Dinner at Le Petit Bofinger

Back when we were still living in Vincennes, Brenda and I had picked out a restaurant that we wanted to try called “L’Hedonist“. One night we set out to show up early and beat the rush, only to discover that l’Hedonist was closed. We found ourselves wandering around Vincennes with no idea where to eat. After checking a few places and falling into that rut of indecision, suddenly Brenda thought of Yelp, which it turns out works just as well in Paris as in the US. A few minutes later I had located Le Petit Bofinger, a 4 star plus restaurant a few blocks away. Perhaps you recall the Steve Martin movie Bowfinger or are familiar with the German economist Peter Bofinger–well, this restaurant wasn’t about them, though the resemblance of the name to the movie title was probably why I immediately announced that we were going there.

It was just 7:30pm, and we were about the first to show up. Our waiter greeted us at the door and took our coats, then showed us to our table. He proceeded to help us in every way, taking our orders and suggesting a glass of wine to go with our appetizer and dinner and then an after dinner aperitif made from prunes, if I understood correctly, to go with dessert – boy was that good. Brenda thought the prune nectar tasted a bit like fire water. Turns out that Le Petit Bofinger [bowfeegyeh] is the smaller affiliate of Brasserie Bofinger in the Bastille, established in 1864 and billed as the “the most Alsatian Parisian Brasserie” and the most beautiful brasserie in Paris. Within an hour of our arrival the place was packed.

Dinner was wonderful, as good as we’ve had anywhere – I’ll let the photos do the talking. The service was absolutely perfect. L’Hedonist is still on our radar – we’ll let you know.