s just
now on the crest of the wave.

Some of the specialities of Durand's are _Potage Henri IV._, _Consomme
Baigneuse_, _petits diables_, _Barbue Durand_, _Poulet Saute Grand Duc_,
_Salade Georgette_, _Souffle Pole Nord_, and of course a variation of
the inevitable _canard a la presse_ and the woodcock subjected to an
_auto-da-fe_.

This is the supper that the Restaurant Durand gave its clients on the
greatest supping night of the year, Christmas Eve, 1902. The _boudin_ of
course all Paris has for supper on the night before the great Christmas
feast:--

Consomme de Volaille au fumet de Celeris.
Boudin grille a la Parisienne.
Ailerons de Volaille a la Tzar.
Cailles a la Lucullus.
Salade Durand.
Ecrevisses de la Meuse a la nage.
Crepes Suzette.
Dessert.
Champagnes.
Clicquot Brut, Pommery Drapeau Americain.
Gde Fine Napoleon.

At La Rue's I have felt inclined sometimes to protest when I have been
charged 2 francs for half-a-dozen prawns, and to think that the
vermillion-coloured seats are being paid for too quickly out of profits;
but I rarely pass through Paris without breakfasting there, and eating
the cold poached eggs in jelly, the _Grenouilles a la Mariniere_, or
one of the dishes of cold fish which are excellently served. Some of the
specialities of the house are _Potage Reine_, _Barbue a la Russe_,
_Caille a la Souvaroff_, _Tournedos a la Rossini_, _Caneton de Rouen au
Sang_, _Becasse Flambee_, _Salade Gauloise_, _Crepes Suzette_, _Glace
Gismonda_, _Peches Flambees_ and from this list any one could choose
either a little dinner or a big one.

Of restaurants attached to hotels I do not propose to write in this
article, with one exception, for there are few of the hundreds of hotels
at which one cannot get a very fair dinner; and at some, such as the
Elysee Palace, over which Caesario presides, one can get an excellent
one; but the purpose of this book is to give information to the man who
wishes to dine away from hotels. The one exception is the Ritz, in the
Place Vendome, and I include this in my list because the Ritz is a
restaurant firstly, and an hotel secondly, and because as a dining place
it holds an exceptional position in Paris. It is the restaurant of the
smartest foreign society in Paris, and the English, Americans, Russians,
Spaniards, dining there always o