I was asked to explain the different distinctions of French eating establishments by a client last month. Below are four categories: Brasserie, bistro, café, and salon de thé.

Brasserie
A brasserie is a restaurant that serves the same menu all day, sometimes with a few specials/plat du Jour. The cuisine is classic French with dishes like charcuterie, plats de mer, steak tartare, onion soup, and confit de canard.  Brasserie also means brewery and many of them serve a good selection of beer on tap. Some well known Parisian brasseries include Brasserie Lipp, Bofinger, Vaudeville, and La Coupole.

Bistro/Bistrot
A bistro is a small, informal, neighborhood restaurant with simple food, usually with a single owner or chef-owned. They are open at set times, approximately from 12PM to 2 or 2:30PM for lunch and 7:30PM to 10:30 or 11PM for dinner and most of the time closed either Sunday or Monday, or both. Legend has it that how the name bistro came about is when Russian soldiers were at a restaurant in Montmartre on Place du Tertre in 1812, their food was too slow in coming, so they yelled “Bistrot! Bistrot!”, which means quickly in Russian. Some of my favorite bistros are Le Reminet, Chez Janou, L’ Atelier d’Antan, and Chez Dumonet.
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