February 3 years ago, there might have been two other customers inside at about 2PM, and we walked around the corner to the Jardin Joseph Migneret which was also almost empty, but might be overrun in touristy times. Perhaps the cold drizzle had something to do with it. No bad weather only bad clothes. You can do the Musee Picasso before, beating the crowds, and hoof around the Marais after and yer done with that task.
It’s ok falafel, gets the job done. You want good and cheap ME food in Paris head up the Rue St. Denis toward Gare du Nord. The tourist density continuously thins out along the way, and the atmosphere gets more diversely Paris.
Since I mentioned the weather I’ll share this tip: always get to the big museums about 15 minutes before opening, with your week tourist pass so you can get in the short line, and make sure the weather is awful: a good steady bitter cold rain in winter is ideal. The last time we did this we got a full 45 minutes with the top floor of the d’Orsay to ourselves. A sublime experience.
Diceros bicornis
Finkelstejn’s deli is on the same little rue. Amazing huge soft bagels, real pastrami (haven’t found it anywhere else in France), and a delicious, light, lemony dessert which I’m sure must be an ancestor of New York cheesecake: sernak. I used to get lunch-to-go pretty much every opportunity possible…but I don’t get to visit Paris much now that my company has gone all work-from-home.