L’Avant Comptoir de la Terre — Restaurant in Paris

With only 24 hours in Paris, we had to pick our food choices carefully. L'avant's reputation for food and wine (Anthony Bourdain recommended, amongst others) and the non-sit down restaurant formula made it our top pick for dinner for both food and expediency. As a standing bar with an amazing selection of artisanal wine and a varied menu strung all over the ceiling, it offered the quick but uniquely Parisian experience we needed.

Although always quite busy, the staff is courteous and understanding of the foreign foodie tourist customers that often come in despite their limited English. With the help of the pictures on the menu cards above and my limited French, I was able to decipher every item on the menu and ordered a duck heart dish and a seared foie gras dish (having been overwhelmed by the richness of a cold foie gras sampler of 4 dishes in Budapest a few days before, incidentally Hungary is the source of most of France's foie).

Thick crusty slices of bread are provided communally at the bar along with large pats of sweet cream butter and buckets of utensils for self service. The food came out fast for everybody, prepared with expertise. Once we ordered, we specified one red and one white wine and the staff picked from their artisanal selection, both perfectly complementing the dishes.

The duck hearts were sautéed to a perfect texture, tender with the right amount of chew. The foie was quite a large piece, and seared to perfection, although a tiny bit salty (however my palate tends to be sensitive to salt, not all may agree). I'm not certain, but I believe the staff indicated that the cold foie dish was fresh foie gras, and the hot may have been canned which would account for the salt. This did not detract from the melt in your mouth texture and flavor of a well handled foie, served with tangy pickled black cherries.

The wines were a delight, a unique and special experience and the quick meal itself was not at all expensive for what we ordered. I believe the foie dish was about €11 and the duck hearts about €7 (but don't hold me to this).

As people whose tastes are way too rich for our budgets, this was absolutely the perfect Parisian meal. An experience both authentic, unique and delicious while still...

I was quite intrigued when fellow Angeleno said she'd trade Bestia for L'Avant Comptoir -- almost. I've been here three times in one week! so far, once at open, once mid afternoon, and once late at night. Very popular, crowded, festive -- standing only, no seats. The menu hangs from the ceiling and it is hard to read every item available, which only encourages you to return.

The foie gras with cherries is my favorite -- every bite so luscious. The brandade morue was quite creamy and divine. I wish they'd offer a salad lyonnaise, or something similar to cut some of the richness of the other dishes. Tried the broiled scallop as well as the scallop w/thyme skewer. Blistered padron peppers are much like shishito peppers. The escargot in pastry shells was a nice touch. If I lived here, I'd be a regular, no question. Two main reasons I'm giving four instead of five stars -- comfort. It isn't very comfortable to be elbowed and poked at peak hours. There was a couple making out in front of the chalkboard menu which lists daily specials and it annoyed everyone. The people standing were like, "C'mon, get a room, we want to eat." It gets very hot and mighty uncomfortable as you try to juggle your wine glass and food. If you're small, the men "manspread," to crowd you out. One of the staff members actually encouraged me, "Don't leave because of them. If you want to have dessert, have dessert. Stand your ground."

All the wine bottles are marked what a glass of wine costs, and what a bottle would costs. Unfortunately, all the wine bottles are behind refrigerator doors, and you can't read the label to even know what vintage, AOC, variety the wine is. This is a major drawback if you are not fluent in French. That's how I ended up trying the Beaujolais qui arrivee and letting the staff choose what to serve me. Red, white, rose? Strong, weak? There's got to be a better way.

The off-peak hours are 3 PM-6 PM. The staff work long hours, so kudos to them. They told me they are open every day of the week, and are connected to a hotel. Didn't get to try the seafood bar next door but it was also...

There are no chairs, no menu and cramped quarters, why then are the reviews so good?

I hadn't planned on coming to this restaurant/cafe/cafeteria, instead I was in the area and yelp had great reviews so I thought I'd give it a try - unfortunately it wasn't a wise decision.

Upon entering the place you've got 2 sections, the first is a takeaway section that offers a small menu including sandwiches and crepes. Push through the hanging plastic curtains and your greeted with a counter where you order from the barman and eat while standing.

There is no menu, just small cards hanging from the ceiling with a dish name, photo and price. The barman we had working obviously had friends there and getting his attention was hard. During our lunch we had the hot dog, tuna tataki, beef carpaccio, mozzarella di buffala and fried calamari with champagne and red wine.

The food missed the mark on each dish. Calamari was previously frozen and tasted it, hot dog was swimming in a mayonnaise sauce. Mozzarella was so cold it had to be cut forcefully with a knife, tuna was served with skin on and was very tough. The beef carpaccio was good, no complaints there.

Price for lunch was 58.50€ and honestly I feel we should've paid 1/4 that for the quality of the dishes. Also worth noting that there is no beer and wine was 7.50€ a glass. Save your time and...