This is the all-time winner: a great, great chef; the most beautiful restaurant decor in Paris, and a gastronomic, history-infused citadel of classic French cuisine. This restaurant has been around since the reign of Louis XV, though not under the same name. Napoléon, Danton, Hugo, Colette, and Cocteau have dined here--as the brass plaques on the tables testify--and it's still a great gastronomic experience. Guy Martin, chef here for the past decade, bases many dishes on recipes from the French Alps. His best dish is roast lamb in a juice of herbs. Other specialties are noisettes of lamb with star anise and Breton lobster and the unusual cabbage sorbet in dark-chocolate sauce. The desserts are often grand, like the gourmandises au chocolat, a richness of chocolate served with chocolate sorbet.