39Vaugirard

There are two amazing facts in this story reported all over the blogosphere, and also in the New York Post.

The first is that the Louvre, in a situation they can’t control, will have to co-exist with the odeurs of a MacDo in its midst. Seems the Louvre can’t control the actual tenants in the big mall under the Carrousel, which is managed by a private company. I guess that’s why there is already a Starbucks there.

Second, though, is the fact that never ceases to amaze: France is the second most important market in the world for McDonald’s after the United States. A spokesman for McDonald’s says it’s because McDonald’s is perceived as a French company. I find that very hard to believe, but it sure is a great trick if have pulled it off.

PARIS — French culture and American convenience will come together in December — thanks to plans by the McDonald’s restaurant chain to hang its shingle in the shadow of the Louvre.

McDonald’s is delighted at the prospect of feeding hungry culture vultures. But not everyone is happy about mixing high art and fast food.

The McDonald’s will be installed in the food court of the underground mall adjoining the museum, known as the Carrousel du Louvre, as the fast food chain fetes its 30th anniversary in France, McDonald’s France said.

The pairing could serve the interests of both. The Louvre is the world’s most visited museum; France is McDonald’s top market outside the United States.

[From McDonald's restaurant to be placed inside food court at Carrousel du Louvre]

The food is already about as bad as it can be in the Louvre food court. Visitors are strongly advised to eat after or before they enter the Louvre maze.

I read today that Sheila Lufkin, the author of “Silver Palate Cookbook 25th Anniversary Edition” (Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins) had passed away. I was struck that her cookbook got me started cooking when i was just out of college, some 25 years ago. During my weekends to NYC from Boston where I attended college, many people were talking about her recipes and her catering company. Many of my most memorable dishes and dinner parties, through my early 20s, 30s and often now with my family, consist of simple dishes that I learned to cook from book. Salut! Here is my favorite recipe from her book. It’s not French, but Spanish/Moroccan, named after a beautiful seaside resort Marbella, where we visited with our friends Jose, just last summer….

[From Chicken Marbella Silver Palate Cookbook Recipe at Epicurious.com]

What a find. Our friends Jean-Jacques and Jane, my husband and I had a dinner out at Chez Michel, in the 10th arrondisement. Cuisine is Breton, and the atmosphere breezy. According to our discriminating friend Jean-Jacques, Chez Michel is one of the top 10 traditional bistros in Paris, and indeed, I think it lives up to its status. My fish on top of ratatouille was delicious, and the entrée course of salade, with sprigs of Breton seaweed that tasted more like dill was very intriguing. Their dessert specialité is Paris-Brest, a classic cream filled choux pastry.

10 rue de Belzunce, 75010 Paris (00 33 1 44 53 06 20

Our friend Pierre surprised us by inviting us for a Sunday brunch at Kong. Our daughter was delighted with the manga-inspired witty decor of Philippe Starck. We were wowed by the panoramic skyline views. Food was nice enough but definitely an ‘inside’ experience, especially its kooky, disco-ball-and-kid-sumo-adorned bathrooms. Apparently, It was featured as a chic eatery in Sex and the City.

1 rue de Pont Neuf, Paris, 75001. +33 01 40 390 900.

We always see our friend/proprietor Sophie Clavié and her gracious husband Philippe when we’re in Paris. Her neighborhood bistro is Closerie des Lilas, the world famous magnet for the avant-garde for generations. Their book shows all those who have passed through the place, from Bernard Kouchner, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Ingres, Henry James, and even Sarah Jessica Parker! I often think how can a restaurant that has been around since the 1850′s still live up to its reputation? That’s what is amazing about France. We sat outdoors in the ‘garden of the lilies’ and had a perfect lunch in the late August cooling sunlight. There was this entrée, Tarte du Soleil. It was a summer tart, with puréed artichoke spread on top with three pieces of perfectly grilled Sardines, on a thin line of balsamic vinegar. It was the perfect summer meal. La Closerie des Lilas, 171 Bld du Montparnasses 75006 +33 1 40 51 34 50/

If you’re traveled France for 20-30 years, you likely have Madelaine cookie-style memories of French food that are conjured up every time you have a good glass of wine or a hearty boeuf bourguignon. But, if you’ve been to France recently, you may also wonder if France has lost it. I always thought I could take my wife to any old French bistro and get a good meal. I sighed at her reams of articles from Vogue, Bon Appetit, and and Gourmet. Why go to across Paris to get an over-priced meal surrounded by Americans when the little place on the corner had all the classics.

The question still remains whether I changed or whether the food has gotten worse, but I now mostly follow my wife onto the métro across town because I can’t tell the good from the bad looking at a menu placard in the window.

Here’s a review of a new book that tries to deconstruct what has happened to France. It’s a similar description to what has happened to food everywhere.

I can’t tell you how relieved I was when Steinberger’s recent book, “Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine, and the End of France” (Bloomsbury USA), came across my desk not long after we got back from Paris. For weeks, I’d been thinking it was me. After all, my memories of magnificent French repasts were a couple of decades old. Maybe they were too rosy. Maybe my palate had changed. Maybe it was because we hadn’t really planned out where to eat, assuming that we’d walk into deliciousness without any effort. Maybe we were just old and out of it.
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Even if all those things are a little bit true, reading Steinberger, a wine columnist for Slate magazine (which is owned by the Washington Post Co.) and admitted “food-loving Francophile,” reassured me. Because there’s more to it than that, he writes. Way more.

Here’s the thing. If you’re a food expert, you’ll know where to go to find tasty food in France. Joe Yonan, who runs The Post’s Food section as well as this one, knows his vittles, so when he visited Paris a few weeks after we did, he planned well, used his contacts and had lots of fine meals. But if you’re a casual tourist, you need to know: You’re not going to find a fabulous meal around every corner. And mostly, the French don’t care.

Take a look at these facts: From 200,000 cafes in 1960, France was down to 40,000 — and dropping — last year. Bistros and brasseries are likewise disappearing rapidly. Certain kinds of cheeses are dying because no one knows how to make them anymore. The wine industry is in upheaval as the French quaff less of the fruit of the vine. Forget the quaint little French outdoor market; they still exist, but the French now buy 75 percent of their food in supermarkets, just like Americans. And “most ominously,” Steinberger writes, “the bedrock of French cuisine — home cooking, or la cuisine familiale — was in trouble. The French were doing less cooking than ever at home and spending less time at the table: The average meal in France now sped by in thirty-eight minutes, down from eighty-eight minutes a quarter-century earlier.”

[From An Unsavory Holiday: Lamenting the Decline of French Cuisine - washingtonpost.com]

We’ll be in Paris on Monday and we have plenty of old standards to go to (some not as good as they used to be), but I’m glad that we don’t have to try to find places to eat “au pif.”

By the way, I lived above the Vagenende (photo above), a beautiful Belle Epoque restaurant at 146 Boulevard St. Germain, and can attest that the food there was once edible, and not the over-done garbage that is served with a sneer there today.

Friends are just back from Paris and here are their quick recommendations and (very) short comments:

• Lots of Amarino ice cream (they keep opening new locations beyond Rue du Buci)

• Au Gourmand for dinner — 17 rue Moliere (1st) — this was our favorite of the trip

• Ginger for dinner (Vietnamese) (8th) — loved it but you won’t likely want to go to the 8th

• Les Editeurs for lunch (6th) — very good lunch across from Le Comptoir (which is also very good)

• La Petite Cour for dinner (8, rue Mabillon 6th) — we really like this one too

We, including and especially the kids, LOVE Amarino ice cream, but eschew the rue de Buci location for other less touristy spots because the lines go down the block. Our kids know they can eat one ice cream or one street crepe every day while in France, so like to strategize on routes home so they can get their preference.
Les Editeurs has long been a favorite. We love the decor, which allows us to bask in a fantasy that we are a truly bilingual French-American editor at Gallimard having yet another intellectual tête-a-tête with the real denizens of the 6th.

Every time we go to Paris, my wife and I have a fight about this place. She loves it and I find it pretentious and over-done.

This writer does have one thing right though: it’s impossible to get a table at lunch, and worse at dinner. This likely means that my opinion is incorrect on this retaurant. Still, I’d rather have lunch across the street at Les Editeurs.

Getting a dinner reservation at Le Comptoir du Relais in Paris is similar to winning the lottery. This tiny bistro in St Germain is booked solidly for several months in advance. Luckily for the disorganised amongst us (myself included) no booking is required at lunch and during August this policy extends to dinner. Time your arrival correctly (think just before 12.30 or just after 1.30 for lunch) and you are likely to only have to wait a couple of minutes for a table.

[From Gourmet Chick: Le Comptoir du Relais (Gourmet Chick in France)]

This three-floor, 16,000-square-foot general store near the Marais offers shopping with a conscience; all of the profits are donated to children’s charities in Madagascar. The couple behind Bonpoint children’s clothing fame have put together an irresistible array of cutting-edge design, in-house collections, vintage furniture and kitchen and tableware finds, plus fashion, lowers, a perfume bar, and a used book café. 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais.

Here’s another good round-up of food feasts in Paris, many in our neighborhood, and old favorites like Pierre Hermé and La Durée (though we’ve soured on the last given prices and crowds). Jasmine continues to love Ze Kitchen Gallerie, where I find it pretentious and often tepid.

Stop by Pierre Hermé on rue Cambon on the right bank or rue Vaugirard or Bonaparte locations on the left bank for mouth watering macarons – these are the best in Paris, seconded, perhaps by Ladurée (skip the macarons at Paul). Another worthwhile stop for an afternoon pause gourmande is the Grande Epicerie du Bon Marché, where you can sample many top shelf products, from cheeses, to meats, to a shellfish bar, more types of water than you have ever seen, and speciality products from Fauchon and Hediard.

[From Gourmet Paris, the Remix « ArtsÉtoile]

Just the picture make my mouth water…where is the phone number for Air France….?