Choucroute Garnie

So I've decided to take Penny's recommendation and search by the food I want to eat rather than the restaurant. I've always liked sauerkraut and sausage so maybe I should try the Alsatian version. A search for choucroute garnie brought up some recommendations in ChowHound, which led me to a search for the restaurant "L'Alsaco" which led me to this 1995 New York Times article by Patricia Wells: Choice Tables: A Winter Favorite in Paris: Tasty Alsatian Choucroute. (I also have Well's The Food Lover's Guide to Paris, published in 1999, and I see that quite a few of the restaurants have closed.) Wells reviews L'Alsaco, Cafe Runtz (which is closed), Brasserie Lipp, La Coupole (in Montmartre), Baumann-Ternes, Chez Jenny (which a poster on ChowHound didn't like), and Bofinger (which Wells didn't like and which consistently gets bad reviews for lousy service).

Or we could just make choucroute in the apartment a la Jacques Pepin. That way we could choose our own sausages. But it might have to cook for several hours -- maybe overnight and we could have it for breakfast. Paris Perfect says that Davoli, the Italian delicatessen on Rue Cler, sells the best Choucroute. And from the photo at the right, it looks like choucroute and sausages are sold in openair markets all ready to take home (or to the park) and eat.

I would like to go to a brasserie but all the reports of horrible service are quite intimidating. But wait! Now I remember that Au Pied De Cochon that Penny wants to go to for onion soup is a brasserie. The one that is owned by Le Groupe Frères Blanc, along with Flora Danica and 28 other restaurants. Oh my. I don't see much on their menu besides pigs trotters. DON'T read the reviews on Trip Advisor. Maybe we should really skip the brasseries and stick to bistros, markets, and cafes! I'll just pick up my choucroute at the Italian delicatessen - unless there's a Jewish delicatessen that has it nearby - ah, but it wouldn't have pork sausages.