Eating Off the Champs-Elysees

Paying upward of €50 per person for a midday meal is no laughing matter. However, when said meal consists of precisely prepared plates served by elegant waiters in a … gorgeous hotel restaurant that was once home to the ultimate screen goddess, Marlene Dietrich -- well, the give-get ratio is somewhat balanced out. Directed by legendary chef Michel Troisgros, the Michelin one-star kitchen turns out food prepared under five themes (tomatoes, citrus, spices, greens, and dairy), mixing traditional and exotic ingredients. To whit: tamarind-spiced frog legs; a pigeon and grapefruit beignet; or a dessert of Jasmine tea and strawberry dim-sum. [link]

Part of the Flo restaurant empire (deemed by some traditionalists as the devil incarnate for its purchase of a selection of the city's most authentic brasseries), Le … Boeuf sur le Toit is an undeniably grown-up brasserie a scant few hundred meters from the tourist clamor of the Champs-Élysées. Breathe in the elegant Art Déco splendor of this former cabaret venue as you order from a menu featuring traditional cuisine with a twist. Lunch will set you back around €30. Waiters are smartly dressed and the atmosphere is slightly rarefied. Not a place, in other words, for the sneaker-clad set. [link]

Startling to consider, isn't it, that for less than the price of a beer at the heavily inflated Publicis café, one can enjoy a simple meal of boudin noir aux pommes … (€5.50) at Maison Faucheux, an inexpensive café cum traiteur two steps away from Métro Saint-Philippe du Roule. The friendly owner, Jean-Michel, offers sandwiches with a wide variety of fillings (€3.50) and salads (€1.20 per 100 grams), alongside desserts of the cookie and brownie variety. It may not be haute cuisine, but as a fresh alternative to Quick and La Brioche Dorée, they don't come much better. [link]

This is the newest address from chef Gilles Choukroun, one of the masterminds behind Generations.C (like Le Fooding, another in a series of inspirational French food … movements). Taking up residence in the Grand Palais, both the menu and décor is unashamedly contemporary; munch on Vietnamese-style spring rolls stuffed with salmon and green vegetables, or foie gras, popcorn, and caramel balsamic served in an oversized glass tumbler. There's a great terrace and decent value lunch for €20. However, reviews on service have been mixed. [link]

Sure, you can pick up a sandwich jambon cru from Paul's Champs-Élysées address. But why settle for mediocrity when just a five minute stroll off the grand boulevard … will place you face to face with the gold standard in Iberian ham, sandwiched between delectable slices of pain Moisan? And all for less than €10. Part of the Byzance group (well known for its importation of only the best cured Spanish pig and owner of popular Spanish restaurant Bellota-Bellota in the 7th), the small space also offers more substantive fare for those looking to eat in. [link]

Perhaps the most affordable of superstar chef Alain Ducasse's Parisian addresses, Spoon is the sort of Philippe Starck-designed restaurant that makes diners feels … à la mode simply by stepping through the door. But with Ducasse at the helm, you can rest assured that this is one eatery with more than just surface appeal. The carte demands a mix and match approach that should be terribly wrong but is somehow fabulously right; choose the dish, the condiment, and an accompaniment and -- voilà -- your very own personalized menu is born. Though at times complicated, the results are inspired. [link]

Teppanyaki. It brings to mind images of an 1980s businessmen's lunch, of novelty dining fueled by cheap saké. But not at Kokohana. Here two competent chefs battle it out … at their respective posts, slicing and sautéing everything from foie gras to scallops on their oil-slicked hot plates. The performance is pure theater. And the results? Delicious, even if failing to distinguish itself from any other teppanyaki restaurant of passable quality. Go for the drama and stay for the prices; menus from €14.50 to €38. [link]