We just picked this up today. We have the original Gourmet Paris edition from 2001, which we bought way back then and held on because we knew we would make it to Paris one day (we finally did last year and are hooked!)
The magazine looks great, I scanned it this afternoon and am saving it for a leisurely Sunday afternoon read tomorrow. Some of it deals with the lesser known arrondissements of the Right Bank (9th, 10th, 11th, 18th & 19th). It also mentions a few of the restaurants we went to in May (Robert & Louise, Spring, and Il Vino, which we had a reservation for but changed our minds about at the last minute) A fun read and I think I'll hang on to this one for a while as well!
We have the original Gourmet Paris edition from 2001, which we bought way back then and held on because we knew we would make it to Paris one day (we finally did last year and are hooked!)
I have that same Paris back issue and immediately thought of it when I saw Debra's post! For us, it was a sweet reminder following our first trip. So glad to hear it inspired dreams of your first! Can't wait to curl up for a lazy Sunday read with my copy of the new issue as well.
I hot-footed to Gourmet online, particulary interested in my neck of the woods: the 10th, 11th and 12th. The over-arching title is spot on, I believe. Those arrondissements are indeed part of the "New Left Bank." I have a bit of a quibble about putting the 9th in that basket. My impression of the transformation in that arrondissement is that it's been more working class to bourgeois, with little bohemian in between.
Anyway, about the food:
Several names on the list are familiar, of course. Astier, in the 11th, has been a guidebook fixture since the mid-1980s at least, and rightly so. There was a change of ownership a few years back, but I'm happy to report based on a meal there last week that it's still very good, and still seriously underpriced: 33 euros for a four-course meal. The food was good, and with careful navigation of the menu (there were seven of us) outstanding. Non-French speakers may have a little difficulty with the navigation. We had to pose a half-dozen or so questions about what X and Y were all about (Just as an Anglophone might have to do with an English-language menu - a food dictionary doesn't always end the mystery.) Appetizers and desserts more inventive than the mains but the lamb, which I had, didn't need embellishment; it was heavenly. The cheese course is not as "incredible" as it once was, though a person who hadn't marvelled at the groaning three-tiered wicker "platter" in 1986 would be hard-pressed to believe this. Still striking, and if you had lost control and left many euros behind in a Paris cheese shop recently, you'd know that what the Astier offers on that front, for the price, is just short of amazing.
Last I knew, La Pharmacie was closed, definitively it appeared. Maybe a new owner has taken it up, with the same approach, or maybe the writer is behind the curve on that one.
La Bague de Kenza is an Algerian? Moroccan? pastry shop with a mind-boggling choice of delights. If you aren't reaching 100 Kilo Club form thanks to the bread, try that!
Chez Ramulaud and Le Paul Bert deserve their spots on the list, though the latter is a little "clubby," perhaps a bit too much of a neighborhood place.
Cru et Decouvertes, across the street from the Paul Bert, is our favorite Paris wine shop. The proprietor, Mikael Lemasle (who also wholesales wine to restaurants), is passionate about his stock, and he speaks some English.
Looking forward to trying a few of the unfamiliar places, especially that bistro in the 12th that cooks pork in hay. Will tred cautiously in the 12th, just across the street from us; there's a rough element over there, implicated in the unpleasantness of 1789. (Please don't take this seriously, especially from a guy who hangs out in the 11th, about the farthest left of the New Left Bank.)
[quote]Those arrondissements are indeed part of the "New Left Bank." I have a bit of a quibble about putting the 9th in that basket. My impression of the transformation in that arrondissement is that it's been more working class to bourgeois, with little bohemian in between.[/quot
Waiiiiiiit a minute, HiP, who ya calling bourgeois? Bourge yourself!
Like HiP, I checked my turf's addresses given in the article. - I would not call the furniture at "Et Puis C'est Tout" - predominantly 70's, with some 60's and 50's stuff, - antique purr say. - How o how I have wanted to like Casa Olympe during the few times I ate there, but was not lucky enough to have a meal in any way memorable. - We liked to have a drink at Hotel Amour in the 1st 6 months of its existence, not for the trendoid atmosphere but for the chaotic management that several times gave us the wrong bill much, very much to our favor. Finally even all the free drinks were not worth all the yelling to which everyone - friends and staff alike - was resorted in order to be heard over the "ambiance musicale".
If you go to Astier for the cheese tray, don't expect the waiter to leave it on your table for very long. The last time I went there, the cheese was whisked away fairly quickly. Some of my friends (Americans) were disappointed they hadn't taken more immediately. The rule is usually that you take pieces of three cheeses in a French restaurant, and you leave none on your plate.
I agree, for our countrymen and countrywomen who may not be familiar with the local restaurant manners, some gentle counsel may help - though common sense might suggest that when 250 euros worth of cheese (my estimate; may be low) is plunked down, one shouldn't anticipate grazing at length or taking seconds or thirds.
Actually, in our neck of the woods the opportunity rarely arises. The waiting person typically does not let go of the tray, presenting the cheeses, cutting pieces on request and departing, cheese in hand.
Full disclosure: I didn't time our lap in the Astier cheese plate relay, but it was slow enough to allow me to violate the three-cheese rule!
Why do I feel like HAL when I say that. Maybe because I lived in Urbana IL for several years.
Whatever. You are right. Most restaurants in France don't give you a chance to serve yourself liberally and at length of the cheese presented toward the end of the meal. Astier is an exception.
My American friends who really love French cheese thought they would be able to graze for a while on that cheese platter and were confused and disappointed when it was taken away after just a couple of minutes.
Good for you if you got more than three pieces of cheese. A French friend of mine in Rouen still teases an American friend who kept asking for more and more cheese samples off a carte in a restaurant up there. There really is an unspoken limit of three cheeses, which we all should keep in mind.
I think the worst thing to do is to take more cheese than you are willing to eat. It's good form to finish what you have taken.
Well, there's no shame in my game when I say that my unspoken limit is always five cheeses , however I would NEVER take more than I could finish. That's just wrong.
Just enjoyed my copy on the beach today. I once again tried lobbying my mom to stay in one of the outer arrondissement on our next trip but no luck. Good issue though - I haven't read Gourmet in years but if others are like this, I may need to subscribe.
, however I would NEVER take more than I could finish. That's just wrong.
