Hi Marjoriacs,
Our Concierge à Paris (Mike) has requested that I put up a poll question for you, so for those of you who don't ever actually look at the blog (Beau, that means you), please make an exception and spend 1 second answering this one question poll any time over the next few days. You'll find it towards the top of the page on the right hand side of the blog.
As you may or may not recall, our concierge is charged with putting together a special group dinner (purely voluntary--you don't have to go) for one of our nights in Paris.
He's been doing his research and he's determined that the fancy schmancy restaurants in Paris are really expensive (well, I'll be--who could have guessed?). We're talking taking a second mortgage expensive.
If I heard him correctly, Mike claims that his preliminary research shows there are ultra fancy restaurants in Paris that might cost up to $300 per person. Ouch! I have a feeling that $300 apiece might be a bit more than some of us are willing to spend for a month of groceries, much less a single meal.
I'm trying to picture my parsimonious brother willingly parting with $600 for dinner for two, and that vision is just not coming to me.
On the other hand, some of us might think that $300 isn't too much to spend for one of the best meals of your life and a once in a lifetime experience.
So here's the question. If we have a special night out together, how much would you be willing to fork out for dinner? The poll gives you a range of price options. Our concierge will tally the poll results and take that into consideration as he plans and reserves our dinner.
Merci pour votre participation.
Finally, congratulations to Cathleen for running away with the shopaholic poll.
13 comments:
Taking into consideration that 11 of the most fabulous people in the world will be at the table.....the setting of the restaurant, quality of the food and friendly wait staff would seem more important than the cost. I am hopeful that we can get a wonderful, memorable meal without having to sell body parts!! However, this is the trip of a lifetime.....
We're thinking that a place that the locals go to when it's a special occasion might be worth a look, sort of like in New Orleans - nothing tops breakfast at Brennan's, but there are several places that come mighty close and leave you enough for a great tee-shirt and hat to remember it by. That first night we'll be so dazzled and giddy, it will be like being nine at Disneyworld, regardless of the number of Michelin stars in the pedigree. We're in, though, however the vote comes out!
Thank you Mike for your great work in this area. We just want to be with our friends and enjoy where ever we go.
I am with Steve on trying to find a great place that the locals go to and not spending on a touristy trap. I have a young friend who travels extensivley in France and has been recently to Paris and acutally lived in the area not too long ago. I will see what she says. She too loves great food and the whole French jenasequa ( I mangled the word, but you know what I am saying).
However, I do have two kidneys that work pretty well and don't I just need one.
On the other hand, Beau will probably say, lets take a cooler of deer steaks and redfish and see what we can do in our room. I think there is a book out about cooking in your motel coffee maker.
Beau and I will enjoy wherever we go.
Love ya'll,
Kathy
Colleen--I love your attitude! I agree that you can get a very good meal in Paris without spending an arm and a leg. But it may be harder to have that "once in a lifetime" meal without spending more than you would if you were thinking straight.
Steve--I agree with yout that the first night we'll all be way too tired to enjoy anything other than comfort food, so I second that sentiment. I'm not talking about the first night we're there for this particular meal.
We'll get to Paris on Thursday and will board Marjorie on Sunday. That leaves three nights in Paris. So I'm thinking that first night folks could grab dinner "wherever". If we're going to have one "special" dinner together in Paris, it would be on either Friday or Saturday night.
Also, I'd encourage us to break up into smaller groups on the other night so that we don't get sick of each other before we start.
Kathy--Beau sent me a separate e-mail. He didn't actually answer my question, but did deliver an essay on the merits of happenstance and just going anywhere based on the advice of a friend of his from the Y who was in Paris recently, so he voted going the no reservations/no plans route.
I'll bounce back to your dear husband presently on the folly of his friend's counsel, but my vision is to have one very nice dinner at a very special restaurant--preferably a restaurant in Michelin star territory. Contrary to Beau's buddy's opinion, not every restaurant in Paris is "gourmet" or even good. There's plenty of bad food at the cafes and restaurants of that city if you make the wrong choice.
So we'll see what Mike comes up with after the poll results are in, and anyone who finds the price tag too high for the value of the food they're likely to receive is welcome to opt out.
I'd like to have a quorum of the BYSAPC present for that dinner, so we'll do everything we can so that we don't price anyone out of this meal. Just as a reminder, however, only our lunches and dinners for the three days in Paris aren't already paid for. Our breakfasts in Paris and all of our meals on the boat are included, so our total out of pocket food costs aren't going to be very high on this trip.
Frankly and selfishly, I was hoping everyone would say, "what the heck, why not go nuts on just one meal in this lifetime?"
But I'm coming at this from a slightly different point of view. When I see a $300 apiece dinner tab for Teri and me and translate that to the percentage of total trip cost that it represents, it's an awfully small part of the total and not really out of line.
One compromise we could make is doing our group dinner at a more modest place and then setting up a "very optional" dinner the other night at one of those insanely expensive palaces of cuisine.
I'm up for a fancy dinner, no matter what it costs. I would like to taste what it's like to die and go to Heaven just once before I actually do just that.
Hank: Sorry I haven't blogged, but I tried to sign up and it didn't work so I am just replying to your email and Kathy is supposed to come to my office and help set me up so I can blog.
Anyhow, I have a friend down at the YMCA who just got back from a week in Paris. He said that the food everywhere was unbelievable. He said that you walk into a place that looks so-so and you wind up getting a gourmet meal. They just walked around and would stop in and read the menu and decide to stay. He said some places looked like not-so-fancy-of-a-place (dumpy)but your ended up getting a really good meal. The moral of the story is that maybe we should just go to the museums, walk around, and just stop in some places and see what gives and what we feel like. Kind of like riding on the street car and getting off at the river bend and just checking out some places. In other words, we don't need a reservation. We should find our restaurant while we are there.
Beau Cooper
P.S. I was really impressed with the Belize Mission Trip. Kind of crazy going to the main penitentiary and getting your supplies.
I guess I'm now bound and determined to get the name of a "happenstance" restaurant in Paris, from my buddy at the YMCA who, incidentally, swam and walked with me today as we reviewed the mighty American Armada's performance in China town.
Hey Beau,
Look at you . . . you're blogging.
Welcome to the party!
And hey, definitely get the name of your buddy's happenstance restaurants in Paris.
It probably won't be a shock to anyone that I am sort of on the same page as my dear husband and let me tell you why.
I am the original budget girl--especially since I have become a Dave Ramseyite. I am really a cheapskate these days! I want a bargain and will seek it out. Hey--I love Mexican meals because they are the original cheap meal out.
BUT...I have been on about 18 years of trips with Hank Henley and a bunch of them abroad. We have eaten on the cheap side and some of those were very memorable. But on every trip we have also had at least one blow out meal and even when we were sort of on the broke side--the Fish Beure Blanc at the Chateau in 1995, the prawns at the Villa in Siena in 1997, every rocking meal at Manior Hovey in Quebec (1996, 1998) and the most beautiful sunset in the world overlooking the Alhambra in Spain (2002), food as art in Vietnam (2007) and on the state side the crazy splurge at Cuvee the night we sold our house in New Orleans.
Now, you know I like stuff, but I can't remember many outfits or home furnishings I bought 10 years ago--but those amazing meals... Well, let's just say that when I am old and drooling in the nursing home, I think I'll remember those gastronomic delights. It's the combo of all the senses. I can still taste, see and smell the Pesto Pasta from the Cinque Terre in 1997.
This trip is all about making memories and if we eat tuna fish out of a can all trip, there will be crazy memories. But I would love for all of you to experience one of those rare dinners that Hank and I have been so lucky to enjoy over the past years. In fact, that is what this whole trip is about.
(Smacking myself in the forehead) Friday night! Saturday night! Right, we'll be rested and ready to begin the adventure. I like the idea of having a couple of choices each evening, but making one of them a real thrill ride.
Wow Teri, that was beautiful.
Really.
With a spirit like that, I'd travel anywhere with you. Wait I already have.
You know me, I'm up for just about anything. I do love a fine meal. And, when am I going to have another fine dinner in Paris? Perhaps never.
I've got a new photo for my blogger account - I'm leaving this comment to see if it's going to appear.
Remember, it's not the food, it's the people. The food complements the people. The people compliment the food. The food goes down, i go down, Help, help!!!.....where am i?
El condor
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