This article is about the restaurant in Paris. For the restaurant chain based in Australia, see Dôme (coffeehouse).
Le Dôme in the early part of the 20th centuryBuilding with the Café du Dôme on the ground floor taken in 2006
Le Dôme Café (French pronunciation:[lədom]) or Café du Dôme is a restaurant in Montparnasse, Paris that first opened in 1898 (126 years ago) (1898). Based on the example established by La Closerie des Lilas (created in 1847) and followed by Café de la Rotonde (created in 1911), Le Select (created in 1925), and La Coupole (created in 1927), Le Dôme was renowned as an intellectual gathering place for artists and writers during the interwar period. Le Dôme created and disseminated gossip and provided message exchanges and an 'over the table' market that dealt in artistic and literary futures.[1] It was frequented by painters and sculptors of the School of Paris as well as writers, poets, models, art connoisseurs and dealers.
Le Dôme later became the gathering place of the American literary colony and became a focal point for artists residing in Paris's Left Bank.
A poor artist used to be able to get a Saucisse de Toulouse and a plate of mashed potatoes for $1. Today, it is a top fish restaurant (the Michelin Guide once gave it one star), with a comfortably old-fashioned decor.[2] The food writer Patricia Wells said, "I could dine at Le Dôme once a week, feasting on platters of briny oysters and their incomparable sole meunière."[3]
