If you’re looking for something new to chew on in the Paris pastry scene, your sweet tooth is in luck. Or at least it will be after a visit to the recently opened Maison du Chou, Paris’s new left-bank address for fans of the cream-filled gourmandises.
One bite into these crumbly, moist, succulent puffs that are prepared-to-order in front of your eyes, and you’ll be saying « Ladur-was » and « Pierre has-been » before you’ve even swallowed.
Maki with attitude and waitresses without, this is definitely a first for Paris. And so it is at Blueberry – the snazzy ‘imaginative maki’ restaurant that opened its Saint-Germain doors in April.
After a number of rather unpleasant experiences involving smoked salmon, cream cheese and sweet soy sauce, my tryst with souped-up sushi in Paris was almost at an end. But Blueberry has restored my confidence – the maki is creative, original and most importantly, totally divine.
A few months back I couldn’t find a decent coffee anywhere in Paris. I’d knock back bitter espressos and nurse UHT infused café crèmes and dream of the rich velvety brews of home. I once even ventured into Starbucks (and had to do the walk of shame home with my misheard name ‘Enel’ scrawled across my excessively large grande latte).
You will find refreshments at Camille’s pump room, mostly wines from her friends vineyards. Camille used to work at Inaki’s places -le Chateaubriand and le Dauphin- and then at le Mama Shelter, just the time needed for her address book and her fascination for wine to grow and…to find the right place to open her boutique. Camille has designed her Buvette just like an annexe to her own salon and it is full of regular customers, who come several times a week to taste the daily “vin au verre” selection and bite into some Aubrac dry sausage.
Finding a good Italian restaurant in Paris is about as easy as finding a coffee with fresh milk, or a park with grass you are actually allowed to sit on – and a recent incident involving a late night bowl of pasta carbonara (what was I thinking?) at a little Italian joint on L’île Saint-Louis a few months back threatened to turn me off Italian food for good.
Bad coffee has been one of Paris features for a long time- along with the rude waiters in black & white. The Parisians did not care that much about the black beverage itself – just a pretext for a pause, but some Anglo-Saxons stepped into the breach, like Oliver Strand in the NY Times in a 2010 bitter column. Some expresso bars popped-up then in Paris and Oliver was pretty happy (sort of). These charming fresh-brewing places have become the El Dorado for tourists or expats missing a good cup of coffee in Paris.
Don’t feel too bad if you never paid attention in lit class. Here’s our simplified version of « A Tale of Two Cities » with New York standing in for London and a beefed up storyline.
Once upon a time, Parisians were growing tired of crappy 18-euro hamburgers that consisted of frozen meat patties thawed out, cooked up dry and slapped onto tasteless sesame buns that were probably bought in bulk and equivalent in quality to something you can find at your nearest Ed.
Pressing-Pressing is a nomadic concept, which pitchs its tent in Paris coolest places. It started to press its panini during the Brunch Bazar at the Wanderlust in October 2012 and then dropped at Frenchie, Silencio or The Beef Club…Each camp only lasts two days, so pressez-vous*.
You’ve been hanging out at Chez Jeannette a lot, and waiters have possibly seen you too much lately ? Don’t worry. The team added a last – but not least – bistro to the family. It’s called Le Parisien, and now it’s happening on the other side of the Porte Saint Martin, Paris 3rd.