Paris Dining Out
Restaurant rating is one of the great pasttimes of residents and visitors alike. Some might say it is getting more and more difficult to find Parisian restaurants that offer traditional French cooking at affordable prices. Dining out in Paris can be a challenge and on certain occasions, it will be one of the experiences transfixed in your memory banks for a lifetime.
Paris Chocolate Bars: Hot chocolate nirvana for less than 2 Euros
You’ve been walking all day and you need a serious energy boost. Recently I wrote a post about chocolate bars, and praised A La Duchesse Anne where a cup of hot chocolate can be had for 2.90 Euros. I mentioned that the hot chocolate was made with the ‘house chocolate’.
At the time of that tasting, I described this as the ‘best chocolate for the best price in Paris’, but after trying the demitasse of hot chocolate at Chocolatitudes, I would have to say that the Choclatitudes demitasse has moved to first place as the least expensive and best hot chocolate in Paris. (You drink the demitasse at the bar, a full cup of chocolate for 4.50 Euros can be had at one of the tables).
Now, I’ve experienced the inexplicably rich taste of a demitasse of hot chocolate (1.90 Euros) at Chocolatitudes, 57 Rue Daguerre - Metro: Gaite or Denfert Rochereau, and quite honestly, I have to tell you, for the chocolate fan - this is ‘trop bon, trop bon!’
Date: April 3rd, 2008 |
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Best Hot Chocolate in Paris for the Best Price
A La Duchesse Anne
Montparnasse
Call me old-fashioned but part of the pleasure of sipping a hot chocolate in Paris is savoring the cozy setting of a real ’salon du the’, not the latest trendy chocolate bars. Sorry, but being served a sterile glass of hot chocolate by a server (or even the chocolatier himself) in a white lab coat makes me feel like I’m in the waiting room of a doctor’s office - being handed the famous little glass.
That’s why I am delighted to share with …
Date: March 28th, 2008 |
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How Much does a Gourmet Meal Cost in Paris?
$60 per person. And up.
$136 per person at the Grand Vefour (88 Euros for the lunch menu -not including wine)
$170 per person at the Jules Vernes (Eiffel Tower) (110 Euros for the lunch menu including wine)
The exchange rate between the Euro and the U.S. Dollar has never been worse (at least since we’ve been coming to France) - even worse than the oil crisis days of the seventies. And if you thought that was bad, the cost of living index has been inching upward in France. It costs Parisians more money to do their daily grocery shopping - and those prices are reflected in restaurants as well.
So, can you afford to have at least one gourmet meal while you’re in Paris? For foodies, it would be inconceivable to spend time in Paris without this indulgence. So, here’s the scoop:
Date: March 21st, 2008 |
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French Cooking: Choucroute
Choucroute Platter served at the Brussels Cafe, 71 Blvd. Exelmans, 75016
When it comes to ‘comfort food’, nothing does it better than ‘choucroute’ (pronounced ’shoo-croot’) or Alsatian saurkraut on a cold day in March. Accompanied with a crisp Riesling, this meal will make you completely forget the howling winds and pelting rain.
The region of France most famous for ‘choucroute’ is Alsace - and I’ve been told that the best place to eat choucroute in one of Alsace’s most famous cities, Strasbourg is right across from the Strasbourg cathedral.
However, if you’re in Paris, you need go no farther than most Alsatian (as well as Belgian and German) brasseries for a good ‘choucroute’ or you can make a great dish yourself (as long as you buy the right sausages).
You can buy your saurkraut either ‘cru’ or ‘cuit’ in most delis (cooked or uncooked). The best cooked saurkraut has bits of ham mixed in. Add to that salt pork and sausages of all sorts. I bought my sausages for this dish at J. Valliot, 21 Rue Daguerre.
That’s where I came across a particular brand of sausage that deserves special mention.
This sausage is called Saucisse de Morteau. If you’ve never tried this regional specialty, you’re in for a treat.
Date: March 13th, 2008 |
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How to find a typically French restaurant in Paris
The answer is not simple. After years of visiting France, I’ve come to this conclusion. The best way to find a really good, inexpensive and typically French restaurant - and enjoy it - is to learn to speak French first.
This is not meant to sound haughty - or snobbish - or preachy - but learning to speak the language REALLY makes a huge difference, so if you’ve come to France to study the language - you’re here on a 3-month or 6 month program and you’re getting either fed up or frustrated with trying to conjugate verbs, remember some day, you’ll say ‘It was worth it.”
Of course there’s short cuts. You could go out and buy Catherine Jarrique’s book “Les Meilleurs restos a petits prix” (The Best restaurants for a small price). Take your French/English dictionary in hand - and explore, and tumble into a neighborhood lunch spot tucked into a ‘Cite’ or passage like I did today (thanks to the help of Mme Jarrique’s book!).
What I liked about
Lou Cantou was its straight forward cuisine, simple plates with no pretention. With flavor right on target. Along with that, being able to exchange a few words with table mates and wait staff really makes one feel more at home. A big part of dining in French is also being able to talk - food and conversation are almost inseparable. (If you don’t have anyone to talk to, you’re probably on your cell phone).
So, brush up your French, or find yourself a bilingual friend who will help introduce you to the fine art of dejeuner in Paris.
Date: February 20th, 2008 |
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Quick Carbo-loading before the Paris Marathon
At 7.90 Euros, this Pasta Arrabiata is delicious and affordable!
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Pasta Break
53 Rue Montparnasse
75014
01 43 27 60 79
You may want to join the throng at the Paris Marathon Expo - or if you want to enjoy your pasta in more tranquil surroundings, I would recommend
Pasta Break for excellent pasta and the chef’s own sauce starting at 5.90 Euros to 7.90 Euros.
Located at 53 Rue Montparnasse, you can hop on the Metro at Edgar Quinet, and it’s a straight shot to Charles de Gaulle-Etoile where the Paris Marathon begins this Sunday (April 6, 2008).
Date: April 3rd, 2008 |
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Paris Markets
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
Okay, I’ll be honest. Paris markets intimidate me. Just down the street we have the Edgar Quinet Market every Wednesday and Saturday Metro: Edgar Quinet. Even though I speak French well enough, my accent labels me as a foreigner and I still have memories of agonizing encounters at a 13th arrondissement market when I was an au pair/student trying to buy a piece of fresh fruit or a box of strawberries. The fruit always seemed too expensive and the vendor would give me strawberries that hadn’t even ripened.
“The strawberries are practically white,” I’d complain.
“I’ll show you how to make strawberries turn red!” the vendor would chuckle.
These might be the kinds of encounters that account for the “Paris syndrome” which may cause other timid souls to hide themselves in their apartments for days - or go to Monoprix to do their shopping - where they can pick out their own produce, have the products weighed by an impersonal attendant (but not risk any chance of embarrassment).
Date: March 22nd, 2008 |
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Top Paris Restaurant Loses its star
Trivia question: How many restaurants in Paris are designated as ‘Five-Star Gourmet restaurants’?
The answer is None.
Michelin, the restaurant guide which can make or break restaurant reputation only awards a maximum of THREE stars.
So, you can imagine when a restaurant loses one of its three stars, that can hurt.
I’m particularly disappointed to learn that Le Grand Vefour has lost one of its three stars. According to the IHT article of March 3rd ‘08, the Michelin inspectors didn’t make a sudden decision. They visited the restaurant at least 18 times over a two year period and came to …
Date: March 16th, 2008 |
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Romantic Dining in Paris that you can afford
News Art Cafe/Salad bar. An intimate respite from Montparnasse traffic (just around the corner from Avenue du Maine on Rue de l’Ouest) All you can eat salad bar with exotic ambiance, great music, and peace and quiet for a comfortable tete-a-tete.
What is a romantic restaurant? I’m writing this post in response to a recent e-mail. One reader said that ‘romantic restaurants’ were out of the question for her budget.
Quite honestly, one of the most ‘romantic’ meals I’ve ever had were two bologne sandwiches which we ate by candlelight in the cellar of the Vagabond Lodge in Aspen, Colorado. In case you haven’t yet figured this out - a little big of candlelight makes any cave or cellar look suddenly romantic, but the real catalyst is the person who happens to be sitting across the table from you.
Date: March 5th, 2008 |
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Bringing in the Chinese New Year in Paris's 13th arrondissement
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
It may be the Year of the Rat, but in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, dragons were in abundance. The New Year began Thursday (Feb 7,’08), but Saturday afternoon, many of the businesses along Avenue de Choisy (Metro: Porte de Choisy) received visits from dragons of many colors to bring good fortune for the entire year.
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2008
You can tell where a dragon has already passed because of the red confetti sprinkled along the sidewalk and you can tell when a dragon is about to arrive by the noise of drums and symbols which announces his imminent arrival. A smart shop owner will be sure to have a fresh green salad hanging from the second floor balcony. When the dragon arrives, he gives his blessing to the shop by taking a little stroll through the shop (and hopefully not breaking too much bric-a-brac in his wake). When he exits he stands up on his hind legs to reach bring down the suspended salad which he eats and then regurgitates into the shopkeepers bowl. If you’ve never seen a dragon eating salad, this is something not to be missed.
The feeding frenzy was contagious - feeling similar hunger pangs, Mark and Angelique took us to one of their favorite restaurants in the neighborhood (they have several). Restaurant Imperial Choisy, 32, Avenue de Choisy specializes in Chinese and Cantonese cuisine.
Date: February 10th, 2008 |
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