If you abandon the croque monsieur urge, maybe le Comptoir Baulois on the rue Godot de Mauroy sorta between la Madeleine and 'lOpéra might work. It's very small and relatively charming épicerie/ salon de thé/ resto specializing in the products and cooking of la Baule/ southern Brittany... nothing will be terribly familiar to her but it is relatively simple cooking... get there at noon to snag a table and save room for the impossibly decadent deserts.

It's a very difficult quartier... very short on real life. If you don't mind overpaying (which is inevitable in this neighbourhood), the croque monsieur at le Castiglione on the rue St-Honoré near the place Vendôme is probably your best bet.

Got it.

In addition to JT's, Pti's and Deluca's excellent recs,
Central Paris/ tourist zones:
Bistrot Victoires on the rue Vrillière off the the place Victoires... maybe 16€ lunch formule... very convenient for browsing the Palais Royal (gardens are fab!), rare-for-Paris baroque place des Victoires, and the historic covered passages like the Galerie Vivienne and Galerie Colbert.

Canal St Martin (great walking territory)/ 10th:
Chez Marie Louise on the rue Marie-et-Louise... 14€ lunch prix fixe... updated trad cuisine... followed by a cuppa or digestif on the terrace of Chez Prune on the rue Beaurepaire/ quai Valmy.

Latin Quarter/ "La Mouffe":
Lilane on the rue Gracieuse... 18€ 2-course lunch... creative, not trad cuisine... and even better if you can tie in your visit with a pre-lunch wander through the excellent and villagey Wed + Fri (also Sun but Lilane closed) outdoor market on the place Monge.

Buttes Chaumont/19th:
Bar Fleuri, rue Plateau... very old school picture-perfect corner bar/ bistro ... can do lunch for under 15€... not terribly picturesque neighbourhood but well situated for a lunch before or after a long walk in the view-rich, tourist-free and delightful Parc des Buttes-Chaumont.

Faubourg St Antoine/ Aligre quartier:
L'Ebauchoir, rue Citeaux... 13€ 2-course lunch... perfect for a pre-lunch wander through the very buzzy Marché Aligre.

Haut Marais/ Oberkampf:
Ober-Salé on the rue Oberkampf... 16€ 2-course and 19€ 3-course lunch... nearby Popincourt market on Tue + Fri mornings... 5-min walk to the very trendy and quite parisien Haut-Marais/ rue Bretagne... a cuppa or digestif on the terrace of Le Progrès or Le Charlot, both on the rue Bretagne, both great for people-watching

Rezzies, most definitely!! Impossible for a group of 8 without them.

A few hours at Moulin Rouge qualifies for 5 years less in purgatory... so it ain't all bad. And your choices are all good... well-done!... but some are more convenient and better price/ quality than others. One or two adds: The Pigalle showgirls/boys and stage crews tend to congregate at La Bougnate on the rue Germain Pilon for their pre-show nosh ... not mind-blowing food but good solid Auvergnate cuisine... a bit "boui-boui" but that's half the fun... and less than a 5-min (flat but not exactly edifying) walk to Le Moulin Rouge; and La Mascotte on the rue Abbesses... old-school bistro du quartier with a rear dining room perfect for a large group, a front bar that the younger ones will love, and a seafood annexe for torturing your gran but indulging others without allergies.

As for your choices, Jeanne A is fab (and many mercis to John Talbott for announcing it to the Chowhound world) but small-ish and quite a steep walk to/from the Moulin Rouge for gran... the Montmartrobus bus would help but a group of 8 might not all fit. Cher Bibi is very young and trendy and may not be entirely suitable for a multi-generation group ...and probably a 20-minute, sometimes strenuous walk to Le Moulin Rouge. Coq Rico, I find grossly overpriced and somehow doesn't really sing to me at all... but that's just a totally personal and maybe whimsical assessment. Le Petit Trianon is, I think, very appealing and very suitable for a large group... the vibe is usually sparkling... the food is generally good but can be hit-n-miss... yet, I'd probably choose it if I were you.

Cheap is under 20€. Under 10€ is a sandwicherie or ethnic. Area/ quartier is important. Day of the week is important. So can you give us some specifics?

In the 17th, I can't think of any resto that has it as a standard. Le Petit Champerret on the rue Vernier and Le Clocher Pereire on the boulevard Pereire very occasionally have or had a rabbit plat du jour. I also remember seeing lapin à la moutarde as one of the takeaway "plats cuisinés" at Maison Pou (sorry about the name!) épicerie/ deli on the avenue Ternes @ rue Poncelet but probably not a standard item there... you'll have to check it out... not really a chore because Maison Pou and the nearby rue Poncelet shopping street/ "rue commerçante" are delightful as is the 17th's other (and larger) trad shopping street, the rue de Lévis near Villiers métro.

In other parts of Paris, I've had a excellent de-boned rabbit concoction at Pramil on the rue Vertbois in the 3rd and it seems to appear and re-appear with some regularity. Astier in the 11th does indeed usually have lapin à la moutarde ... I'm not as anti-Astier as most other Chowhounders but it is above your price ceiling. As already suggested, Chez Denise in Les Halles also does a good version but not always on the menu and you will have to cut down on other things to get away for under 30€ The sweet old-school bistro Le Petit Pascal on the rue Pascal in the 14th (just at the border with the 5th) does have lapin à la moutarde as a standard and at your price point but that's a long trek for you. In almost the same neighbourhood, the very very good Cornichon on the rue Gassendi has a delish cocotte de lapin citron for 20€ (and a 3-course 34€ dinner "formule") but again, a long way from where you are. Must be something in the water in the 14th because there used to be a resto called Monsieur Lapin on the rue Raymond Losserand that specialized in rabbit...but, unfortunately, closed a year or two ago.

Maybe it's how you define "by chance". I quite agree that most tourists don't have the instincts and experience to sniff off out a good resto. There are, after all, hundreds of mediocre restaurants in the tourists zones that are specifically designed and contrived to lure in passing trade. But, folks, it is 2013. Set me down in any neighbourhood in Paris and I can find a good restaurant in minutes using my phone or iPad, Figaroscope maps, lefooding, etc. And I have the extra advantage of being able to ask people (the local caviste is usually a good source... as long as you pretend to be an actual customer to initiate coversation). And even when I find a restaurant that seems to sing to me, I don't commit until I can see the food, suss out the clientèle, and am certain of that essential joy and humanness that every good restaurant must have... usually it just takes a quick glance for the green or red light to come on in my brain.

Maybe I'm just another arrogant Parisien but I feel that our lifestyle is kinda special and is just as worthy as the Eiffel Tower or the Musée d'Orsay. Yet I get the impression that many Chowhounders reduce Paris to just a to-do list for collecting gastronomique and other sensations. Our culture is, however, all about pleasing the senses and about humanness. Food is, of course, a big but not only part of that. No matter how good the cuisine a restaurant is a failure if it doesn't have that essential joy. Eating out is not just about the cuisine but the joy of being with friends/ family, the joy and vibe of this or that quartier, and the joy and simple celebration of time and place. Did I mention joy? :)

Looks good... I'd plot all your choices and other options for backup in the same neighbourhoods on a google map.

Café Français will be logistically easier for a large-group rendez-vous... the Bastille is so easy to get to. But the setting of le Square Trousseau is probably more of what you're looking for. But whichever, I'd also include a browse of the nearby markets ... Marché Aligre (both covered and open... the covered market and shops on the nearby streets have the much better quality than the stalls in the open market) just a few minutes from Le Square Trousseau and the very large and bustling Marché Bastille on the boulevard Richard Lenoir before or after your Sunday breakfast/ brunch at Café Français... btw, both markets tend to start winding down after 1:30pm... unfortunately, both will be significantly reduced because of August but still interesting

Re rezzies, it's actually safer to book a table closer to your date... French restaurants are not always as efficient as they should be with advance reservations. If you do book early, make sure your concierge or any French-speaker checks a day or two before your reservation to make sure you do in fact have a table.

We locals certainly don't book early... I tend to ring for rezzies the day before or the same day and almost always find a table ... if I can't, no big deal and I just try somewhere else... there are very few restaurants that cannot be replaced by another of equal or better quality in walking distance ... only in the case of, say, Septime or Rino would I ever consider a making a reservation more than than a week or two in advance.

The chipirons à l'encre farcis are my fave too! We should get married. :)

And Beyoncé, hubby and kid 2 weeks ago for lunch.

The other day the cops were clearing out would-be picnickers on the Pont Debilly and telling them to go to the Champ de Mars or Pont des Arts... dunno if this is policy or just a one-off thing.

The little park off the pont Sully and the quai on the eastern tip of the Ile St Louis is great for picnics. A little off the beaten path so more intimate... and, if you find the right spot, a view of Notre Dame's backsides. Since it's Monday, I'd just make do with shopping for your picnic goodies at the food section of a convenient Monoprix... one on the rue de Rennes in the 6th, another on the boulevard St Michel across from the old Cluny ruins, and still another on the rue St Antoine near St Paul in the 4th.

For a celebratory dinner, maybe the light and airy Macéo on the rue des Petits Champs.

Not a big fan of Verjus.

Re #1 and #2...I most often choose restaurants for the quartier, how it fits into my other plans, and the weather. If the weather is good, #1 would be Chez Marie Louise just because the Canal Saint-Martin is so pleasant in the summer. Bistrot des Victoires would be a good lunch pick because it's near-ish to the Louvre, the idyllic gardens of the Palais Royal, the historic covered galeries (i.e. Vivienne, Colbert), and lots of other restaurants on the rue Petits Champs and rue Richelieu in case Bistrot Victoires is too busy or has "misplaced" my rezzie. l'Ecurie is a carnivore's delight so if your wife doesn't eat red meat maybe not a good choice... they do have chicken/ fish on the menu but I doubt if it's done very well. Le 7eme Vin, I like but do not have many frequent flier miles there... it's simple, no-nonsense, unfussy food and and quite good house wine... it can get very uncomfortable inside if there's a heat wave but there is a very nice terrace in summer (if high temps, make sure your concierge can snag an outside table for you).

Since you seem to be attracted by restaurants with a warm buzz, maybe a Basque restaurant (famous for their joie de vivre) should be on your list: ultra-cutesy l'Auberge Etchegorry in the 13th... way off the tourist trail but not very exciting quartier... and probably closed in August (not sure); the very affordable Au Dernier Métro on the boulevard Grenelle in the 15th... but has a sports bar aspect; the bustling Cantine du Troquet Dupleix on the boulevard Grenelle in the 15th ... lovely terrace; le P'tit Troquet on the rue de l'Exposition in the 7th... just a 10-minute stroll to the Eiffel Tower... but oops, I seem to remember it was closed last August; Chez Gladines on the rue des Cinq Diamants in the hyper-charming Butte aux Cailles quartier in the 13th.

Crêpes, don't sweat it. Just avoid the the horrible crêpe stands on streets around the major tourist sites. And I don't think that any crêperie is a destination in itself. The best is Pot O'Lait but, unless I happen to be prowling around that part of the 5th, I'd make do with whatever crêperie is close at hand. St Germain des Prés (i.e Little Breizh, la Compagnie de Bretagne, and a few places on the rue des Canettes) and Montparnasse (i.e. Ti-Jos, Josselin, etc etc) have a good assortment.

not sure if i agree with "getting around Paris is time consuming"... Paris taxis are some of the cheapest in Europe... and in the evening when traffic is lighter you can get to lots of less touristy and more foodie-fab quartiers in just 10 mins

Le Taxi Jaune is very classic at its core... what can be more trad than horsemeat on the menu? but there's lots more than Trigger to choose from

Ok, some more trad or trad-ish bistro recs:
Au Vieux Comptoir on the rue Lavandières-Sainte-Opportune (the smallest streets often have the longest names) in the 1st;
Les Pipos on the rue Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève/ rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique in the 5th... certain 14-year olds will love it;
l'Ecurie on the rue Laplace/rue Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th... steaks steak steaks... cheap cheap cheap;
Chez Marie Louise on the rue Marie et Louise in the Canal St Martin quartier;
Bistrot des Victoires on the rue Vrillière off the place des Victoires in the 1st

I can think of a zillion other places so if none of these suit you, ask for more

Pamelo Popo is far far far from the classic brasserie or bistro setting. But quite good modern French cuisine. In the same area of the 4th, you might consider Au Bourguignon du Marais for your trad old-school experience. I also very fond of the cutesy Le Taxi Jaune on the rue Chapon in the 3rd.

I'm not advocating restaurant roulette, just a broader sample of considered restaurants. Recommendation after recommendation and report after report of the same small group of restaurants does seem to suggest a deep rut and an impression that Paris only has a dozen or two of worthy restaurants. Reality is quite different. We seem to limit the epicurean experience rather than expand it

OMG, I was gonna recommend Café Cartouche too!

Adorable place and they can do really good value express lunch... but tell them as soon as you enter (but after your smiling "bonjour, monsieur") that you have a train to catch... BTW, the key word is "pressé"/ in a hurry...From there it's just a 7- to 10-min walk to the Gare de Paris-Bercy... or you can cut it down to just 3 mins by catching the #24 bus on the rue Bercy just outside the Café Cartouche to the next stop... the kid rides free.

I think the problem with Chateaubriand is that the chef is so compelled to be inventive and creative that he often forgets to be sensible. Not a good thing in a no-choice restaurant. On a good day, it's magic. On a bad day, it's a total miss. Obviously the world's 50-best compilers were only there on magical days.

I do like Le Dauphin, Le Chateaubriand's satellite wine bar/ small plates resto on the same street. More choices so less chance of being a victim of the chef's whimsy. But a little too self-consciously trendy.

I loved my first meal at Chateaubriand... crazy inventive, surprising flavours that worked, lovely see-and-be-seen clientele.

The second meal: crazy inventive, surprising flavours that did not work at all... AT ALL!... lots of tourists

Third meal: "WTF is this?"... but a girlie model in our group thought that the waiters were very cute.

No fourth meal... ever!

There is such depth and breadth to the Paris food scene that delightful serendipitous discoveries are inevitable. Of course not many rise to the level of Septime or Rino excellence but most are good enough in the quality of the cuisine, sense of fun and/ or well-being, warm service, and buzz to qualify as a delight. I'm a local, not a tourist so I have a certain "flâneur" DNA and an instinct about which quartiers are more fertile than others. For example (among many), the Faubourg Saint-Antoine (which includes the Aligre quartier) is a goldmine... some streets like the rue Cotte are magic and it's just very bad luck if you end up with a dismal experience at any of its many restos... the same for the rue Paul Bert. Word of mouth is also a powerful intelligence... where and what to eat is the #1 topic for casual chat at the office and has resulted in some great eating experiences (Caius, Roseval, Clandestino, le Taxi Jaune, Ober-Salé) before they were reviewed or blogged about... but I also got turned on to Cornichon the day after it opened by a caviste on the rue Daguerre and to Lilane within a week of its opening by a vendeur at the Marché Monge. Some finds are, like love, quite accidental... desperately looking for a place to lunch before the cinema in the sterile redeveloped Bibliothèque quartier in the 13th, I stumbled on a cantine in Les Frigos artists' collective and was blown away by the quality of the food... unfortunately not a repeated experience because the place was either closed (very whimiscal hours) or someone else was doing the cooking... but, in trying to find a substitute for Les Frigos, we ended up having a memorable and totally surprisingly good lunch on the deck of Le Batofar (a boat moored in the Seine and better known as an ultra-hip club venue).

Unfortunately, the tourist zones are pretty risky. Except for the Palais Royal periphery (rue Richelieu and rue des Petits Champs) where there's a big cluster of good to great restos) and St Germain-des-Près on a weekday, I rarely venture into the tourist areas without a reservation or two. For me, the Marais/ 4th is the most irksome...swarming with tourists and suburbanites and loads of mediocre restaurants... I tend to rely on the less touristized patch south of the rue Rivoli/ rue St Antoine (Pamela Popo, Métropolitain, Bistrot des Compères, Cru and, if in need of a trad fix, Au Bourguignon du Marais) and the very trendy Haut-Marais in the 3rd.

The problem with foodie sites like Chowhound is that by recommending a few places again and again and again it creates a very narrow trail for visitors. I know the nervous nellies, compulsive planners, and fear-of-missing-out types must have validation for their choices but, believe me, there's a much larger universe in Paris. For those that need validation, I think John Talbott does a magnificent job in widening the trail. But I suspect most Chowhounders don't have the sense of adventure to explore outside the very narrow and very deep Chowhounder rut.

Uh oh, I just did a little search for fermetures annuelles... Le Voltaire will be closed most of August and Chez Denise for 3 weeks until 15 Aug. Plan B?

Re Le Grand Colbert, you do understand that it's only worth eating here if you limit yourself to the excellent shellfish menu and the steak tartare, right?

Indiana Café?!!! I feel faint... it's a chain not to be ever mentioned on Chowhound. :) Maybe the very stylish Café Français on the place Bastille @ rue St Antoine would be a better bet... and a petit-déjeuner formule for only €10... ignore all reviews on TA or elsewhere because it's been totally re-formulated and just re-opened a few weeks ago.

Whether Joséphine should be a choice for this OP is academic. He will be here in August when it's closed.

Oops, I don't think about la Crémaillère at all. I'm a Parisien and so feel embarrassed and out of place on the place du Tertre. I presume that la Crémaillère is the usual tourist-only mediocre-food sort of eaterie that you find on the tacky place du Tertre. Chez Plumeau despite its proximity to the place du Tertre retains a certain charm and authenticity and would be my one and only choice in the immediate area. A little further afield, I might be tempted by Clocher de Montmartre if I feel brave enough to run the gauntlet of souvenir hawkers to get there.

For any landmark celebration, I have a very short short-list. La Grande Cascade in the Bois de Boulogne and le Grand Véfour in the Palais Royal. 9 & 13-yr olds would probably enjoy la Grand Cascade the most... and it's cheaper!

If you have car with driver, a stop off at Ville-d'Avray would be a perfect antidote to the inevitable touristitis that comes with a visit to Versailles. Although I've only been to les Etangs de Corot once, I am a frequent visitor to the area for long rambles and picnics... more so than at Versailles itself... just more intimacy and authenticity, I guess. Having said that, you might opt for a picnic in the Versailles gardens just out of sheer convenience. If so, you can drop off at the wonderful Marché Notre Dame just off the avenue St Cloud in Versailles to pick up some fixings for a picnic... the market will be somewhat reduced in August but still one of the best in the Paris region... tell the driver that there's parking right under the Carrés Notre Dame with access from the odd number side of rue Maréchal Foch coming from the bd de la Reine or the rue Paroisse.

re Chez Plumeau. It's not a destination resto ... but makes a delightful retreat from all the tackiness and tourist hordes around Sacré Coeur and the place du Tertre. The newer Clocher de Montmartre on the other side of Sacré Coeur is another option much liked by some Chowhounders but when taking foreign friends to do the Sacré Coeur tourist thing I do prefer hanging out at the ultra-charming hidden-away Chez Plumeau waiting for them to get fed up with the crowds, pushy souvenir hawkers, and the contrived Frenchness of the place du Tertre. But, with French friends, eateries on the rue des Abbesses (i.e La Mascotte, Coquelicot, Cave des Abbesses) and rue Lepic (i.e Jeanne A) are much preferred.

(raising my hand) I actually like le Grand Colbert a lot and if I wanted excellent shellfish nosh (after a concert or something) in a place where I'd likely run into old friends, I'd opt for le Grand Colbert, not Joséphine. If I wanted very good, somewhat expensive,and very classic cuisine with lots of tourists, yes Joséphine is fab. Even so, I'd probably head to Chez Denise for my fix of trad cuisine.

Re avenue Montaigne. The rue Bayard is where the local workers tend to lunch... maybe Chez Savy is the best (and quickest) of the bunch but I haven't been for a year or so. I also used to like the café inside the Maison Dassault/ Artcurial at the Champs Elysées-end of the ave Montaigne but no recent experience. The Bar des Théâtres (recently re-located from the ave Montaigne to the rue Jean-Goujoun) is of course the traditional cantine of the ave Montaigne types but maybe only the steak tartare is recommendable. If a 10-min walk isn't too far, a bar lunch at the Mini-Palais in the Grand Palais is usually enjoyable but not exactly cheap. For cheaper but less good nosh, the café inside le Petit Palais.

Re rue Faubourg St-Honoré. A quickie lunch at the bar of La Cave Beauveau on the rue Saussaies... just around the corner from the Elysée Palace

Most of your list is a pretty conventional tourist restaurant circuit that might turn eating into a sort of gastronomic groundhog day.... very similar cuisine at most of your choices... brasseries do tend to have great settings but the food is often simply decent at best. Although you won't get validation from TA, some of of the newer non-trad eateries offer a great sample of modern French cooking that will easily relieve the monotony of brasserie fare... and many also provide a sample of real-life Paris that the largely touristy brasseries cannot.

But a big thumbs up for la Cuisine de Philippe. Food is excellent, setting and ambiance are delightful, prices are sweet.
Le Train Bleu, great setting, above-average brasserie fare, not very good price/quality ratio.
Le Voltaire, great setting, very "tous Paris" but not very welcoming to tourists, classic bistro fare, over-priced.
Les Etangs de Corot/Café des Artistes, only been once, lovely terrace, can't remember the food at all, not very convenient location (count on a least an hour by public transport from central Paris via the L suburban line from the Gare St-Lazare).
Brasserie Thoumieux, flashes of brilliance but also a very worrisome inconsistency, nice re-done space
Le Pharamond, lovely historic setting, now very touristy, average brasserie fare ... would suggest Chez Denise as a substitute
Le Grand Colbert, great buzz, liked by locals as much as tourists, but need to be careful choosing from menu (some items are very good, others are pretty bad)... best vibe after 10pm when the after-theatre crowd arrives.
Chez Flottes, a good choice if you happen to be stranded in this otherwise boring part of the 1st, the quality is a cut above the average brasserie, but still a wee bit overpriced.
La Coupole, quite a happy place, decent to good but not great brasserie fare, avoid the choucroute... and for a lovely end to the evening, lose the the couple with the baby and stroll down to the Piano Bar at the Closerie des Lilas.
Epicure / Le Bristol, "last night of a wonderful 3 week vacation - going out with a bang!"... and the bang means lots of bucks... but will be memorable

Another French creation... named in honour of one or other of the Médicis that French kings were always marrying.

My fave: Carl Marletti on the rue Censier in the 5th. But lots of boulangeries-pâtisseries have them. Just ask for "florentins" (nasal n and no e at end).