Le Procope

Procopio Cutò opened Le Procope on rue de l'Ancienne Comédie in 1686 with crystal chandeliers, marble tables and wall mirrors — the template for every café that came after. La Fontaine, Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes wrote chapters here; Benjamin Franklin negotiated French support for the American Revolution at one of the tables; the Phrygian cap was first hoisted from this dining room. The kitchen today runs classical (coq au vin, calf's head, the original ice cream) at tourist-grade prices, which is the trade for sitting where the Enlightenment was edited. For an Istanbul visitor with one historical-monument dinner to spend, Procope wins on the math: 339 years, every philosopher you've heard of.