Pros: Fun, cozy, foodie-friendly, great service Cons: None I dined at Les Petits Plats on the same day that I lunched at Septime – yes, it’s a hard life – and loved them both for different reasons. Septime is hip, … Read More
Pros: Eccentric atmosphere, ample portions Cons: Limited seating, solo service After several misses, we found the place: a doll-sized Japanese restaurant nestled on a hill between the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont and Belleville. Ducking through the split noren curtains, we entered … Read More
The stark interior of Septime, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement. Pros: Original ideas; delightful flavor pairings; fresh, high-quality ingredients Cons: Can be noisy I went to Septime knowing nothing at all about it, taken there by a friend whose friend’s daughter … Read More
Chef Christian Etchebest’s justly popular Cantine du Troquet. Pros: super-fresh, high-quality ingredients; friendly, efficient service; lively ambiance Cons: noisy, TV screen At Basque chef Christian Etchebest’s lively and popular La Cantine du Troquet the other night, my dining companion and … Read More
The amusing amuses-bouches at Jean-François Piège’s Paris restaurant. My friends Chris and Helen and I had all followed the recent Top Chef series on French TV, so when Chris’s 40th birthday rolled around, Helen and I decided to treat … … Read More
The original France in front of the New York skyline. Coll. French Lines © French Lines Does anything sound more appealing in the age of agonizing low-cost flights and cramped plane seating than a long, slow ocean crossing in a … Read More
Le China has retained the appealing decor and colonial-Shanghai feel of the China Club. I was not expecting spectacular food at this three-story venue, a restaurant, bar and club that emphasizes the latter two, boasting an extensive … Favorite
Édouard Manet’s “Guerre Civile” (1871) © Musée Carnavalet – Roger Viollet The Paris Commune, a euphoric workers’ uprising followed by a bloodbath, remains a mystery to most foreign visitors to the city. An exhibition at Paris’s Hôtel de Ville … … Read More
L’Agrume, in Paris’s fifth arrondissement, lives up to the highest culinary standards. Pros: fresh, quality food; an elegant, price-delivering menu Cons: expensive à la carte, slightly off-the-beaten track Paris’s fifth arrondissement doesn’t offer many thrilling eateries unless one ventures slightly … Read More
Adolf Eichmann blindfolded before being taken to Israel, photographed by Zvi Aharoni, the Mossad agent who found Eichmann in Argentina. Fifty-one years ago, a team of Israeli agents captured a German citizen living under a false name in Argentina. The … Read More
