Heidi Ellison
Taxi Jaune, Pramil, Monjul
Not the Latest Thing, But Still the Best TAXI JAUNE AND MONJUL ARE NOW CLOSED, BUT PRAMIL IS STILL OPEN, It doesn’t seem fair that only new restaurants get reviews in the press, so last week I went back to … Read More
Right Bank Closed to Traffic?
Paris Update What’s New in Paris RIGHT BANK: TRAFFIC BEGONE! It’s a step in the right direction. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants to ban motor-vehicle traffic from a stretch of the Right Bank as of August 2016 and turn it … Read More
Fatima
Pain That Can’t Be Seen
Fatima, directed by Philippe Faucon, is a film that speaks softly as it opens a door on a world rarely seen on the screen: that of two generations of a family of Algerian immigrants in France. Fatima (Soria Zeroual) lives … Read More
Suzanne Valadon, Maurice Utrillo, André Utter
Making Art and Love in Montmartre
The life of Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) is the stuff of Montmartre legend. An artist’s model, she got pregnant at the age of 18, father unknown (as was her own). An artist friend, Miguel Utrillo, agreed to give his name to … Read More
Coretta
Dining with the King Family
The owners of the restaurant Neva are staking out their gourmet territory in a previously neglected neighborhood in northern Paris right next to the Martin Luther King Park. They have had the good grace to name their new restaurant Coretta, after the civil rights hero’s wife.
La Bourse et la Vie
A New Flower in the Budding Rose Empire
When I heard that Daniel Rose, chef/owner of Spring, had opened a new, lower-priced bistro, La Bourse et la Vie, in Paris, I couldn’t wait to try it, but despaired of being able to get a reservation at any time in the near future, given the great difficulties I have had in the past booking a table at Spring.
Rosemary
French Gastropub Can’t Beat the British
Believe it or not, I have eaten at three different restaurants at this address in as many years. Normally that would seem to indicate a curse on the space, but the other evening Rosemary had quite a good crowd, in spite of the fact that it serves “English” food, commonly reviled by the French.
Cinéma Le Méliès. Montreuil
The People’s Cinema This could only happen in a suburb of Paris with a Communist mayor (former mayor Jean-Pierre Brard): In need of more cinema screens for local residents, the city of Montreuil effectively shut out two large film distributors … Read More
What’s New in Paris: NATA
Paris Update What’s New in Paris SPIRITUAL & PHYSICAL SUSTENANCE Paris has plenty of yoga centers, but few in the 20th arrondissement, and even fewer with their own organic vegetarian cooking school and regular meditation sessions in a peaceful studio … Read More
Distrito Francés, Rococo, Osè
Lunching in the Northern Faubourgs The homey setting upstairs at Distrito Francés. One day in August I went to the Rue du Faubourg Saint Martin to try a new Mexican restaurant, Distrito Francés, and was delighted to discover that a … Read More