Archive for the ‘restaurants’ Category

Which Dining Guide Do Most French Waitresses Recommend to Paris-bound Travelers?

Saturday, March 21st, 2015
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Waitress Admiring Our E-book

We like to think that the dining guide most French waitresses recommend is our new e-book Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light.

Entering into a restaurant in Paris can be a formidable experience for the uninitiated traveler. Not only do you have to contend with trying to make your wishes understood by a waiter or waitress who may or may not speak your language, but you must learn quickly how to adapt to local dining customs as well.

If you are a first- or second-time traveler to Paris, our new e-book, Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light, will provide you the with the knowledge and confidence that you need to enter into a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal and to have a wonderful dining experience.

Bonus!
Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light contains in-depth reviews of twelve of the author’s favorite restaurants.

Click here to order! http://amzn.to/1nkgCyu

Note: You don’t need a Kindle device to read Dining Out in Paris. Amazon.com provides FREE reader apps that work on every major tablet, smartphone, and computer so that you can read e-books on whatever type of device you own. Click here to learn more.

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Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know about the New French Law

Tuesday, December 30th, 2014
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Fait_maison_logo

Effective January 1st, a new French law takes effect that will change the way you select your food in French restaurants. On that date, all restaurants in France (whether they claim to prepare homemade dishes or not) will be required to indicate somewhere in the restaurant the definition of what a homemade dish is:

Les plats « faits maison » sont élaborés sur place à partir de produits bruts.

This sentence states that homemade dishes are those that have been prepared in-house from raw products.

Bringing consistency to the restaurant industry, the law goes on to state what comprises a homemade dish:

• “Prepared in-house” means that the raw products arrive from a supplier for elaboration in the kitchen of the restaurant.

• “Raw products” means that each element of the dish arrives at the restaurant in a raw state. It cannot have undergone cooking or transformation by other processes or have been mixed with other products that might have transformed it from its natural state.

However, the term “raw products” does not mean that the produce must arrive fresh from the farm. Between the farm and the restaurant, food items can undergo certain processes that do not affect their basic nature. Examples include cleaning, peeling (except for potatoes), slicing, cutting, deboning, shelling, grinding, milling, smoking, and salting, or processes that preserve them from spoilage, such as refrigeration, freezing, or sealing them in vacuum packs.

Recognizing that it would be impractical to impose the requirement that chefs make all of their ingredients in-house, the law goes on to list products that may be used even though they have undergone transformation from their natural state:

• Cured fish and sausage, but not terrines or pâtés
• Cheese, milk, sour cream, animal fat
• Bread, flour, and cookies
• Dried or candied vegetables and fruit
• Pasta and cereal
• Raw sauerkraut
• Rising agents, sugar, and gelatin
• Condiments, spices, herbs, concentrates, chocolate, coffee, tea
• Syrup, wine, alcohol, and liqueurs
• Blanched offal
• Raw puff pastry
• Fowl, fish, and meat stocks, subject to informing the consumer of their use.

Restaurants that claim to make homemade dishes must identify these dishes on their menus either with the notation “Fait maison” or with the “Fait maison” image (a roof of a house over a frying pan). Restaurants that claim that all of their dishes are homemade may indicate that fact before each dish or indicate it in a unique spot on the menu.

This new law has already provoked controversy in the restaurant industry, with some chefs wondering whether important ingredients that they have been using fall under the list of exceptions. Some wonder how homemade dishes they normally prepare that are accompanied with a transformed element that is not an exception might qualify under the law. An example of such a case would be a homemade crêpe served with an industrially-produced jam.

As for consumers, the new law should go a long way to remove the doubt about whether a dish that they order in a restaurant in France is homemade or not.

On your next trip to Paris, be sure to look for the “fait maison” logo when you dine out.

Bon appétit!

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Sunday Morning at Un Dimanche à Paris

Sunday, October 26th, 2014
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Un Dimanche à Paris

Un Dimanche à Paris
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

What better place to spend a Sunday morning than in a restaurant called Un Dimanche à Paris? My wife and I went there today for brunch.

The restaurant and chocolate/pastry boutique are located on a narrow 18th-century cobblestone walkway called Cour de Commerce Saint-André. The establishment is vast, occupying three addresses on the cour. The dining tables are amply spaced on a floor of polished paving-stones. Imaginatively-designed light fixtures provide adequate illumination and window shades in green, grape, rose, and taupe provide colorful distraction. In short, the restaurant is an eclectic mixture of modern décor in an ancient setting.

It envelops one of the towers that Philippe Auguste, king of France, built in the 13th century to protect the city before he headed off to the Crusades. Our waiter seated us at a table right next to this magnificent structure. Before he took our order, he thoughtfully asked us if we had any allergies to food.

Un Dimanche à Paris offers two menus for brunch, one for 38€ with a choice of omelets, and the other for 58€, with an assiette gourmet of five different small dishes, followed by four dessert gourmandieses. As the assiette gourmet is representative of the type of cuisine in which the restaurant specializes, we selected that. (The menu centers on the theme of chocolate and each dish contains some form of this ingredient.) The food was so unique that by the end of the meal, we were quite pleased that we had made this choice.

Among the apéritif beverages offered on the brunch menu, we settled on a Kir royal au cacao. This was a glass of brut Ayala champagne flavored with crème de cacao. The touch of chocolate gave the dry champagne an earthy flavor that completely transformed it. We both found this pleasing. I was able to nurse my beverage through half of the meal.

The waiter also brought us each a glass of fruit juice. I chose pear juice produced by Alain Millat, whose flavor I found to be ambrosial, and my wife opted for a glass of pink grapefruit juice.

While we waited for the food to arrive, we delighted in eating fresh, thick-cut baguette which we coated with a velvety chocolate spread. It tasted dreamy! A pat of Echiné butter and a choice of Alain Millat honey and jams were served alongside.

Then, the waiter brought the first course, a plate containing six different portions of food, most of which were flavored in some way with chocolate. Two quick-fried prawns were covered in coco nibs, which gave the crustaceans a slight crunch. A small portion of foie gras was marbled with chocolate and topped with poached pear. A small portion of marinated sea bream was covered in sesame seeds and cocoa nibs. It was served with a round of the freshest salmon that I have tasted in a long time. A slice of rabbit terrine had melt-in-the mouth tenderness. Flavored with chocolate, it was ever-so-slightly bitter. A small goblet of chestnut cream soup served with a swirl of chocolate syrup was light and lovely. And a slice of mackerel, served with green beans and chocolate croutons, expressed the primordial flavor of the sea.

For dessert, the waiter brought a plate containing a two madeleines flavored with rose and raspberry, slices of buttered, toasted Poilâne bread covered with dark-chocolate shavings, tiny Paris Brests (choux pastry) filled with hazelnut cream, and a sweet cake made with bits of candied orange and filled with praline cream. There were two bonuses: a goblet of pannacotta covered with sour cherry jam and a goblet of rich vanilla-flavored yoghurt covered with little balls containing milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate.

To end the meal, the waiter brought me a cup of café au lait and my wife a cup of rich, aromatic hot chocolate.

The service was friendly and wonderfully efficient.

Before we left the restaurant, Nicolas Bacheyre, the pastry and chocolate chef, came out of the kitchen to bid us hello.

This was a wonderful meal and an experience we won’t soon forget!

Un Dimanche à Paris
4-6-8, cour du Commerce Saint-André
75006 Paris
Tel.: 01.56.81.18.18
Sunday brunch served from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
www.un-dimanche-a-paris

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A Preview of Winter Chocolate Creations at Un Dimanche à Paris

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014
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Un Dimanche à Paris on Cour du Commerce Saint-André

Un Dimanche à Paris on Cour du Commerce Saint-André
Photograph courtesy of Un Dimanche à Paris

In mid-September, Monique and I were invited to a preview event to taste winter chocolate creations at Un Dimanche à Paris, a restaurant located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. When we arrived there for the tasting, we discovered that it is much more than a restaurant.

Located on a narrow 18th-century cobblestone walkway called Cour de Commerce Saint-André, the establishment houses a number of enterprises that are a-buzz with activity: a restaurant, a pastry shop, a salon de thé, and a pastry school. And to our great joy, we learned that the common theme around which all of these activities focus is chocolate—in all of its forms.

Upon entering the pastry shop, we were ushered upstairs to a large kitchen where the new winter creations were on display…and all were available for sampling!

Anna Maury - Communications

Anna Maury – Communications
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Anna Maury of the business communications office greeted us and handed each of us a cup of thick, delicious hot chocolate. We were off to a good start!

Sapins de Noël

Sapins de Noël
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I took one of the “Sapins de Noël” (Christmas trees) from the display and bit into it. Resting on a shortbread cookie called sablé Breton, this small confection contained chocolate mousse (50% cocoa), vanilla cream, and milky gianduja encased in a thin layer of chocolate and wrapped in a soft green cocoa-butter velours. Very rich and quite filling! The pastry will be on sale at the boutique from December 8 through December 31.

Ecorce de Chocolat

Bûche – Ecorce de Chocolat
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Monique tried the “Bûche – Ecorce de Chocolat,” a dessert shaped like a Yule log enrobed in an irregular chocolate pastry shell fashioned to look like the bark of a birch tree. The log contained chocolate mousse (66% cocoa) and mandarin-flavored cream glazed with dark chocolate. The whole rested on a base of crunchy chocolate cookie enhanced with fleur de sel (sea salt). The pastry will be on sale at the boutique from December 20 through December 31.

Pierre Cluizel and Nicolas Bacheyre

Pierre Cluizel, Director and Nicolas Bacheyre, Pastry Chef and Chocolate Maker
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I had the pleasure of meeting Pierre Cluizel, director, and Nicolas Bacheyre, pastry chef and chocolate maker.

Pierre Cluizel, son of renowned chocolate maker Michel Cluizel, worked for twenty-five years in the family’s business. He launched Un Dimanche à Paris as a concept store in 2011. In the dining room, he uses chocolate as a spice, and each dish contains some form of this ingredient.

Before coming to Un Dimanche à Paris, 30-year-old Nicolas Bacheyre worked for Fouquet’s (a famed restaurant on the Champs-Elysées), for Le Quinzième (a restaurant owned and created by Cyril Lignac), and for Fauchon (an esteemed caterer) as sous-chef.

The core philosophy of Un Dimanche à Paris is the concept of gourmandise raisonnée, exemplified by the creation of light-textured pastries that contain less sugar and are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. After this tasting, we can affirm that their pastries meet these noble goals.

Un Dimanche à Paris
4-6-8, cour du Commerce Saint-André
75006 Paris
Tel.: 01.56.81.18.08 (boutique)
www.un-dimanche-a-paris

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American Cuisine at the Little Cantine

Thursday, September 4th, 2014
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Little Cantine

Little Cantine
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

While strolling around the Latin Quarter last week, I spotted Little Cantine and decided to stop in to try one of their hamburgers.

After studying the menu, I settled on a “Dude” burger, consisting of ground beef, cheddar, bacon, pickles, and barbeque sauce. Served on a sesame-seed bun, the burger stood tall on the plate &#8212 a tempting tower of flavor. I bit into it and savored one of the best burgers that I have tasted on this side of the Atlantic. Washed down with a bottle of Brooklyn Lager (an artisanal beer brewed in the U.S.A.), the meal was so filling that I didn’t have room to try any of the desserts.

Burger and Beer at Little Cantine

Burger and Beer at Little Cantine
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

The burger came to 11€, a reasonable price for hamburgers in Paris. The beer cost 6€, a standard price for an artisanal beer. The accompanying green salad came to 3€, bringing the total bill up to 20€.

I was served by Cécile, who told me that she is the manager of the restaurant. She, and another employee who came on duty a little later, speek impeccable English. Americans in Paris who pine for a tasty hamburger will enjoy dining at the Little Cantine.

Little Cantine
51, rue des Ecoles
75005 Paris
Tel.: 01.43.29.88.80

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Our New Dining Guide — Essential Reading before You Get to Paris

Saturday, August 2nd, 2014
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Our new e-book, Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light, will give first- and even second-time travelers the knowledge and confidence that they need to enter into a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal. Dining Out in Paris helps prepare the traveler for a wonderful French dining experience.

Click here to order! http://amzn.to/1nkgCyu.

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Which Dining Guide Do Most French Waiters Recommend to Paris-bound Travelers?

Wednesday, June 11th, 2014
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Waiter Holding Copy of Dining Out In Paris

We like to think that the dining guide most French waiters recommend is our new e-book Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light.

Entering into a restaurant in Paris can be a formidable experience for the uninitiated traveler. Not only do you have to contend with trying to make your wishes understood by a waiter who may or may not speak your language, but you must learn quickly how to adapt to local dining customs as well.

If you are a first- or second-time traveler to Paris, our new e-book, Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light, will provide you the with the knowledge and confidence that you need to enter into a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal and to have a wonderful dining experience.

Bonus!
Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light contains in-depth reviews of twelve of the author’s favorite restaurants.

Click here to order! http://amzn.to/1nkgCyu

Note: You don’t need a Kindle device to read Dining Out in Paris. Amazon.com provides FREE reader apps that work on every major tablet, smartphone, and computer so that you can read e-books on whatever type of device you own. Click here to learn more.

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44 rue Vivienne
Part III – The Neighborhood

Thursday, November 14th, 2013
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44 Rue Vivienne

44 Rue Vivienne
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Last weekend we had the opportunity to stay in an apartment that was loaned to us by Habitat Parisien. It is located near the Bourse in the 2nd arrondissement, an area that doesn’t seem to be on too many travelers’ radar. This gave us the occasion to explore a neighborhood with which we had previously only been scarcely acquainted.

Restaurant Clémentine

Restaurant Clémentine on Friday Night
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

We arrived at the rue Vivienne apartment at 5:00 p.m. and checked in. At 7:30 p.m., we headed to a bistrot called Restaurant Clémentine that is located only one block away on rue Saint-Marc. (Read our review at the following link: Paris Insights – The Restaurant Review.) In its old-fashioned setting (the restaurant was founded in 1906) we had a fine, modern meal. The food wasn’t the heavy cuisine that is often associated with bistrots. If the evening we spent there had been the only thing we did that weekend, it would have been worth it!

After dinner, we wandered around the neighborhood and spotted a lively café called Le Bouillon on the corner of rue Saint-Marc and rue Vivienne. A lot of customers were sitting on the terrace drinking cocktails and I noticed that Irish coffee was on the happy-hour beverage menu. We decided to return there in the morning for breakfast. On our way back to the apartment we passed by Lefty, a burger restaurant that bills itself as an “American bistro.” The bartenders were cordial as they handed us a business card, but we didn’t return to try their fare.

Le Bouillon

Le Bouillon on Saturday Morning
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

In the morning, we returned to Le Bouillon for a fixed-price breakfast consisting of a demi-baguette split in half, butter, jam, a glass of orange juice, a hot beverage, and a bowl of scrambled “eggs” with “cheese.” The eggs were not moist and soft as we had anticipated, but were rather dry and grainy. They appeared to have been reconstituted from a powder because they did not have true egg flavor or texture. The cheese (which I could barely taste) in the eggs must have contained a lot of salt, because we were quite thirsty for the rest of the day. The orange juice tasted as if it had been made from concentrate and the hot chocolate that Monique ordered was thin and flavorless. My café crème was adequate, but I was surprised that I couldn’t find it listed as one of the beverage choices for the fixed-price breakfast. It was served as a courtesy, in place of the double espresso that was listed there. Why the management didn’t offer the choice of a café crème on this menu was beyond my comprehension.

Le Pain de la Bourse

Le Pain de la Bourse
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Happily, our disappointing meal at Le Bouillon was easily forgotten the following day when we had breakfast at Le Pain de la Bourse, a restaurant only a block away. For details about the breakfast, read my review in Paris Insights – The Restaurant Review.

On Saturday, we strolled through the neighborhood and spotted a number of noteworthy sights.

La Bourse

La Bourse
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

First, there is the Bourse, the former stock exchange designed by Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart and constructed from 1808 to 1826. Two wings were added in 1902 and 1907. No longer the home of the stock exchange, the building is now called Palais Brongniart and is used as a conference and event center.

Rue des Colonnes

Rue des Colonnes
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Nearby we came upon a columned street called, appropriately enough, “rue des Colonnes.” In close proximity stands a sign that indicates that the street is one of the rare examples of construction that took place during the Revolution.

Passage Jouffroy

Passage Jouffroy
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

The area is famous for its covered passages built in the 19th century. We came upon the Passage des Panoramas, and across boulevard Montmartre, spotted the entrance to Passage Jouffroy. Next door to this latter passage stands the famous wax museum, Musée Grevin, opened in 1882.

Opéra Garnier

Opéra Garnier
Opéra Garnier

Walking west along rue du 4 Septembre, we came upon the opulent Opéra Garnier, built from 1861 to 1875.

Vendôme Column

Vendôme Column
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Looking south into the 1st arrondissement we could see Place Vendôme with its majestic Vendôme Column, surmounted by a statue of Napoleon I.

From avenue de l’Opéra, we caught a bus back to our apartment in the 5th arrondissement, ending our weekend adventure in the historic 2nd.

If there is one thing that we learned from our stay in the apartment on rue Vivienne, it is that there is a lot to explore in the area around the Bourse!

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Meet Thierry Poincin – Owner of En Vrac

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
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Thierry Poincin

Thierry Poincin, Owner of En Vrac
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Thierry Poincin operates En Vrac, a cave à vin in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. In this month’s Le Bon Goût, learn why travelers who seek an authentic French dining experience will find it here, far off the bustling tourist circuit of central Paris.

Le Bon Goût is a monthly feature of our newsletter, Paris Insights. To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

Paris Insights is published monthly as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

Bonne lecture!

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Meet Alessandra and Olivier Montagne

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013
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Alessandra and Olivier Montaigne

Alessandra and Olivier Montaigne
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

We’ve discovered Tempero, another fine restaurant that seems to have been overlooked by Anglophone restaurant reviewers. Operated by husband and wife team Alessandra and Olivier Montagne, Tempero is located near the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in the 13th arrondissement. Read our review in this month’s Le Bon Goût.

Le Bon Goût is a monthly feature of our newsletter, Paris Insights. To view a preview of the newsletter, click here.

Paris Insights is published monthly as a downloadable PDF file. It is available only to paid subscribers for an annual subscription fee of $30.

If you are not a paid subscriber and would like to download the newsletter, please click here. Enter promotional code 11473309154 to receive a $5 discount off the price of an annual subscription.

Bonne lecture!

* * * * * * *

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We participate in Wanderfood Wednesdays. Head over there to explore food from around the world!

Like our blog? Join us on Facebook!