After the successful reopening of most of Paris’ galleries and museums earlier in June, many wondered if the restaurants would indeed follow suit as expected. The answer is yes and no. It seems that most of the cafes and restaurants that are now fully open are the same ones that never really closed down in the first place. These folks did okay during most of the pandemic lockdown, offering both pick-up and delivery of their menu items, however limited those might have been. Now with their dining rooms reopened for seating, it’s back-to-normal time (without the American tourists of course.)

For the restaurants who perhaps had high rents to consider, or a highly paid chef de cuisine, it made more sense to just close up the kitchen and send all the employees home, at least temporarily. Now some fourteen months later, it’s not that easy just to get back into full swing. Restaurants like Le Soufflé, Le Procope, and Jules Verne depend on the tourist trade to fill their tables and used much of the pandemic to renovate or spruce up their restaurants. Even the Asian fusion restaurant Marc-Lee has been on hiatus and has yet to announce a date when they will be serving food again. Some former foodie hotspots that have been on hiatus have announced a reopening date of September 1st which sounds to us like their expectation of hungry foreign travelers finally arriving in the city. Unfortunately, some small privately owned restaurants like the quirky Pancake Sisters have already announced a permanent closure.

On a positive note, more Parisian restaurants are open than not. And when all those hungry Americans (like us) begin to arrive, we believe that “back to normal” will come very quickly indeed. -Happy travels soon, Dean & Andie

• 

• 

•