Bon Appetite (& Santé!) Paris, Part Une

Last year was the first time I ever visited Paris in August. It's really a completely different city during this month. With most residents out of town on vacances the city is calmly quiet, the streets have barely a car on them, the metros are all but empty.

And the Parisians who are still in town flock to the many gardens and terraces around the city. I followed their lead one afternoon and spent a very relaxing day at the Jardin du Luxembourg, where I hadn't been since 2001, watching children push little sailboats with poles around in the pond while I caught up on my reading.

The only downfall to the peace and tranquility of August in Paris is that many of the city's best chefs also leave town. Forest and I had our work cut out for us as we looked to make reservations for the week. But even with a lot of the kitchens shuttered we had some really wonderful meals and fantastic cocktails that I would highly recommend.

Eating...

Up in the 18th you'll find many bistros, cafes and restaurants. Many are touristy, grabbing the visitors coming and going from Sacré Coeur. But tucked a bit out of the way is a neighborhood favorite, Le Square Marcadet. The restaurant not only has an extremely well priced menu but you can get a table outside on the terrace in the back.

Another nice find in the 18th is Le Chamarre, which also has a covered outside terrace. The food here is very pretty with little touches that give it that wow factor, but (at least as four of us ladies were on the patio) it didn't feel like a big, dressy restaurant.

If you are looking for lunch while sightseeing in the 18th then grab a table like the locals do and dine on HUGE salads at the Relais du Gasçon. If you're thinking "Salad? Yawn!" you should think again as these seemingly bottomless bowls are filed with an assortment of delicious ingredients (my choice was lardon and chèvre) and then topped with a heaping pile of house made garlic potato chips. Hell yes! Note- I am only recommending the salads here, just pick one and ignore the other menu options. Really.

If you are looking for a bargain (& who isn't) then get yourself over to the 11th (1bis passage de Saint-Sebastien, 75011) and have a wonderful, casual lunch at Au Passage (not to be confused with Passage 53). For 11€ you get a 2 course "farmers market" menu. I had a wonderful cod with heirloom tomatoes, radishes and purslane and then a chèvre panna cotta with a variety of beautiful berries. Wine by the pichet or demi is also very inexpensive. In the evening they specialize in a tapas style menu.

Paris always has a handful of "darlings" at any given moment. Spurred on by bloggers, magazines and newspaper articles these restaurants are sometimes impossible to get into, expensive and often they over deliver in attitude while under delivering in cuisine.

One of these darlings is Septime also in the 11th. Mel, Forest and I were hot to try the "carte blanche" testing menu at 55€ while Thibault opted for just an entree and plat (don't try this at home, generally tasting menus are only for the whole table but as Thibault is native French he has powers us mere mortals do not). The service was superb and the food...well lets just say that every plate was cleaned. I've recommended it to others and would happily go again. Anyone else with a recent experience here?

Another darling is Le Chateaubriand and since it was closed for the month a few of us went to his next door tapas style restaurant Le Dauphine. This is a great spot if you are interested in Spanish cuisine done with a bit of French style. The space itself is loud and bustling, perfect for a fun night out.

Sometimes it is a gloriously sunny day and you feel like not only sitting on a terrace but you also want to be surrounded by all the treasures that Paris has to offer. And that was exactly the scenario when Jodie and I decided to have lunch at Le Saut du Loup which is right in the Tuilleries, awarding us with views of the Louvre, Concorde and Eiffel Tower. We dined elegantly on sautéed artichoke hearts served with a soft boiled egg, plates of almost transparent carpaccio and chilled rosé. A table here, surrounded by so much eye candy, isn't cheap but it is a nice little treat for when you've been good, or if you are just being bad.

(Additionally you can work off your lunch by doing a bit of window licking on Rue St Honore as we did afterwards.)

One of my favorite meals in Paris over the last few years was at Agape Substance. At lunch, the carte Blanche menu was already 65€ but by the time we ordered champagne and wine pairings it turned into a bit of an extravagant splurge. And oh so worth it. The food is haute cuisine with a Japanese influence (& flair), the space is outfitted with modern glass, wood and stainless steel. And after you've had all that wine there is an incredible small and over the top, high tech bathroom complete with Japanese toilet. I really can't say enough except I'd love to go back for an even more over the top dinner.

Drinking...

La Conserverie, in the 2nd, impressed me so much we went twice. They make in-house tinctures, infusions, jams, etc. and create really gorgeous cocktails. The bartenders were friendly, enthusiastic and easy on the eyes. The space has multiple sets of couches and chairs around small tables, perfect for groups, and also has a very comfortable bar to perch at. Additionally they have a small menu of conserved (potted) dishes like rillettes and cured meats for snacking. I just loved this bar.

Le Forvm is a classic spot right in the pretty 8th and perfect for a well made martini. This is a tried and true, always reliable, place for a great drink and great service. I love grabbing a nightcap here.

Over in the 11th is the bar Barbershop, another fun stop when you need to hydrate. The menu has both classics as well as quirky originals, it is well priced and had no problem accommodating our group of 7.

On the pedestrian only Rue Montorgueil is the premier craft cocktail bar in Paris, Experimental Cocktail Club. I've been before but if I'm in this area I'm always up for a revisit. A few blocks away you can also find very good drinks at Why Bar, complete with a small sidewalk seating section.

If you are looking for a nice glass of vin vs a cocktail you should check out O Chateau, just down the street. It's a bit hip and trendy but they have a fantastic 3€ a glass happy hour and also some interesting wine flights so you can explore wines from the different regions of France.

By the way, if you'd rather shop for booze to mix on your own, make your way to La Maison du Whiskey for an amazing selection of liquors from around the world.

Someplace for both...

Obviously many places are going to be good for food and drinks. But I'm a bit fussy about both and these two stuck out as being good if you really want dinner (vs just some bar food) and something nice in your glass.

On Rue du Nil, a few blocks off Rue Montorgueil, is the 1 year old Frenchie Wine Bar. It's tiny and packed but but if you can time it right and squeeze in, the wine selection is excellent and the small plates of food are delicious. And it is right across from Frenchie (in case you are trying to get in on a cancellation).

Grazie in the 3rd is an Italian pizzeria with some really well made cocktails in an industrial and chic atmosphere. Forest and I had a few rounds of icy cold libations one evening while on a small crawl. Dayne and his colleagues stopped in on our suggestion later in the week and also had the wood fired pizzas which he proclaimed delicious.

All photos here

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Paris, France

More Paris Adventures

Forest and I returned to Paris from Hamburg and immediately headed out to meet her Wednesday Cocktail Adventure group, this time at Panic Room in the 11th. As always I had a great time with Forest and her friends but the Panic Room is not some place I would put on my suggestion list for cocktails. The worst? non. But there are so many other places to go.

After 2 rounds of cheap happy hour libations our group of merry makers headed down the street to another bar called 4 Elements. The bar breaks each room up into a theme. The main bar being Fire; a semi private hang out room being Earth; the bathroom Water and the fumoir (smoking room) Air (LOL!). Again this place is all about the vibe and having a good time with your friends. When I thought out loud of getting a martini Forest's friend Jim suggested it would not be what I had in mind and I should stick to simple "on the rocks" drinks instead. Cubra Libra, done.

But not to worry we also had some very well prepared cocktails, made by bartenders who take their craft seriously and are paving the way in Paris. Pre-dinner drinks at the Experimental Cocktail Club one evening were just as good as I remembered from last year when we visited.

It took two times but we finally had some nice drinks at Le Tres Particulier. Forest has done a good job at explaining the story so if your interested you can read that here . Some cocktails were good, others ok but the setting is really quite pretty and unusual- or particular if you will- and I would go back on a warm summer night so I'm glad we checked it out.

I think my favorite spot that we imbibed in on this trip was Mama Shelter. Located way out in the 20th and tucked inside a boutique hotel of the same name, the space is funky and eclectic. The drink menu is mostly classic cocktails with some originals thrown in. Menus were clipped inside French comic books and both drinks we had were nicely made and tasty. I'd recommend it and I'd go back, it is a bit of a trek but I think it's worth it.

And of course there were cocktails at Chez Forest. Some made with Millers Gin which I brought from the states and others with Fauchon's gin which we stumbled upon while shopping at their gorgeous store in the Madeleine area. Sometimes the best bar is your own (or your friend's!)

Ah, Paris

“Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.” -- Charles de Montesquieu



As a transit point, it's hard to beat Paris, especially when accommodations are gratis (thanks, Forest!) and we have a full culinary schedule. As a prelude to a week in Provence, we spent a packed two days in the City of Lights, and seemed to be eating most of the time! Arriving around noon on Thursday, we got to nap for a bit during the afternoon at our friend Forest's apartment while she was at work, in an attempt to offset our jet lag and be ready for a long evening.

By early evening, we were somewhat rested and headed out, dressed to the nines, with Forest, to our first stop:Bar Hemingway at the Paris Ritz. The space itself was fun, if tiny, and contained all the requisite Hemingway memorabilia. However, none of us were thrilled with our cocktails, and mine at least was made differently than I'd requested. Normally this sort of thing would not merit a mention, but at €28 each, there really was no excuse. My advice: skip it. We did have one minor celebrity sighting while at the bar; we saw Hildi Santo Tomas from Trading Spaces. Or her identical twin.

After Bar Hemingway, we headed off to the headline act of the evening, a meal at Le Meurice. Le Meurice was not our first 3-star Michelin restaurant, and it won't be our last. As could be reasonably expected from such a place, it was elegant without being ostentatious, the service was spot-on, the wine list was fantastic, and most of the food was excellent (and all of it was fantastically prepared and presented). There were a few things that were not especially exciting (nothing was bad, or even average, by any stretch of the imagination), but Le Meurice is not known for being on the cutting edge of gastronomy, so we hadn't been expecting anything along the lines of foie gras cotton candy or mother-of-pearl sorbet. I will say, though, that the blush is off the rose, at least a little, in terms of my personal take on the level of restaurant that Le Meurice represents. In other words, it was a great evening and I have nothing but positive things to say about Le Meurice, but at the same time it's hard to recapture the sheer novelty of our first time at places such as Taillevent, the French Laundry, or Arzak.

One thing to note for wine lovers: We ordered a bottle of 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape in anticipation of the visit we had planned for the following week to that winery; if you get a chance, don't pass one of those up! Also, Forest and I both tried very old Bas Armagnacs; I had a 1942, she had a 1962. Surprisingly to me -- though I haven't researched to find out why this might be the case -- the 1962 was better.

As with similar experiences in the past, I was presented with a menu that included prices; the girls' menus just listed the food options. Very old-school. I wonder how the staff decides who gets the prices if the guest party is more ambiguous, such as two men, two women, adult children and parents, or some other combination where the "traditional" male host isn't clearly evident or is missing entirely.

The next day (Friday), Wendy and I had lunch reservations atL'Astrance. It was a beautiful day, and the two of us had never been to the Eiffel Tower together, so we took the opportunity to go there first. As a great option for skipping most of the lines, we elected to walk up to the second level rather than waiting for a lift. We were able to spend some time enjoying the view before heading acriss the Seine for lunch.

L'Astrance was a really fun space. The designers must have had an interesting time retrofitting an oddly-shapped room with a sleek, modern interior; one interesting decision was to shoehorn in a second floor, where our table was located (along with just a few others). The side effect of this was a very low ceiling. I think it was just over 6 feet (slightly under 2 meters) high, so I couldn't stand up straight! The food at L'Astrance is probably best described as whimsical. The lunch was fairly light (or at least it read that way on the menu), but somehow unlisted courses kept coming out! All of the dishes were inventive and beautiful; as a lunch option, the setting was less-obviously formal as well, so it was a great way to spend a few hours relaxing with each other in the middle of the day.

On Friday evening, we started the evening by meeting several friends of ours and of Forest at for drinks at the Experimental Cocktail Club. Great little bar; they have a good menu, fantastic spirits selection (especially for Europe) and really know what they're doing, plus they have extremely reasonable prices. Forget the €28 of Bar Hemingway; €8 was the norm, for far better cocktails.

A big group of us then proceeded to dinner at Spoon, an Alain Ducasse restaurant. The idea of the restaurant is novel: each diner is, in theory, able to freely combine any of a selection of sauces and condiments with their ordered items to give them various flavor profiles. In practice, the menu was disjointed and confusing, and the food not especially good or memeorable. On top of that, the service was lousy (and unapologetic). Definitely skip Spoon.

Here's my quick report card for culinary Paris this time around:
Bar Hemingway: C-
Le Meurice: A
L'Astrance: A-
Experimental Cocktail Club: A
Spoon: D-

On Saturday, we boarded a train (just barely!) bound for Avignon!

Our full set of Paris pictures can be found here.