Paris, France — It is one of the great Parisian culinary traditions, the Bouillon, literally meaning bouillon or broth restaurant. They become a warming beacon, especially in winter time and during the holiday season, or well any season for that matter. Some of us at The Gourmet Gazette had our first taste of these no nonsense good French food establishments when we were students back in the early 1980s for they were and would remain one of the least expensive ways to enjoy a three-course or four course meal with wine. Indeed every Wednesday after morning classes and no afternoon classes we would head across town from the Sorbonne to the Grands Boulevards on the Right Bank to enjoy lunch and France at the Bouillon Chartier on the rue du Faubourg Montmartre. The establishment is now heading towards its 130th year. 

We recently enjoyed a nostalgic return there and a wonderful meal in a setting that is worthy of national monument status. Refreshingly the bill is still incredibly reasonable and written up on your paper table cloth (which covers a real cloth tablecloth) and the simple French dishes like leeks in vinaigrette sauce  and beef Burgundy still abound on the menu. The Joulie family, renowned Parisian restauranteurs, have maintained this tradition.

We started off the meal with old-fashioned French apéritifs, drinks that you don’t see around very often on restaurant menus, like an Ambassador, a natural sweet wine flavored with a host of secret ingredients, although vanilla,orange and quinine can be detected.  Byrrh was also on the menu. This aromatic wine, aged in oak casks for two to five years,  which hails from the Catalonia region in southern France has its own trademark dating from 1873.  We carried on with the tried and true hard boiled eggs with homemade mayonnaise, which never let you down and a quintessential French salad, curly endive lettuce with browned squares of slab bacon for the appetizers. 

This was followed by a blanquette de veau, a rich veal stew, read here fork-tender veal with carrots and mushrooms in an unctuous cream sauce served with rice and a hard to find calf’s head (a dish dear to former and endearing French President the late Jacques Chirac), boiled until tender and served with steamed potatoes and carrots and the famous and traditional sauce gribiche, made with chopped hard boiled eggs, mustard, oil and a touch of vinegar and fresh herbs. We did have to have dessert and this meant a perfectly executed crème caramel and a silver cup filled with crème Chantilly, sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla. Bouillon Chartier serves wine by the glass, pitcher or bottle. We opted for an unusual find, a white Buzet AOC Tradition 2022 from the cooperative Les Vignerons de Buzet which actively campaigns for sustainable development. This dry white wine is a blend of the Sauvingon and Sémillon grape varieties and is part of the Bordeaux family of wines, although not technically a Bordeaux. Our wine was poured by our wonderful waiter Yovan in his traditional floor length long white apron and black shirt and pants. The three course meal meal for two with drinks and wine: an unbeatable 47 euros. 

The Bouillons were established in the 19th century and originally served boiled beef in its bouillon which would eventually be enlarged to include other dishes. The concept was the brainchild of a Parisian butcher, Pierre-Louis Duval, whose first Bouillon on the rue de Montesquieu would be followed by a dozen other establishments. His Bouillons under the helm of his son Alexandre would be the first in Paris to remplace the classic garçon waiters by waitresses. The brothers Chartier —Camille and Frédéric — opened up their Bouillon Chartier in 1896 on the Faubourg Montmartre and it is still in operation today and run by the Joulie family, which also has two other Bouillon Chartiers in the French capital, one in Montparnasse and the other across the street from the Gare de l’Est train station.

Despite the classic French surroundings which are classified as protected decors, the Bouillons remain relaxed with the tables being so close together conversations between strangers aren’t uncommon. They are also conveniently open all day from 11:30 am until midnight. However reservations are not accepted. We suggest arriving early before opening or eating dinner at 5pm or 6pm when most people in Paris don’t. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. 7 rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 75009, Paris, France. Tel: + 33 (0)1 47 70 86 29. https://www.bouillon-chartier.com/en/