Les Fines Gueules, French cuisine with character, a stone's throw from the Bourse

For almost 20 years now, Les Fines Gueules has opened wide on the Bourse side of town, offering French cuisine of character to be savored at the zinc counter, infiltrating among the innumerable regulars. The best thing to do is to eat alone and listen carefully!

While the race to open new restaurants in Paris seems unstoppable, which is not to our displeasure, it's also good to remember that sometimes the best confiotes come from old pots. For the past 17 years, local workers and gourmets have been meeting at Les Fines Gueules, a neighborhood restaurant like no other.

As you enter, it's customary to shake hands or give a peck on the cheek - depending on the situation. It goes without saying that the owners know how to make you feel at ease right from the door. The many regulars have their favorite table, and it's not long before a small glass of white arrives on the old-fashioned zinc counter, placed there with a knowing smile.

The building itself, designed by 17th-centuryarchitect Jules Hardouin Mansart, bears witness to another era, while the convoluted restaurant reveals itself like a labyrinth of brick and rough stone walls. The zinc bar, behind which stands a magnificent Berkel 1947 slicer, is home to high chairs for lunch on the go, and the chatter of customers who have come to vent their spleen and always find an attentive ear, even during the gunfire - the restaurant is packed to the rafters at lunchtime, and reservations seem more necessary than ever.

Below the main dining room and upstairs are two more intimate rooms, ideal for groups of friends. The two restaurateurs behind Les Fines Gueules are also buddies. One is Arnaud Bradol, who took over the bistro in 2006 on the advice of his butcher friend Hugo Desnoyer; the other is Franck Barbodin, who joined the business three years later. One is in charge of the fine bowling, the other of the dining room.

In fact, wine is a key element of the restaurant, with almost 20,000 bottles and 1,000 references patiently waiting in the vaulted wine cellar, a veritable Ali Baba's cave, ranging from must-haves to rare labels, from biodynamic wines to cuvées from every region of France without a single one missing.

Chef Nicolas Gauduin is the third comic of the bunch, having left and returned to Les Fines Gueules after stints with Alain Passard and Racine. Here, he offers classic French cuisine that's not run-of-the-mill, canaille dishes that you'd expect to find in this kind of bistro, but which haven't aged a day. Better still, they've been updated with seasonal French produce and flavors from elsewhere.

At lunchtime, a lunch menu at unbeatable prices for the area (€23 starter/main course or main course/dessert, €28 starter/main course/dessert) and proposals on the slate that come and go from day to day. But there are still a few must-tries, such as the burratina and veal aumônière (18€) with a teriyaki sauce, the pulpy spider crab (37€) served fully shelled with its bisque and satay emulsion, and the Mont-Blanc (12€) as a bistro-style dessert. Brassens, who plays over the loudspeakers, was right: you 'll get a good bellyful here.

Les Fines Gueules is a reminder that French gastronomy is undoubtedly the finest cuisine in the world. Duly noted.