Eating & Drinking
Aux Lyonnais
Jul 26th
Last week, I found myself at a place that people don’t much talk about anymore – Aux Lyonnais. This is Alain Ducasse’s take on the bouchon - a style of restaurant from Lyon specializing in that region’s traditional and very meaty fare. I brought my boyfriend, a real Lyonnais, for dinner last week. We started with an apéro at the nearby Coinstot Vino and then arrived for our 9:00 reservation (booked online).
My first impression: this restaurant is beautiful. With its gleaming zinc bar, tiled floors, and checkered tablecloths, Aux Lyonnais is decorated like the French bistro of my dreams. If I were a More >
Spring Restaurant reopens in Paris
Jul 22nd
I ate at Spring on Friday night, along with two other writers who have already published accounts of the very same meal. I’ll spare you the repetition and simply direct you to these reviews by Barbra Austin and Adrian Moore. You might also like to read the review by Mr. Lung from the following night, which Daniel Rose told me was the “most sensitive review” that he had seen in a long time.
For my part, I wrote a story that was published by BlackBook today, detailing the hype that surrounds this opening. I’ve excerpted a bit below and you can head over there to More >
La Bodeguita
Jul 13th
I recognized Nat(halie) the moment I walked into la Bodeguita, a newish wine bar on the rue Quincampoix. I spent many nights in the palm of her hand back when she worked at Le Garde Robe. “I remember you, too” she said, narrowing her eyes into a French girl’s version of “here comes trouble.”
I always drank too much at Le Garde Robe when Nat was working behind the bar. I’d go in for one drink and she’d pour me something crazy – something natural, unexpected and fun. She asked what I thought, made suggestions based on my response, and allowed More >
Autour d’un Verre
Jun 24th
Caroline Mignot, a French writer who I like quite a lot, recently wrote about this little wine bar in the 9th. “I’m surprised that I haven’t written about it before,” she said, and I know exactly how she feels. Autour d’un Verre is a place I’ve visited many times and one that I often recommend. But I hadn’t ever written about it, beyond a little mention in BlackBook, because it’s just so incredibly simple. Sometimes, though, that’s exactly what you need.
My first visit happened four years ago with Phyllis Flick, a longtime Paris resident who I “met” on the eGullet discussion forum. More >
The Food Humper
May 28th
I will admit, as much as I’m looking forward to the next phase, that I miss Spring. Not the season, but the place. Daniel Rose’s Spring Restaurant was for years my favorite Paris table. I wasn’t alone in feeling that way – by the time Rose closed the doors in order to reopen in central Paris, his restaurant had become impossible to book.
The new Spring, on the rue Bailleul around the corner from the Louvre, will open in June July. With additional dining room seating, a basement wine bar and a private table inside the cave, there will be greater opportunities More >
Aux Deux Amis
May 12th
The evening began with an apology over the phone: “the owner is gone this week, so we’re only doing tapas.” It finished with some nail-in-the-coffin Crozes-Hermitage, taken while standing at the bar and listening to this song:
I think I may have found my happy place. In this place, men who are handsome enough to have worked at le Chateaubriand bring me glass after glass of natural wine. I soak these up with small plates of food that look simple, are made with foodie approved ingredients (Thiebault veggies), and taste a little like love.
Burrata with green asparagus
The most delicious (oily, oniony) Tortilla outside of Madrid. More >
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 >
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 >
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 >
