It was nearly 10 p.m, and my two companions and I had just seen Antonioni’s “lost” film, The Passenger, starring a very young Jack Nicholson and an even younger Maria Schneider. We had raging appetites, but where to eat in the fifth arrondissement at that time of night?

Then I remembered Le Petit Pontoise, a restaurant in my old stamping ground near Place Maubert. Two decades ago, a meal there had been an almost weekly ritual for me. The walls of the small dining room were covered with decent paintings that someone had once asked to display and had never come back to reclaim. It was run by a hard-working husband and wife team who eventually retired.

After that, I watched from a distance as it went through a number of avatars, none of which lasted long. In the last couple of years, however, it has become a successful, moderately priced place serving generous portions of French food and reasonably priced, mostly French wines. The front of house is now handled by two very friendly, welcoming women. Since the tables are fairly well-spaced, we were spared us from being incommoded by cigarette smoke. The chatter around us was mostly French.

By anybody’s standards, this is a civilized place to eat after the cinema, provided you’re not seeking the ultimate in French cuisine – it’s one of the many places in Paris serving good food competently, with little to distinguish it externally from places that are less of a credit to the French tradition.

The food and wine are listed on a clutter of chalkboards that have replaced the paintings. On one of them, clients are reminded that since the food is made to order, a little patience may be required, but in our case, plates of food were set down in front of us in pretty short order. We skipped the starters, it being late, but they looked appetizing and original, with such offerings as artichoke vinaigrette, spicy pig’s cheek stew and a more sophisticated-sounding charlotte of crab with leeks.

From the extensive list of main courses, my companions chose the duck breast (magret) with Amarena cherries, while I had the sweetbreads (ris de veau). Both dishes were copious and served in shallow, lidded cast-iron pots that doubled as plates. In both cases, the meat was served atop a delicious vegetable stew made with perfectly cooked and colorful carrots, snow peas, string beans, several types of mushrooms and tiny grenaille potatoes. The addition of bittersweet Amarena cherries to the duck breast came close to perfection, while the sweetbreads were rich, melting and satisfying.

The menu also offered various cuts of beef, roast quail and duck shepherd’s pie (Parmentier de canard), as well as three fish dishes – one of them unfortunately an endangered species (cod). The others were braised scallops and sea bream (daurade) cooked in a crust of salt.

We did justice to the desserts, sharing and copiously exclaiming over a strawberry gratin, a crème brûlée aux amandes and a tall glass of fruit macerated in Armagnac – all creditable examples of their genre and fitting and tasty conclusions to the meal.

This week’s little bonus, also in the fifth arondissement, faces Jean Nouvel’s iconic Institut du Monde Arabe and is called l’AOC. That stands for “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée,” which, roughly translated, means “The Real McCoy.” Fittingly, the owners pride themselves on serving top-quality meat and other products, which have been sourced from people who care and to which they do very, very little. The wine list is enthralling reading, and an inexpensive, good-quality wine of the month is offered. If you’re a basic meat and potatoes person, this place with a wonderfully warm and helpful staff is definitely worth a visit.

Richard Hesse

Le Petit Pontoise: 9, rue de Pontoise, 75005 Paris. Métro: Maubert Mutualité or Cardinal Lemoine. Tel.: 01 43 29 25 20. Open daily for lunch and dinner. A la chalkboard: around €35.

L’AOC: 14, rue des Fossés St Bernard, 75005 Paris. Métro: Cardinal Lemoine. Tel.: 01 43 54 22 53. Closed Sunday and Monday. A la carte: around €40.

Prices noted are for a three-course meal and do not include wine.

© 2006 Paris Update