One of the best decisions you could make while visiting Paris is to eat at the Relais de l’Entrecote located at Porte-Maillot. It’s the only decision you’ll need to make, too.

A famous 50-year-old fixed three-course menu (peruse the handwritten sign out front) means all you need to do is get inside. Once you bypass the influx of carnivorous groupies clamoring to grab a seat at one of the restaurant’s crammed tables, you’ll enjoy a serving of the best entrecote—a traditional French cut of premium steak—in town. But not before you try their mixed salad dressed with walnuts and a killer mustard vinaigrette. End your meal with a desert of your choice (OK, just one more decision!). Our recommendation: the profiteroles drowned in a melted fudge and cream mixture.

When you taste the melt-in-your-mouth butter-based steak sauce, you’ll quickly see why crowds of tourists and locals alike form long lines in front of the three different Parisian locations—the second is in the popular district of Saint Germain and the third in the 8th arrondissement (home to Champs Elysee). The secret formula, which is arguably a feat of chemical engineering, hasn’t changed one iota since founder Paul Gineste de Saurs opened the small restaurant about a mile north of the Arc de Triomphe in 1959.

Besides being an innovative chef with an exceptional palate (perhaps inherited from a long lineage of wine-producers), de Saurs’ was a smart business man. Instead of overcomplicating things, he simplified by adding only a “L’Entrecote” sign outside the bistro front, not fussing with the restaurant’s pre-existing Venetian theme, and, most importantly, posing just one simple question to his customers: “How would you like your steak cooked?”

This brilliant business model continues to thrive today under the guidance of de Saur’s children and several franchise owners, who run replicas of the original bistro throughout Paris and France as well as in Bahrain, Barcelona, Geneva, London, Montreal and New York.

For more information, visit relaisentrecote.fr/.

[Photography courtesy of Wikimedia (top) and EightFiveZero (center)]

While there’s definitely a lot to think about when hosting a dinner party—will everyone show up on time? Will the meals turn out OK? Will people have fun?—one thing you don’t have to sweat is setting a beautiful table. This is your chance to showcase the amazing pieces you’ve inherited or collected over time. Here are four ways to use the things you love to create a unique and special evening for you and your dinner guests.

No fine china? No problem When it comes to tabletop heirlooms, it doesn’t start and end with Grandma’s silverware. Anything goes, really, especially if it tells a personal story, like these large clam shells my mom, sister and I collected on the beach one summer. My mom took them home, put them in the dishwasher and thoroughly cleaned them. Then one day, when she had guests over, she decided to use them to serve a French scallop appetizer. They were such a crowd-pleaser that she continued to use them for years and probably still has them today.

Serve Up Different Dishes (Literally) Sometimes it’s fun to mix and match all your different dish and glass sets to create a unique look. I love to do this, especially because it reminds me of the time when my friend and I hosted dinner parties right after we graduated college. Since we couldn’t afford a matching glass set, at the time, we went to flea markets and bought all these different wine glasses. When we set the table, every person got a different wine glass. It made for a great conversation piece among the guests who compared their different glasses.

Redefine Potluck Food, of course, is a key element to any party. It’s also the perfect platform to share heirloom recipes. As the hostess, you can coordinate with your guests to create a menu where each person is sharing a dish they have either inherited or turned into their specialty over time. When I’ve done this in the past, I’ve made my mom’s apple strudel for dessert and my friend, Alice, who’s from the south, has made her signature crab cakes for appetizer. It’s fun, easy, and you can swap recipes at the end of the night.

Decorate with Your Collection If you’re a collector, consider turning your prized finds into tabletop décor for an evening. As you know by now, I collect teapots and, occasionally, I love to use them as vases. I’ll set them in the center of the table and color-coordinate them with the dishware. One time, I set white dishes, white candles, and white and yellow teapots filled with white roses on a white embroidered runner (see photo above). It created a clean, sophisticated, beautiful effect using pieces I adore.

Obviously, this idea doesn’t translate well to all collections, but you would be surprised what you could do with a little imagination. If you collect books or antique letters, make photocopies of them and use them as placemats or write the menu on the back. If you collect seashells, like a friend of mine, consider placing them throughout the table or at the center on a bit of sand if you live near a beach. Or if you’ve collected photos, use old snapshots of friends and family as fun and intriguing place cards.

Ask me a question: editors@thefineartoffamily.com!

Bootleggers and speakeasies weren’t the only ones who profited from the Prohibition. In 1920, Charles Mader saw the nationwide alcohol ban as an opportunity to revamp his business, Mader’s Restaurant located in downtown Milwaukee. Rather than focus on frosty pints and cold cuts as he had since the eatery’s grand opening in 1902, he decided to look to his German roots for the traditional dishes he enjoyed before moving to America in 1885.

“We really got into the food business after Prohibition,” says Victor Mader, the restaurant’s third generation owner. The 108-year-old restaurant now serves upwards of 180,000 meals a year (including wiener schnitzel, sauerbraten, and their famous roast pork shank) to everyone from conventioneers visiting the nearby Midwest Airlines Center to sports fans of Marquette University and the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team to locals whose personal histories are intertwined here.

“We have one group in their 60s and 70s who come out at lunch. Mader’s is the place they frequented when they were in their 30s. Some of them maybe even proposed to their wives here,” says Victor, who started as a bus boy and later went full-time in 1964 after college. Among the regular faces, Victor says they’ve seen some famous ones, too, including three presidents (John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford), Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, and Paul Newman.

Victor’s family traditions aren’t confined to the restaurant walls. He’s made it a point to spread the wealth of his heritage by getting involved in various ventures including art collectibles, catering, and airline food service. His art and antiques collection brings in annual sales of up to $7 million dollars for limited edition German beer steins, lithographs, woodcarvings, M.I. Hummel figurines, and other collectibles. The restaurant’s 20-year-old catering business serves both Milwaukee’s Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, and Midwest Airlines. In 2006, just one year after Mader’s started dishing up a sky-high menu, Conde Nast Traveler voted Midwest Airline as the best airline food in America.

In spite of evolving food trends and fast food’s continuing dominance, Mader’s will always be a traditional German restaurant. “We are what we are and we’re not going to change ourselves,” Victor says. We’ll raise a pint to that!

[Photography courtesy of Victor Mader]