There are thousands of restaurants in Paris, from French to Vietnamese and Senegalese, so choosing a few of the best is difficult. Although it's a good idea to try as many different cuisines as possible, French cuisine is what really shines in Paris. You will find a lot of variety in the national cuisine: Authentic French cooking can be refined (at Les Ambassadeurs in Hotel Crillon) or hearty (Astier is a good choice).

Wherever you go, experiment with various sauces, a French specialty, and be sure to try the coffee (on the strong side), croissants, pastries, brioches, jams, cheeses (more than 250 kinds), oysters and truffles. Most restaurants have a menu du jour. Try to order from this menu if you can: The food will likely be the freshest, the most seasonal—and the best. (It will also be the most reasonably priced.) Whenever you tire of walking, sit down at the nearest sidewalk cafe, not only for refreshment but also to observe the people passing by. Just remember that in many restaurants and cafes, you're charged more if you sit out on the terrace than if you stand at the bar or sit at a table inside.

Parisians seldom eat breakfast in restaurants. Patisseries (pastry shops) and boulangeries (bakeries) sell croissants and other breads and pastries, or you can buy coffee and a croissant in a cafe. Brunch has become increasingly popular and is being served at more and more restaurants. Lunch, which is the main meal for many of the French, is generally served between noon and 2 pm. If you wait any later, you may well go hungry. Dinner is served from 7:30 pm on. If you like to dine early, seek out a brasserie, which offers continuous service. Another thing to consider is that many restaurants close during August, the month when many Parisians take their vacations. If you are planning a special meal at that time of year, be sure to call ahead.

Drinking well with your meals is considered not only a privilege but a right. Consequently, good wines are not always expensive (although you can certainly pay a fortune for a rare or exceptional bottle if you are so inclined). Restaurant proprietors take pride in choosing their house wines, often serving them in unlabeled carafes, so those tend to be good choices if you're looking for modest wines to accompany your meals.

If, on the other hand, you want to indulge in something special, you'll be happy to know that the best wines on the menu are often the best bargains, as well. French restaurateurs tend to triple the price of their table wines, or vins ordinaires, and double the price of their midrange grands ordinaires. For their best vintages and grands crus, restaurants often content themselves with as little as a 20% markup. In a really fine restaurant, you'll want to follow the national practice of choosing a different wine to accompany each dish, saving the best red wine for the cheese course. Because of the popularity of this practice, many restaurants offer excellent wines by the glass or the half bottle.

Many of the wines on Parisian menus will be from the country's two legendary wine-growing regions, Burgundy (known in France as Bourgogne) and Bordeaux. Burgundies, which tend to be made from pinot noir (red) or chardonnay (white) grapes, tend to be full and rich if red, and light and crisp if white. Wines from Bordeaux are usually blends of cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes (both red), making them fruitier than their burgundy counterparts.

Keep in mind that most haute-cuisine restaurants require a jacket and tie for men, and in general, Parisians tend to dress up for dinner. Ask when making a reservation, if you're not sure what to wear.