The first block of Avenue Parmentier, near Rue du Faubourg du Temple in the 11th arrondissement, once a no-man’s land food-wise, is turning into something of a gourmet strip now that “old-timers” Chateaubriand and Le Dauphin have been joined by a new restaurant, Tannat.
I have a vivid memory of buying a ham sandwich at a street stand on a gloomy day during my first trip to Paris and eating it while sitting on a stone bench in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre. It was a revelation. How could anything so simple – a baguette, a few slices of ham and some butter – be so incredibly good?
About a year ago, a friend strongly advised me to go to the restaurant Cru. Although I greatly value her advice (it was Grace Teshima, a friend to many in Paris), I guess I was put off by the idea of eating a whole meal of only raw food, although it certainly could be excellent if done well.
Those who, like my friend Helen (as mentioned in last week’s review of La Marée Jeanne), are allergic to foam and other niceties of so-called molecular cuisine, and those who just crave good old-fashioned French food now and then would do well to have a meal at Au Bon Coin, where the classics of French bistro cooking are still made up fresh, not out of the freezer or a vacuum-packed plastic bag.
Napoleon Bonaparte is one of history’s endlessly fascinating characters. Never forgotten, especially in France, he is getting an extra dose of attention this year, the 200th anniversary of his second abdication as emperor of France and forced departure for exile … Read More
Is the tide turning away from meat-heavy menus in Parisian restaurants? The Verre Volé, a meat lover’s paradise, recently opened Le Verre Volé sur Mer, a fish-and-seafood-only bistro, and the sublime Septîme has a fabulous fishy offshoot called Clamato.
If you ask Judith Cercós why the restaurant she opened with her husband, chef Ludovic Dubois, is called Les Poulettes de Batignolles, she will say it’s because her French friends always call her “ma poulette,” a term of endearment loosely translated as “my little chickadee.”
When I saw a poster for the exhibition “Churchill-de Gaulle” at the Musée de l’ Armée in a Paris Métro station, I assumed the exhibition would be about the notorious rows and fractious relationship between the British and French wartime … Read More
At last, a meal I could really get my teeth into and enjoy down to the last bite. Where? Louis, the new restaurant of Stéphane Pitré in the ninth arrondissement. The tiny place (seats 24) has been charmingly done up in white and shades of blue. The chef, who personally delivered each dish and explained its ingredients to us, was equally charming.
The invasion of foreign chefs continues in Paris. Not only is chef Hannah Kowalenko at the new restaurant Ellsworth a Canadian, but she is just 22 years old, which makes the quality of the lunch we had there the other day even more impressive.
