October 2009 archives

Just taking a breather here and thought I’d share some thoughts as I looked at my crazy Inbox this weekend. I switched to Gmail last year and things just keep moving down as they come in, until they turn the corner and head into the ‘older’ page (ie: Siberia). Where they get forgotten. So yesterday, I deleted a few messages. As in, a few hundred messages. I don’t even recall what many of them were about, or why I was saving them, but invariably a few likely got tossed that I probably should have answered. Drat.

There’s a concept I’ve been hearing about called declaring “bankruptcy”. It’s not about the global financial meltdown, but it’s about preventing another kind of meltdown by simply starting back again from zero, a blank slate. It’s an interesting idea and it’s nice to do a bit of spring cleaning now and then, even though spring is a few months away, unfortunately. (Although it did give me an excuse to buy a killer-stylin’ new overcoat for winter last Wednesday.)

Continue Reading Simplify It Sunday…

Occasionally I will write up a restaurant on the site. These are not traditional restaurant reviews; I don’t visit three times, I don’t take notes, I don’t go in disguises, and I’m not qualified to critique certain cuisines and wine lists. I write about food and travel but am not a restaurant critic.

When I write up a restaurant it’s because I think it’s a place of interest to readers, whether you live here or not. Dining out anywhere can be a variable experience, depending on the guests, the staff, and other factors, and even the most reliable restaurant can have an off-night, so readers may have a different experience than I do.

The blog reflects snippets of my life in Paris and elsewhere, and while I do keep the My Paris page fairly up-to-date (which lists restaurants), individual blog posts go back many years (5+). During that time, restaurants can change.

Generally speaking, I look for the positive in restaurants when I dine out and don’t go out looking for flaws or for something to criticize. While I try to write about restaurants I think are very good and will be enjoyed by readers, that’s not always going to be the case for every restaurant, and reader’s experiences will vary.

My time does not permit me to go back and update the nearly one thousand blog entries on the site, but each entry is dated so you can read when the restaurant was written up. In addition, readers are welcome to leave constructive comments regarding their experiences at a restaurant, good or bad, to share with others. So you may wish to scan them to get other opinions. (In some cases, comments have been turned off to prevent spammers.)

I provide phone numbers for the establishments listed. Most places in Paris require reservations, and they’re a good idea even in smaller places. (You’ll get treated much better if they know you’re coming rather than if you just show up unannounced.) Unlike restaurants in America, and elsewhere, reservations can often be made a few days, or the same day, except in places that are very popular.

I highly-recommend calling restaurants and any establishment listed on this site, regardless of whether a reservation is required, to be sure they’re open before going.

Although many places in Paris have websites, few respond to e-mail requests and it’s best to call. Usually there is an English-speaking employee available if you don’t speak French. It’s to ask, “Parlez-vous anglais, s’il vous plait?” first, no matter how shaky you think your French is. They appreciate the gesture.

And because out-of-towners have a reputation for not showing up, whether deserved or not, it’s best to call and re-confirm your reservation the day before.

I never planned to write about this granola, since both Molly and Cenk did excellent adaptations. Because they are probably sick of me clicking on their sites, I finally jotted it down on a scrap of paper. And since that scrap of paper gets pulled out of my files at least once every other week, I thought that it was simply too good to keep buried away under my piles of paperwork and I’d share it here.

Although I haven’t tried the thousands of variations of granola floating around (and in Why Stealing is Wrong?, I got my comeuppance for trying to pilfer another one), this is what the French would call le top du top—the best of the best.

(I don’t know what they call “comeuppance” in French, but I seem to get mine frequently around here. Like the other day, when I was feeling cocky because I finally managed to extricate myself from my nefarious cable company and went to the France Telecom office to see if I could finally get one of those fancy iPhones like absolutely everyone else has. “C’est pas possible, monsieur”, I keep hearing, even after I reason to them that I want to switch to a much more expensive plan, giving them more money, and let them sell me a pricey new phone. They say it may be possible, peut être, sometime in 2010. But I ain’t gonna garde mon souffle…)

Continue Reading The Best Granola Recipe…

This Wednesday, October 28th at 7:30pm, I’ll be at the American Library in Paris discussing my favorite topic—dessert!

Continue Reading Paris Pâtisserie Event & Booksigning…

Doing a culinary tour in Paris is always fun, because not only do I get to meet some new people and make new friends (important…since the old ones keep deserting me), but I get to revisit my favorite places in Paris. And this week, we made a detour in Lyon as well. So there was a lot more to see, and eat…

Lyon is a wonderful city. Kind of a miniature version of Paris, but younger, more spacious, and more relaxed. The people are plus cool, and in less of a rush—perhaps because they are so busy digesting all that rich food down there.

I’ve written about Bernachon before, and this trip, we had an especially warm greeting in their adjacent café, starting with puffy brioche and warmed pitchers of hot chocolate, made with the famed bean-to-bar chocolate that’s fabricated just a few doors away.

It’s no secret that I love Bernachon chocolate.

Continue Reading Paris Gastronomy Tour…

A recent phenomenon in Paris are Broadway shows coming to town.

In the past few years, plays like Grease, The Lion King, and West Side Story (and, bizarrely, Anne Frank, Le Musicial) have arrived amidst a fanfare of happy-go-lucky billboards in the métro. I don’t think the words “infectious enthusiasm” or “feel-good musical” are part of the French vocabulary, but pretty soon they might be.

So don’t be surprised if you come across a Parisian whistling “Greased Lightning” or “Beauty School Dropout” on your next visit.

I love musicals as much as the next guy (well, 10% of them, anyways…) so when I saw an ad for La Mélodie du Bonheur, I immediately wanted to call Romain to see if I should get tickets.

Continue Reading La Mélodie du Bonheur…

Alec Lobrano has been writing about the food in Paris for over two decades, and was the Paris correspondent for Gourmet magazine. When his book, Hungry for Paris came out, I immediately opened to page one and read it cover-to-cover. He’s one of the best food writers of our generation and each chapter tells the story of one of his favorite restaurants in Paris. And now, as a result, whenever someone suggests a restaurant for dinner, I’ll pull my copy of his book from my shelf and see what Alec has to say before I confirm.

We recently dined together on steak frites and I was thrilled when he agreed to write up a guest post with his favorite places for steak and French fries in Paris to share with you. He not only did that graciously, but included notes about what cuts of meat to expect in a French restaurant, which many visitors will certainly appreciate. And for vegetarians out there, he listed a healthy alternative, too!

You can read more of Alec’s Paris restaurant reviews and recommendations at his site and blog, AlexanderLobrano.com, which I read religiously. Not only is Alec a wonderful writer, he’s a terrific guy, and I hope you enjoy his company as much as I do…-David

In Paris, Where’s Le Bœuf?

According to one of the cordial waiters at Au Bœuf Couronée, one of the last old-fashioned steakhouses in the Paris’s old slaughterhouse neighborhood La Vilette in the 19th arrondissement, they haven’t been so busy in years.

Pour quoi? It seems that these trying times have a lot of people craving meat and potatoes, or as the French would have it, steak frites, that infinitely Gallic and profoundly consoling combo of steak with fries or some other form of spuds.

If you’re one of them, I’m happy to share my favorite steak frites addresses in Paris (vegetarians please skip to the last paragraph), but first a couple of pointers.

Continue Reading Where to Find the Best Steak Frites in Paris…

I keep a piece of paper near my front door. On it are places in Paris that I want to visit. When I hear about a place that sounds interesting, on the list it goes. Unfortunately, it seems as soon as I cross one off, a few more get added. And the list gets longer and longer and longer and longer and…

One particular spot that I’ve had my eye on for too long was Puerto Cacao, located in the farthest part of the city from where I live, requiring more than my limit of two métro changes. The focus of the shop is chocolate équitable, or fair trade chocolate.

So I was surprised when I was walking near the Marché d’Aligre and the store with the pricey mid-century modern furniture that I used to covet was gone. And in its place was a new hot chocolate spot.

Continue Reading Puerto Cacao…