Cinq-Mars

Cinq-Mars is the dimly lit, dark-wood bistro the rive-gauche neighborhood reserves for itself — forty seats, polished concrete floor, exposed-stone walls, zinc bar, and the kind of bourgeois homemade French cooking the d'Orsay tourists three blocks over haven't found. Chef Patrick Plais runs the menu: lentil salad, escargots, homemade terrine, Conquet sausage with potato purée, blanquette de veau, hash browns, and a chocolate mousse served in a vessel close to the size of a fruit bowl. GaultMillau-recognized; The Infatuation, Paris by Mouth and Time Out cite it as a 7e classic. The unpretentious bistro Istanbul's design-aware visitors actually want — not the brasserie they're sold.