Archive for April, 2010
La Régalade Saint-Honoré
Apr 28th
La Régalade is one of this city’s most beloved classic bistros. Founded by Yves Camdeborde in 1992, it was left in the hands of Bruno Doucet, a chef who (high praise) didn’t ruin it. I visited this bastion of bistronomy last year, loved my meal, but never returned. I suppose that distance trumped delicious. How excited was I, then, to learn that Doucet was opening a new location in central Paris? Daniel Rose filled me in about this when I ran into him yesterday at Spring Boutique (I am addicted, of all things, to their spelt). After chiding me for not being More >
The World’s Best Restaurants are not in France
Apr 28th
…at least not according to the 2010 selections for San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. The annual rankings were released at 9pm on Monday night, and the panel of 800+ chefs and critics have named Copenhagen’s Noma as the top restaurant in 2010. Chef René Redzepi takes the crown from Ferran Adrià (El Bulli), who moves down a spot after after four consecutive years at #1.
So how does France fare in the ninth edition of this controversial list? Not well. There’s not a single French restaurant among the top ten, whose ranks include 4 Spanish and 3 American restaurants. Only 6 French restaurants made More >
La Mélodie du Bon Beurre
Apr 28th
First there was Iñaki Aizpitarte with his musical ode to the slopes. Now Jean-Yves Bordier, maker of my/the world’s favorite butter, has produced his own lip-syncing video.
I may have groaned, when I read about this on Twitter (via @PhyllisFlick via @LouisaChu via @AfarMedia), but after watching it (twice) with morning coffee, I’m now persuaded that every food artisan should make a music video.
Behold for yourself:
The reveal (at minute 2:10) showing Jean-Yves hitting the high note before being carried away on a rolling cart… the sweeping shot (at 3:10) showing him cradling the baby (butter), then running out to a cheering crowd… just, WOW.
This More >
What’s in a Paris Food Tour?
Apr 23rd
A lotta calories, that’s what. Along with stories, smiling producers, geeky facts, easy walking, more eating, more eating, more food.
Since last fall, Barbra Austin and I have been working with Context Travel to develop and lead food tours in the city’s most edible neighborhoods. Because the groups are small (never more than six mouths to feed) and because Context tends to attract a smart and clued-in clientele, these tours often turn out to be the highlight of my week.
Although I rarely crow about these tours myself, I just saw a lovely account of last Friday’s tour by two of our clients. Lara and Terence, a pair More >
My All-Carb Diet
Apr 22nd
Many who have seen in recent weeks have been asking, “Meg, how do you stay so curvy?” It’s time to divulge my secret: the all-carb diet. After posting earlier about the annual competition to name the best baguette in Paris, I began researching a longer article for Budget Travel. By “researching,” I of course mean eating bread. My particular brand of gluttonerdery compelled me to analyze, using a spreadsheet, the performance of bakeries in this competition over several years. I selected the bakeries with the most top ten prizes, and paid them a visit to better understand their carbolicious wares.
The resulting More >
The Marché d’Alain Ducasse
Apr 15th
Alain Ducasse held a high fallutin’ market this week inside the luxurious Hotel Plaza Athénée.
Under chic red awnings in a vine-covered courtyard, the polished clients of the hotel and restaurant (plus a few unruly hangers-on like me) assembled to shake hands with the favored producers of Ducasse and chef Christophe Moret. We were also there, make no mistake, for the free samples.
With a camera in one hand (the other clutching a glass of white Burgundy) I moved among the stands nibbling wild strawberries and foie gras. I was also noting (with my fourth hand) the names of these culinary dealers to More >
Pink Flamingo
Apr 14th
I’m a little in love with Jamie and Marie.
Since 2004, this Franco-American couple has been raising some of the coolest restaurants (and children) in Paris. Outposts of their Pink Flamingo pizza empire open unerringly in the neighborhoods that need them most – places filled with broke hipsters, post-punk parents, and picnic lovers of every stripe.
However much I love a three course meal at bistros like Frenchie and Paul Bert, I am just as often looking for something cheap and fun. Pink Flamingo has filled that void, providing a brilliant option when there’s a large group (or one of indeterminate size), including people who More >
Bistrot Victoires
Apr 9th
The look on their faces: that’s the satisfaction that comes from getting what you want. Which, in this case, was a good time with food and wine to follow a tasting at Spring Boutique. We hadn’t reserved, it was spur of the moment, and we were suffering from post-Bigarrade poverty disorder.
In Paris, no money + no reservation is usually a recipe for disaster. If something is cheap, it is often disgusting. Few options exist between the falafel and the €40 carte. The rare exceptions – restaurants that are both delicious and cheap – are always booked.
Photo: Hidden Kitchen/Flickr
Enter Bistrot Victoires, a bustling More >
La Bigarrade
Apr 7th
I went last night for the first time to La Bigarrade, approximately two years after everyone else. This far-out restaurant (in terms of both cooking and location) has been a hit ever since it opened back in December 2007. In the model of Spring restaurant (Daniel Rose was a consultant), chef Christophe Pelé produced a no-choice menu from his open kitchen that was, by all accounts, inventive and delicious. It was also dead cheap – €45 for the standard “gourmet” menu and €65 for the “gourmand” extravaganza.
In February, after failing for perhaps the fifth time to book a table within the More >
Easter in Paris
Apr 4th
Children all over Paris are waking up this morning to discover a stash of chocolate eggs. The Easter Bell is back in town!
Because bunnies in France are for eating, the important task of holiday candy distribution falls instead to a bell. As far as I can work out, the local church bell stops tolling in Paris during the week before Easter and flies off to visit Rome. It hangs out with the Pope and other bells from around the world in a sort of ding-dong jubilee. It then flies back to Paris on the night before Easter, carrying souvenirs for the More >
