Paris Restaurants/Food

Cathy asked me about restaurants and food in Paris, so I thought I'd tell y'all a little about that.  FIRST of all, there is a Patasserie or Boulangerie on nearly every corner....by definition, I think the boulangerie has the breads and rolls, etc., and the Patasserie has the sweets and pastries.

The pastries in the windows were so lovely and definitely eye candy.  There were two nice ones near our apartment, and we visited them on a number of the days we were there.  I read somewhere that the government regulates the price of a baguette, so that everyone is able to afford that.  Clearly they do not have the same regulations on pastries, though, because they are very proud of their artisan pastries and they can be fairly expensive.  Of course, I felt like it was my duty to come back and tell you all about some of them, so therefore, my responsibility to TRY OUT a number of varieties!!! Oui????
My favorite thing was a pain au chocolat with my coffee every morning!  With almonds, without......nonetheless, such a treat!!!  At the end of the day, you would see many people on their way home from a long day carrying their baguette...often with the first two or three inches broken off.  I guess they didn't have the same problem with their bread being bare in the open air!! I kept wanting to cover mine up, to keep the end of my baguette clean!! Ha!
So we definitely engaged in No Carbs left behind.....
Since we were in an apartment, and had a refrigerator, a microwave and a cooktop, we also did some grocery shopping to keep our fridge stocked.  We bought wine at the grocery store as well, and enjoyed that a few evenings.  We didn't do a whole lot of cooking, but we did enjoy what we did.  And I find it SO interesting to look at the groceries in other (especially international!) grocery stores! Do you? I was looking at the vegetables, thinking "um, I think champignons are mushrooms...I think".....etc....
As far as restaurants, we did eat out a few times, and the open air cafe we ate at the first full day ended up being the most delicious.  I ordered the Plat du Jour , which was roast of veal, along with some roasted potatoes and leeks.  It was delicious, and with the fresh bread, the gravy was also tasty!  As I remember hubby ordered something like a crepe with roasted vegetables.......
Things are very expensive...we often wondered how the French people could afford to go out to eat!  They would often have a "formula" price for a meal, especially at lunch, which meant you could have a sandwich, a dessert and a drink for a certain amount.  We ate at a very classy restaurant when we were at Versailles.  It was a fine dining kind of restaurant.  I had a chicken caesar salad, with coffee and water.  Nice but again, pretty pricey! See a slide show HERE.
So all in all, we learned a lot about eating in Paris.....we did enjoy shopping in the markets for fresh fruits and veggies, as well as the wonderful French bread and pastries.  We did not shop many of the fine cheese shops, because hubby has eliminted dairy from his diet.
  Many places have what they call Take Away, a crepe or sandwich to go, if you will.  It costs less to carry it away compared to sitting at the table to eat!!   It is easy to pull together a picnic by hopping in the Monoprix (grocery) and then finding a bench to enjoy.  But if you go, budget a good bit for food.  Or you might be hungry!  It is not hard to save some money, but you want to have enough to enjoy!
I'll be back to tell you a little more about our trip, that is, if you're not bored of it by now!!!!