Since this is the question I get asked the most often, I will go ahead and name a few restaurants by quarter.

• Latin Quarter This was the neighborhood where I first lived and "came of age" in Paris while I was studying French at the Sorbonne, living at 8 rue Dante, imagining what it must have been like to be alive here in the 1920's. My life then revolved around classes, walks and jogs through the Jardin Luxembourg, readings at Shakespeare and Company, and general carousing with other expatriate English-language aspiring writers. It's where I first learned about all the free cultural events that make Paris uniquely what it is (more about that later in my list Recommended in Paris).
  • One of my favorite, little French restaurants in the neighborhood is Chez Alexis et Daniel. It's a tiny place, where Alexis waits on the tables and Daniel cooks everything himself, with great food at reasonable prices. Even my French boyfriend and his parents, who are the most pragmatic people I've met, were impressed by the quality for value here. But I like it for the ambiance: molded ceilings, hand-painted walls with angel accents, and gilded antiques all around. Their specialty is foie gras, all the dishes are to be accompanied with house rosé wine. I do not recommend their red wine. The emphasis is on the savory dishes. Dinner formulas run 24-34€ bnc (means drinks not included boisson non inclus). If you do get a coffee after dinner, it is brought out in adorable little cups with accompanying bon-bons. Same food, limited choices, but lower prices for lunch = bargain! Open weekdays for lunch and M-S dinners (no weekend lunch or Sunday dinner). 5, rue d'Arras, 75005, métro Cardinal Lemoine, +33(0)1 43 29 30 74, FAX +33(0)1 43 29 41 69.
  • To experience lunch in the grand French tradition, I recommend La Fontaine Saint Victor. At 23€ for the all-out formula plus 14€ for a bottle of the house red (recommended for the price) you will get an entrée, main plate, selection of cheeses a dessert and a bottle to share between you. You will even be served by a white-jacketed, white-gloved waiter. The herring appetizers are good. The plat du jour and the dessert du jour are always commendable and elegantly satisfy our stereotype of la cuisine française. Open from 12:00-14:00, it is recommended to arrive promptly at 12 to be sure to get a table. Open every day, even on holidays and Mondays. But they only do lunch, no dinner. My parents said this was the turning point for them - when they first started enjoying their visit to France. Give yourself 2 hours to relax and enjoy this lunch. 24, rue Saint-Victor, 75005. It's an insurance building called Maison de la Mutualité but go ahead and enter and go up to the 2nd floor. +33(0)1 40 46 12 04.
  • If you're at the Notre Dame, a good place to head is the little rue Galande, an 18th century original street near métro Saint Michel. I've been to the place called Le Navigateur. I can't remember it's address but this is a tiny street. It features very traditional french dishes with the benefit that the formula 23€ covers all the red wine you want. Whatever appetizer of the day the waiter recommends is probably good. I think I had something strange but good like warm livers on salad with raspberry dressing. I liked their pear with chocolate syrup, toasted almonds and crême anglais for dessert. After dinner, you can take a romantic walk along the Seine and visit Shakespeare and Company bookstore which is open until midnight. Quite often there is an 20:00 classical concert at l'Église Saint-Julien le Pauvre. The bar called Le Guillotine on rue Galande offers free jazz in the basement every night except week-ends when it is payante. The little movie theater, Galande, features the Rocky Horror Show every weekend at midnight and the fans do get dressed up! The american swing dance place just across the way on rue Saint-Séverin, Cave Huchette, offers free dance lessons at midnight. Beware this area however as it is pick-pocket heaven and the locals call it "bacteria alley" because the restaurants on this side cater only to tourists without any expectation of return visits.
  • If you want to just walk and pick any restaurant with the likelihood that no matter which you pick will be good (not necessarily the case for most other neighborhoods in Paris), take the little street rue Saint-Étienne du Mont to the little square of the old École Polytechnique. Around this square and up a little further in the direction of the church at the top of the hill (l'Église Saint-Étienne du Mont) are lots of tiny little restaurants. I took my Mom to Les Fêtes Galantes, a little place that offers dinner for 20€ without wine but with a fabulous dessert. Fortunately, she didn't notice the wall behind her was decorated with lacy lingerie... Closed Sundays. 17 rue de l'École Polytechnique, 75005, +33(0)1 43 26 10 40.
  • Another lunch alternative is just to walk and snack as you go along. rue Mouffetard is a good place for this. I recommend the little tart place Mouff' Tartes at 53 rue Mouffetard. Pick out from the window one savory and one dessert tart, then go inside and sit down at a little table and order the tart "formula" specifying the ones you picked out. There are also some amazing boulangeries on this street, plenty of crêpe places and expensive but fresh produce.
  
  
• Centre Pompidou, or "Beaubourg" as the locals call this quarter. This was my 2nd neighborhood and brief foray into the right bank (I'm a left-bank girl), where I lived at 10 rue Saint Martin. I have good memories here too, since this was where I met my boyfriend, during open house at the l'IRCAM (the white building without any windows across from the museum). The high gothic Église Saint Merry offers free classical music concerts every Sat. at 4 p.m. and every Sunday at 9 p.m. (Apollinaire also wrote a poem about this neighborhood.) There's an old print shop still publishing books across the street. Continuing down the pedestrian path, the Centre Pompidou is every modern artist in Paris' mecca, with its constantly changing programs of dance, theatre, movies, lectures and of course the art galleries themselves. There's also a public library in the Centre Pompidou, where someday I'm going to begin my personal research project on Vava Chagall. During the day, you can sit in the plaza and be entertained by street performers while you contemplate the big golden flower pot. At night, you can see inside the inside-out museum that looks like a giant amoeba complete with people swishing through its intestines (oops, escalators). Don't forget to stop in the lobby of l'IRCAM if you'd like to find out how to hear latest works by living composers. On the way, get an eyeful of a typical Paris vista, new juxtaposed with old: 21st century whimsical moving Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures set against the 13th century Saint Merry church.
  • For an affordable gourmet experience, try lunch at Benoît, formula (w/out wine) 38€. Surprisingly, I never ate there while I lived there. Since it was taken over by Alain Ducasse in 2005, I have tried it, and was not disappointed. A never-ending parade of delicacies are plied onto the willing diner, including home-made bread for starters and madeleines hot in their baking tins to finish. The atmosphere is French bistro, and people all talk to everyone while dining. 20 rue Saint Martin, 75004, + 33 (0)1 42 72 25 76.

• Marché Aligre in the blue-collar neighborhood of the 12e arrondissement. I took my American friends when they came to visit me to one fancy market (at Maubert-Mutualité), then to this market. They really enjoyed the contrast. We bought something like 10 pounds of endives for 1€. My friend's future husband carried them the rest of the day. In honor of the event, I invented 2 new recipes: smoked-salmon and alouette-wrapped endive hors d'oeuvres and endive salad with warm smoked ham and celery seed dressing. If you get a chance sometime and we're back in France together, I can make it for you! A neighborhood a bit chauffé or "warmed", which translates idiomatically to "hustle & bustle", the market is of historical interest since it is one of the few, original covered markets left in Paris (13th century, the rest have been torn down such as the one that used to be at Les Halles). There's also a worthwhile flea market. Open every day except Monday. I like walking back via the viaduc promenade plantée, a raised planted pedestrian path on an abandoned railroad that zips serenely skipping traffic-jammed streets, offers another perspective into top-floor windows and rooftops, and ends at the Opera Bastille.
  • Le Baron Rouge at Marché Aligre - in the Fall - because that's when it's les huîtres de Bretagne or oyster season. You've got to speak French quickly and you've got to elbow your way through the crowd to get your oysters and then be pushy to get a place to eat them. People are jam-packed, even overflowing on the side-walks and making merry picnics on the hoods of other people's parked cars. The wine can be ordered by the carafe, straight from the barrels that line the restaurant wall for 4€ / liter. We did order an actual bottle of Sancerre though, since it goes so well with oysters... 1 rue Théophile-Roussel, 12e, M° Ledru-Rollin, tel: 01 43 43 14 32, 10am to 2pm and 5-10pm, closed Sun afternoons and Mon.
    

• Madeleine. An ex-coworker took me out once to a Michelin one star Italian restaurant in this ritzy neighborhood. You can meet at Église Madeleine. After dinner, you can walk to Place de la Concorde, through the Jardin des Tuileries, easily as far as the Champs Elysées.
  • Maintaining a Michelin star for 5 years in a row, Il Cortile, with chef Vittorio Beltramelli, was a completely different level of dining experience for me. We ordered Le Menu Dégustation around 95€ which included 5 plates in succession, each "plate" consisting of a tasting sampler of different things. The completely blow-your mind aspect of this was that although we started out with almost the same selection of things for the first course, each time, when the plates were returned, the chef looked to see what things were left on which plate and tailored the next course accordingly. By the 3rd round, we each had completely different things, each more to our own taste that particular night. I remember the point of divergence was when he had rabbit (I think) risotto and I had black truffle gnocchi. When we ended, my ex-colleague had a really rich chocolate dessert and I had a tray full of colorful glasses of differently perfumed panacotta. 37, rue Cambon - 75001 - Tél : +33 (0)1 44 58 45 67.