Archive for December, 2014

Best Blog Posts for 2014

Wednesday, December 31st, 2014
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We published blogs on a wide variety of topics in 2014. Here is a list of some of our best:

Book Reviews
Le Guide Hachette des Bières
Are We There Yet? – 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French
Angels of Paris

Wine
Tasting Greek Wines at Mavrommatis
Thierry Givone Opens New Wine-tasting Room
Neige – An Apple Ice Wine from Quebec

Chocolate
Santiago Peralta Talks about His Chocolates at Mococha
Whisky and Chocolate Paring at Maison Claudel
Chocolat Elot from Martinique
Champagne and Chocolate at Mococha

Food Festivals
Noël Gourmand
I Love Italian Food – The Furoi Show
Les Delices d’Haïti at the Foire de Paris
Paris Street Food Festival
A Visit to the French Overseas Departments at the Paris International Agriculture Show

Miscellaneous Fun
Cocktail Party at Nose
52 Martinis Paris Cocktails Meet-up at Club Rayé
CitizenM’s Launch Party
How to Find a Party in Paris
Tropical Stars Shine over Paris
A Hands-on Pastry Workshop in the Town of Saint-Ouen

Bonne lecture et Bonne Année!

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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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Noël Gourmand

Friday, December 26th, 2014
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The second annual Noël Gourmand (Christmas Wine and Gastronomy Festival) is over, and what a great festival it was! Held from the 19th to the 22nd of December at the Brongniart Palace, it was a wonderful opportunity for Parisians to come into contact with producers of fine French fare from all over the country.

I attended on the last day and had the occasion to meet and talk with a number of producers.

Nathalie of Sous L'Equateur

Nathalie of Sous l’Equateur
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I met Nathalie, who was distributing chocolate ganaches produced by Sous l’Equateur, an artisanal chocolate maker located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. She offered a divine cream-filled milk chocolate that contained bits of hazelnut. She told me that the company also sells fresh-roasted coffee on the premises.

Alban Laban

Alban Laban
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I met Alban Laban of the company of the same name. He raises free-range ducks on his farm, located in the Pyrenees in southern France, and transforms them into canned products (such as rillettes de cananrd and cassoulet au confit de canard) and fresh products (such as saucisson de canard and foie gras au sel).

Chantal of G.A.E.C. Chambon

Chantal of G.A.E.C. Chambon
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Nearby at another stand, Chantal (from a farm located in the Franche-Comté region, not too far from Switzerland) was cooking a batch of morbiflette, a hearty dish made from onion, sliced potato, chopped bacon, and Morbier cheese.

Gloria of Lou Peyrou

Gloria of Lou Peyrou
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

I stopped by the Lou Peyrou stand an ordered a sandwich made from a sliced baguette and Saint-Nectaire, a cow’s milk cheese from the Auvergne region. Gloria, who served me, was also selling aligot, a traditional dish made from melted cheese, butter, and mashed potato. While I was waiting for her to prepare my sandwich, I saw numerous customers come by to purchase copious portions of this waist-enhancing fare.

How in the world do the French stay slim eating these rich foods? It is one of life’s great mysteries.

Anthony of L'Eurélienne

Anthony of L’Eurélienne
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

Around the corner and in a side room I came upon Anthony of L’Eurélienne, a microbrewery located on a farm in the Loire Valley near the town of Chartres. Anthony told me that they brew their beer from the barley that they grow on the farm.

I spotted cuvée de Noël (Christmas beer) on the beverage list and ordered a 25cl glass. Served fresh from the tap, it was an unfiltered, unpasteurized, double-fermented, brown beer that I found fully satisfying and refreshing. Anthony said that it is flavored with star anise, cardamon, cinnamon, and licorice root.

I wondered if Elisabeth Pierre, who wrote Le Guide Hachette des Bières, had sampled this company’s beer. There are so many great artisanal breweries in France!

Jean-Pierre of BiPiA

Jean-Pierre of BiPiA
Photograph by www.DiscoverParis.net

While at the bar, I met Jean-Pierre of BiPiA, a producer from the Basque region of France.  As he finished his coffee break, he invited me to come by his stand.

When I got there, I immediately noticed the three Basque flags on the wall behind him.  I saw that he was selling Espelette pepper in all its forms: in preserves, sauces, and condiments, as well as in jellies and purees. Although I didn’t see it at the stand, Espelette is also sold as whole peppers strung on cords.

I left the Noël Gourmand fair in good spirits. It had been a great opportunity to taste wonderful French regional products and meet the producers directly. I look forward to attending this event next year!

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A Last-minute Stocking Stuffer for Your Paris-bound Friends

Monday, December 22nd, 2014
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Do you have friends or family members who are planning to travel to Paris in 2015? We’ve got the perfect Christmas gift idea!

We wrote our new e-book, Dining Out in Paris — What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light, with first- and second-time travelers in mind. Because the idea of stepping into a restaurant in a foreign country to order a meal can seem daunting to neophyte travelers, we wanted to provide them with the knowledge that gives them the confidence they need to enjoy a fine meal and a wonderful dining experience in Paris.

As well as providing insider information about French dining customs, our book reviews the wide variety of shops and food markets where fine French fare is sold. And, we’ve included as a bonus twelve of our favorite Parisian restaurants where travelers are sure to enjoy friendly service and a fine meal.

One reviewer has called our book indispensable for visitors in search of an authentic Parisian dining experience.

Give your Paris-bound friends or family members a head start on their vacation plans this Christmas — give our e-book Dining Out in Paris!

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

We wish you Happy Holidays!
Tom Reeves and Monique Y. Wells

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Which Dining Guide Do Most French Waitresses Recommend to Give as a Gift to Paris-bound Travelers for Christmas?

Saturday, December 20th, 2014
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We like to think that the dining guide most French waitresses recommend for Christmas 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 uninitiated travelers. Not only do they have to contend with trying to make their wishes understood by a waiter who may or may not speak their language, but they must learn quickly how to adapt to local dining customs as well.

First- or second-time travelers to Paris will appreciate Dining Out in Paris because it will provide them with the knowledge and confidence that they need to enter into a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal and to have a wonderful dining experience. As an additional bonus, the book contains in-depth reviews of twelve of the author’s favorite restaurants.

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

Note: A Kindle reader is not required to read Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light. Amazon.com provides FREE reader apps that work on every major tablet, smartphone, and computer. Click here to learn more.

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Looking to Buy Property in Paris?

Thursday, December 11th, 2014
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We recently attended the opening of a spacious and elegant apartment for sale in the 7th arrondissement (district) of Paris. Located on the first floor (2nd floor U.S.), the three-bedroom dwelling measures 127 m².

Living Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Bath

Bath

Bedroom

Bedroom

For information about how to contact the real estate agency that handles the sale of this dwelling, contact us at the following link with your name, e-mail address, and your telephone number: Paris Insights – Contact.

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Le Guide Hachette des Bières – A Book Review

Wednesday, December 10th, 2014
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Elisabeth Pierre and Her Book <i>Guide Hachette des Bières</i>

Elisabeth Pierre and Her Book Le Guide Hachette des Bières

Elisabeth Pierre, who calls herself a zythologue (zythologist, or connoisseur of beer, in English), has just written an encyclopedic book called Le Guide Hachette des Bières. Breathtaking in scope, this 360-page, French-language tome (Hachette, 2014) covers just about every topic that an aficionado of French beer could hope for in a guide—from the origins of the beverage to the names of specific breweries, ratings of their beers, and specific suggestions of foods that would best accompany the beers that she rates.

Elisabeth hails from the Franche Compté region of France, where she had the occasion to visit a local brewery as a child. The wonderful aroma of malt and hops that she experienced there influenced her profoundly. Years later, with a university diploma in classics, she abandoned a teaching profession to take a position with the Brasseurs de France, a federation of French brewers.

From the start, she organized beer-and-food-paring dinners and had the occasion to meet top chefs with whom she explored different ways to pair beer with food.

She has been in the industry about twenty-eight years and now works as a consultant. While a consultant, she became interested in the revival of microbreweries in France that began about eighteen years ago. Her guide reflects this interest.

The first section of the book is titled “Connaître les bières.” It is devoted to the place beer holds in the history of civilization. Among the topics covered are beer ingredients and the process of fabrication.

In this section, we learn that the transformation of cereals into beer can be traced back 7000 years B.C. in China, and 6000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. While we now accept hops as an essential ingredient in beer, it wasn’t generally adapted until around the 15th century. Beer today is now recognized as a beverage that consists of four essential ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. To transform beer into its many different varieties, brewers substitute different cereals for barley, roast the cereals to different degrees of darkness, use different varieties of hops and yeast, and add different flavorings, such as honey, orange zest, and spices. The process of transformation is complex and the resulting beverages are infinitely varied in color, texture, aroma, and taste.

“Connaître les bières” also provides suggestions on how to read a beer label, where to purchase beer, how to store it, and how to appreciate its visual, gustative, and olfactory qualities.

The second section of the book is titled “La sélection du guide Hachette des bières – 800 bières à découvrir.” Here, French artisanal beers take center stage.

To present the French beers, Elisabeth divides France into five beer-producing regions, each with several sub-regions. For each sub-region she describes and rates beers of the microbreweries that are found there. Her rating system is straightforward: only beers that she determines are “successful” (no star), “very successful” (one star), “remarkable” (two stars), “exceptional” (three stars), or “favorites” (three stars plus ♥) get a mention. Beers that only scored “with a default” or “average” by her standards don’t get mentioned at all.

I found this part of the book to be fascinating, because the descriptions of each of the beers are quite detailed. We learn, for example, that the one-star beer La Loroyse (produced by a microbrewery called Les Brasseurs de Lorraine) has sweet flavors at the start that become spicy and fruity, and finishes with a persistent and pronounced herbal bitterness. Furthermore, we learn that this beer would go well with a pepper steak and a Saint-Nectaire or Ossau Iraty cheese. While the information that is conveyed here might not be immediately useful to readers who can’t readily purchase a bottle of La Loroyse, it teaches us that good beers are complex and that each has different structures of flavor that we should seek out the next time we open a bottle. We also learn that certain beers go well with certain foods, and that care should be taken to match them when we sit down to have a beer with our meal.

The final parts of this section are devoted to Belgium, Quebecois, and foreign beers. Only three American microbreweries are mentioned: Left Hand Brewing Company in Colorado, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Nevada, and Brooklyn Brewery in New York. Elisabeth is particularly enthusiastic about the beers from this latter company— she rates four of their beers as three star (one of which is a “favorite”) and two as two star.

At the back of the book is a helpful glossary and two indexes, one that lists beers by name and one that lists breweries by name.

A very good knowledge of French is required to read this book. It is probably the best source of information on the extensive variety of French, Belgium, and Quebecois artisanal beers that is on the market today.

Le Guide Hachette des Bières is available in North America from Amazon.ca.

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Which Dining Guide Do Most French Waiters Recommend to Give as a Gift to Paris-bound Travelers for Christmas?

Saturday, December 6th, 2014
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Waiter-with-xmas

We like to think that the dining guide most French waiters recommend for Christmas 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 uninitiated travelers. Not only do they have to contend with trying to make their wishes understood by a waiter who may or may not speak their language, but they must learn quickly how to adapt to local dining customs as well.

First- or second-time travelers to Paris will appreciate Dining Out in Paris because it will provide them with the knowledge and confidence that they need to enter into a Parisian restaurant to enjoy a fine meal and to have a wonderful dining experience. As an additional bonus, the book contains in-depth reviews of twelve of the author’s favorite restaurants.

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

Note: A Kindle reader is not required to read Dining Out in Paris – What You Need to Know before You Get to the City of Light. Amazon.com provides FREE reader apps that work on every major tablet, smartphone, and computer. Click here to learn more.

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