After a long absence and a change in ownership I was reintroduced to this wonderful little bistro near the Place des Vosges but far enough away to keep the true tourists at a distance. My go between was the oft-married, blonde, Healdsburg, Ca interior designer Myra Hoefer, whose atelier is across the street and who uses Chez Janou as her personal canteen-with her oversized glasses and great stories she merits a write-up of her own.

On a sunny and cold day  M, the BF (beau-fils) and I were seated at a table ronde by a window from where we could enjoy the beautiful murals that cover the soothingly soft green walls.  They date back to the original restaurant in 1925.

An unpretentious hangout for fashionistas where owner Omar Guerida pops in and out at mealtimes to maintain a watchful eye and selectively tablehop.

André Jorno’s Tunisian mother opened the first Sephardic grocery on this rue de Rosiers location in the early 50’s when the Marais was still the predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish neighborhood it had been since the Middle Ages.

My friend and hostess for my San Francisco literary salons Virginia Reyna was in town. We met in the lobby of her Paris address, the Hotel Jeanne d’Arc in the Marais where she was holding her autographed copy of Alec Lobrano’s Hungry for Paris and after a quick consult we decided to walk to Robert et Louise on the rue Vielle du Temple.