The Great Parisian Plate Debate

~27, Rue Lappe, 75011
Tel. 01.48.05.42.92?

Le Bistro les San Culuttes is not only a bistro, it’s also a hotel. That’s right! For a mere price not only will you have a substantially stocked bar located directly beneath your sleeping quarters, but this also happens to be a prime street around the Bastille! Prime, in that Paris must have passed a city ordinance that says “If you are a business located at any point on Rue de Lappe, you must be a bar. If you would like to serve food, that’s fine as well, but listen – you must also be a bar.” You could literally blindfold yourself, take three steps, put out your hand, and you’d be touching some sort of establishment which serves liquor. Pretty nice if you’re looking for a rousing good time on a Friday evening, but methinks sleeping may be a bit difficult on such a street.

Dan and I chanced upon this bar after choosing the street precisely for the aforementioned reasons. We chose Le Bistro les San Culuttes because A) they had wines prominently listed on blackboards outside their café, and B) Paris had granted us pleasant weather, and there were outside seats available. A quick glance at the interior showed what I like to call a “rustic” look – nice wooden floors and tables, comfortable lighting, an inviting bar…dare I say there was even a hint of English pub??

Given the nature of the street one may imagine it’s a dangerous game to play, this sitting outside. There is a substantial chance of lingering vomit from the night previous, perhaps not yet cleaned by Paris’ crack commando cleaning teams, or maybe you don’t like huge rackets – such a street as Rue de Lappe is certainly prone to the occasional racket, don’t you think? – but at least on this given day there were no racket worries. We were likely helped in that we drank our bottle of wine early in the day, hence the orange juice that I ordered in addition to the Great Parisian Plate Debate’s customary bottle.

It’s tough for me to recommend this bar over one of the hundred that is located on the street – seriously, you could do a mini Great Parisian Plate/Drink Debate in this one block area of 11th – but I will admit that it represented a refreshing lack of neon and terrible music pumping out it’s open café-front, which several of Lappe’s bars do have.