Paris 75018 Place du Tertre 20120101 La Mère Catherine

La Mère Catherine is a ''

brasserie In France, Flanders, and the Francophone world, a brasserie () is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word ''brasserie'' is also French for "brewery" and, by extension, "the brew ...

'' in the

18th arrondissement The 18th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as ''dix-huitième''. The arrondis ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is the oldest restaurant located at

place du Tertre The Place du Tertre is a square in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France. Only a few streets away from Montmartre's Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the Lapin Agile, it is near the summit of the city's elevated Montmartre quarter. Place du Ter ...

. It is situated in a building that previously served as the church presbytery of

Saint-Pierre de Montmartre Saint-Pierre de Montmartre () is one of the oldest surviving churches in Paris, second to the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, but the lesser known of the two main churches in Montmartre, the other being the more famous 19th-century Sacré-Cœur ...

History

Founded in 1793, it is one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. A plaque at its entrance gives a

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

of the word "

bistro A bistro or bistrot , is, in its original Parisian incarnation, a small restaurant, serving moderately priced simple meals in a modest setting. Bistros are defined mostly by the foods they serve. French home-style cooking, and slow-cooked foods ...

": that on March 30, 1814, while a group of Russian soldiers were dining at Mère Catherine, they asked for drinks, (Cyrillic: ''быстро''; Russian: "quickly"). Thereafter, "bistro" became a description of a restaurant where you could get food or drink quickly. In the early twentieth century, the bistro was managed by Mr. Lemoine and owned by Père Labille. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

Georges Danton Georges Jacques Danton (; 26 October 1759 – 5 April 1794) was a French lawyer and a leading figure in the French Revolution. He became a deputy to the Paris Commune, presided in the Cordeliers district, and visited the Jacobin club. In Augus ...

met his disciples at Mère Catherine. During the Nazi occupation of Paris, 1941-1944,

Ernst Jünger Ernst Jünger (; 29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German author, highly decorated soldier, philosopher, and entomologist who became publicly known for his World War I memoir '' Storm of Steel''. The son of a successful businessman and ...

was a patron. At one time, guests could enjoy a game of

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

at Mère Catherine; an old postcard depicts billiards players posing in front of the bar. Today, the restaurant is frequented mostly by tourists.

Architecture and fittings

The interior is characterized by dark wood walls, terra cotta tiles, and exposed wooden ceiling beams. It is furnished with large crocks, framed oil paintings of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

landmarks, wooden chairs, and red-and-white checked linens.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Restaurant Chez la Mere Catherine Restaurants in Paris Buildings and structures in the 18th arrondissement of Paris 1793 establishments in France