When the cold winds blow, diners should head for the fork-tender osso bucco atop a mound of creamy polenta, and the Tuscan pot roast with its dark, rich, tomatoey gravy.
The only distractions were the sharp blasts of cold air as new diners wrestled the heavy glass doors open.
I danced with my 10-year-old grandson, his parents danced together, but the evening's most tenacious dancer was Hannah, who led her grandfather onto the floor time after time while their entrees got cold and the other diners applauded their twirls.
On the night of Nov. 13, 2015, gunmen stormed bars, restaurants, a soccer stadium and a concert hall across Paris, shooting diners in cold blood and holding people hostage before slaughtering dozens more.
I wondered what post-cold-war memories these diners would bring back there in coming years.
The plates are icy cold, there are no other diners, and there is no radio music but only the clink of our cutlery as we try to separate parts of the stringy chicken.
The restaurant, as it battened down the hatches for its first winter, introduced a number of low-priced options in an effort to entice diners during the cold weather months.
Among the condiments are pickled ginger and garlic and, while waiting for the hot pot, diners nibble on cold appetizers of spicy eggplant, marinated mushrooms and chili-spiked cucumbers.
He pulled hard on the restaurant door, forcing it open, and stumbled with his tattered flowers into the dark realm between the door and the velvet drapes that had been hung to keep the cold from sweeping in over diners at the front of the room.
Running a street-food business is hard and heavy work, but indoor markets and events help to see traders and diners through the coldest months, and bring new flavours to a wider audience.
