Heidi Ellison
Chatomat Revisited
Fine Dining in a Dollhouse
The tiny 20th-arrondissement restaurant Chatomat is as good as it was when it opened more than five years ago. Sadly, the candlelight our reviewer commented on in 2011 was gone, but the wine was as strong as ever: the 2015 Terre d’Aigles Côtes du Rhône from Domaine Richard we ordered had a 15-percent alcohol content!
The Color Line: African-American Artists and Segregation
The Illustrated Story of American Racism
Paris seems to be taking a fresh interest in American culture. The musical comedy, an alien art form here, is now a staple at the Théâtre du Châtelet, where 42nd Street is currently packing them in, and the Musée de … Read More
Jouvence & Brigitte
Pre-Christmas Bistro-Hopping
The festivities have already started, at least for me. The other day, I had lunch and dinner in two Paris bistros worthy of the name. The first, Jouvence, in the 12th arrondisse-
ment, is both very new and very old.
Café Philippe
A Pleasant Place In the Hood
I must be losing my touch. Not far from where I live is a restaurant called Café Philippe that has been there for two-a-half years but that I had never noticed before. I discovered it while searching for a lunch spot in the Marais.
Cy Twombly
What’s So Great About The Great Scribbler?
Was Cy Twombly the painter whose work first elicited the comment “My three year old could have done that!”? Probably not, but he is a good candidate. Universally admired, even adulated, by the art world, he seems less popular with … Read More
Pixel Avenue
Paris Update Art Notes CURE FOR TUNNEL BLUES Pixel Avenue, a monumental installation by Paris artist Fred Sapey-Triomphe, produced by Digitalarti, is a surefire cure for tunnel blues as it lights up the ceiling in a tunnel in Seine Saint-Denis, … Read More
Dining Out in Paris
ABCS of Parisian Eating
The second edition of Dining Out in Paris, by American in Paris Tom Reeves, has just been published in paperback. This indispensable resource for new visitors to Paris delivers on its subtitle: “What You Need to Know before You Get … Read More
Maurizio Cattelan: Not Afraid of Love
Post Requiem for The Artist
In 2011, at the age of 51, the artist Maurizio Cattelan announced he was giving up his art career, an event marked by a major retrospective (or “artistic suicide,” as some termed it) at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. … Read More
La Vague
Niceties of Nikkei Migrate to Paris
Strange to say, but until fairly recently Paris’s restaurant scene was rather provincial. If you didn’t want French food, you had to settle for mediocre, dumbed-down Chinese, Japanese, Italian or Indian. Mexican was pretty much nonexistent. The occasional exception was for food from former French colonies in North Africa or Vietnam.
Louise en Hiver & Ma Vie de Courgette
Tough Times and Salvation for Both Young and Old
After a good BD (bande dessinée, or graphic novel), what a French person loves best is a good animated film. I recently saw two that stand out for their great humanity and empathy: Louise en Hiver (Louise by the Shore) … Read More