Paris restaurant

Restaurant L’Impasse (4, Impasse Guéménée, 75004 Paris, France; phone 01 42 72 08 45 or visit www.limpasse.com) is a tiny, bistro-style restaurant which I visited Jan. 16, 2007. Within a 2-minute walk of the Bastille Métro stop, it’s tucked away in a dead-end street off of rue St. Antoine, in the fourth arrondissement. It is closed for lunch on Saturday and Monday and is closed all day Sunday.

In the summer you can eat outdoors at tables on the sidewalk without much traffic, except for the occasional driver who disregards the name (which means “dead end”), rushes down the street and then backs up all the way to rue St. Antoine. This is part of the evening entertainment.

The food is excellent. The rack of lamb is, if not the best I have ever eaten, one of the best, served with a sauce made from the pan drippings and butter, put through a sieve until it is unctuous. The fish soup is also excellent, served with the usual side dishes of cheese, croutons and rust-colored mayonnaise. My friend says the tarte tatin (apple tart) for dessert is wonderful and orders it every time we go, which is as often as possible.

Prices are reasonable. Two courses are €26 (near $35); the 3-course fixed price is €29 ($39). We had an excellent 50 cl. of Cahors wine with the lamb, which was absolutely the perfect match.

ABBIE F. SALNY

Wayne, NJ