Wine? You ask about wine. Take a look at this place - open Tues-Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm.
This wine bar and bistro with nine yards of character is located behind the covered Beauvau market, just off place d'Aligre. It's a source of wine en vrac, that is, from the barrel, which buyers carry away in their own bottles or in a plastic container called a cubitainer. This colorful place has the cracked tile floors, mustard-colored walls, and ancient zinc bar that virtually define the word bistro. A dozen different red and white wines are available for tasting. Get a glass of Sancerre or Beaujolais to go with your veal sausage and pan-roasted potatoes, and you'll stop thinking about restaurants with Michelin stars.
On weekend mornings during the season, a truck pulls up to the curb with oysters from Brittany, and soon the feasting begins, spilling out into the street. For 5 or 6 euros you get half a dozen shucked oysters and a basket of brown bread and butter. Buy a glass of wine at the bar inside and find a place to eat at one of the barrels on the sidewalk, or on the hood of a parked car. There is likely to be a brass band, singing, dancing in the street, and general merriment.
Markets of Paris by Dixon and Ruthanne Long
