Le Procope

Procopio Cutò opened Le Procope on rue de l'Ancienne Comédie in 1686 with crystal chandeliers, marble tables and wall mirrors, the template for every café that came after. La Fontaine, Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes wrote chapters here; Benjamin Franklin negotiated French support for the American Revolution at one of the tables; the Phrygian cap was first hoisted from this dining room. The kitchen today runs classical (coq au vin, calf's head, the original ice cream) at tourist-grade prices, which is the trade for sitting where the Enlightenment was edited. For an Istanbul visitor with one historical-monument dinner to spend, Procope wins on the math: 339 years, every philosopher you've heard of.