It's a classic line from Casablanca, one of the greatest movies in history.  I'm no Humphrey Bogart (I'm not as cool as he was) and my wife is no Ingrid Bergman (she's better looking than Bergman), but we did have a great time in Paris.  As Paris is one of the great cities of the world, it's no surprise you can find some great cocktail experiences there.

The Little Red Door is a fun and cozy cocktail bar in the 3rd arrondissement.  It's fairly close to a lot of the main tourist sites.  Conveniently, the Little Red Door was walking (staggering?) distance from where we stayed.  It's not a big place, so depending on when you go you may have to wait a short period of time to get inside.

The cocktail list is very creative, as it pairs 11 drinks with pictures from various artists.  The drinks, which have numbers instead of names, are approachable liquid works of art.  We should know, as we tried a few of them during our two visits to the Little Red Door.  You're not bound to those drinks.  The first time we went there Calvin made me an exquisite variation of a Sidecar.  As most people in the cocktail community consider Paris to be the birthplace of the Sidecar, I wanted to have one while I was in town.

Fortunately the Little Red Door hasn't become full of pretentious mixologists (arguably a redundant phrase).  That's a concern when a bar becomes increasingly popular.  No worries here.  The bar staff was engaging, pleasant, and more than happy to talk about liquors and cocktails.  Interestingly, the bar stuff was truly international, e.g. Calvin was from Scotland, and I don't think I heard any native French speakers behind the bar.  Between the quality of the cocktails, the top notch technical skills of the bartenders, and most importantly, the people, the Little Red Door definitely is worth a visit if you're in the City of Light.

Me and the Little Red Door -- it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship (if you don't get the joke, watch Casablanca).