La Tartine

This afternoon a friend and I met up to do some window shopping in the Marais. The afternoon was promising and perfect for walking through the marais: a rare blue sky with a few clouds (already gray by now, of course...we are in Paris afterall). There are so many cool shops in this area it would be hard to name them all. Unfortunately most of them are WAY out of my budget, even with the soldes period taken into account, which explains why we were limited (not necessarily by choice) to window shopping! One of my favorite ones, that I can afford (because it's a used bookstore), is Mona Lisait, but I stuck hard to my promise and didn't buy any books! My favorite floor is the top one, where they have tons of old posters from museums and galleries.

Another great thing about the Marais is the plethora of bagel shops. Around lunchtime we began to search for somewhere to eat and we stumbled upon this dive:

But alas, it's Saturday, and as it is a Jewish establishment it was closed. I will keep it in mind the next time I have a craving for bagels & cream cheese.

Luckily we didn't have to walk far to find the perfect place for lunch, La Tartine. The interior is adorable, and there is a real and noticable difference between the smoking and non-smoking sections.

Sorry this picture is dark, still haven't mastered all the settings on the camera. So, their specialty is tartines (duh) - open faced sandwiches that start at 5.50€ and run to 7.50€ for the more elaborate ones (accompanied with a salad). These prices are reasonable, especially for the marais. I opted for one of the daily specials, a leek quiche with a salad (7€) and my friend had another special, the beef filet with vegetables and potatoes gratinée and a blue cheese sauce (12€). I bit into my quiche before remembering to take a picture, but I snapped one up of my friend's meal:

Yum. La Tartine also has a great selection of wines by the glass for 3 - 4€. The service was a bit spotty (our THIRD waiter claimed that it was because they were changing shifts, but I've never heard of a restaurant that changes shifts in the middle of lunch hour), but it has many advantages to compensate for this: the cute interior, the true division between smoking and non-smoking, and the reasonable prices. I think it is the perfect place for lunch or a late evening snack. I bet they have a great brunch, too.
La Tartine
24, rue de Rivoli
75004 Paris
01.42.72.76.85
7/7, 8 am - 2 am
Métro: St-Paul

After we left we walked by St. Paul's:

just another afternoon in Paris...

EDIT: p.s. Hey, I went back a few months later. Read about my second visit here.

tags: Ah, France, grub, reads, shopping, sights