In preparation for your trip to "the city of love," check out these romantic restaurant recommendations in Paris from David Lebovitz and his readers.
Posted by Robyn Lee, February 12, 2008 at 3:30 PM
There's no lack of good food in Paris, but after prolonged gorging on all those buttery. flaky pastries and crusty baguettes you might just to crawl back into the sweet, deep-fried ring of a good ol' American-style doughnut. The answer to your Parisian doughnut woes may be found at Coffee Union, which currently offers 13 types of doughnuts. At €14.90 for a dozen doughnuts (or $1.80 per doughnut), those doughnuts ought to be pretty damn tasty, or you better have an intense doughnut craving. Coffee Union also sells sandwiches, bagels, smoothies, and cheesecake, and offers free wifi. [via Girl and the City]
Coffee Union
Address: 11 Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, 75003 Paris, France (map)
Phone: 01 42 77 51 99
Website: coffeeunion.fr
Related: Through March 1, Delkographik is presenting a "Doughnuts Party" art exhibition in Paris featuring doughnut-related artwork from more than 30 artists around the world.
Posted by Robyn Lee, October 23, 2007 at 4:00 PM
Inside Pierre Hermé's two stores in Paris.
There are many places where you can find macarons. As for where to find the best macarons, that's an easy question to answer: Paris.
Even though I haven't eaten all the macarons in the world (not that I'd mind trying, if anyone out there would like to sponsor me to go on such an adventure), I can't imagine finding macaron better than the ones safely tucked away in Pierre Hermé's chic patisserie. His haven of sugary enlightenment more resembles a high-end jewelry shop than a place to buy your morning croissant (which was one of the best croissants I've ever eaten).
Actually, it'd be more accurate to say that the best macarons are found at Pierre Hermé, not necessarily in Paris, for he has four locations in Tokyo. Not just four locations in Japan, but four locations in one city. This fact alone would make Tokyo the city I'd most want to live in, right after Paris. It also makes Tokyo the city most likely to make me very poor and fat, right after Paris.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, July 11, 2007 at 6:00 PM
Working at Paris-based Pierre Hermé, one of best patisseries in the world, is a joy that few of us are qualified to experience but many of us are curious to learn about. Thankfully, Fanny of foodbeam possesses the culinary prowess required to intern at the patisserie for the next 7 weeks and like any good food blogger is diligently documenting the experience. Her first week round up is loaded with beautiful photos and kitchen commentary that should interest any dessert lover or Pierre Hermé groupie (I being one of them), possibly resulting in uncontrollable drooling while staring into the hearts of the meticulously crafted creations.
If you ever visit Paris and have a penchant for sweets, you absolutely cannot pass up Pierre Hermé. Not unless you want to deny your taste buds of utmost bliss.
Posted by Ed Levine, May 29, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Food & Wine's Jane Sigal, who really knows her stuff when it comes to eating in Paris (she worked for Patricia Wells for years), chimed in with a terrific list of reasonably priced places to eat in Paris two years ago. I somehow missed this list when it came out in the magazine, so I was happy when it reappeared on the F&W website. Who else is a good go-to person for Paris eating?
Blogger extraordinaire David Lebovitz, of course. We're going to be featuring Dave's nifty new book, The Perfect Scoop
, in a future Cook the Book.
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 4, 2007 at 6:30 PM
David Lebovitz says, "Here's my address book for the most popular, and my favorite places for ice cream in Paris," and proceeds to list six top glaciers and what he likes to order at each, plus the names and addresses of four more he's heard about but has yet to try. There's possibly no one else whose opinion on this I'd trust more, as he lives in Paris, is the author of the cookbook Perfect Scoop, and his recipe for Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream is supposed to be better than that of Berthillon, which is regarded as the best ice cream maker in the world. Consider it a list you must print out when visiting Paris!
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Posted by Ed Levine, April 30, 2007 at 7:04 AM
Mark Bittman's tour of Parisian steak frites joints was a vicariously pleasurable read, and I found myself trying to come up with an excuse to fly to Paris to try each and every one of them. Maybe we need to do an all Paris week on Serious Eats. What do you think?
As mouthwatering as the story was, he didn't really explain the differences between French beef and American beef. The French generally don't age their meat, so you don't get that fantastic minerally flavor the best dry-aged prime beef has in the States. I may be wrong, but they don't grade meat over there, and I don't think they serve much in the way of what we call prime meat here. After the jump, some entries from his list, and my own recommendation.
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Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 16, 2007 at 6:16 PM
Gridskipper's Amanda Kludt put together a list of ten places to eat late in Paris, for people like myself who need to get something to eat after midnight in between bars lest we pass out.
Kludt on Pied de Cochon: "This 50-year-old restaurant specializes in piggie parts, and they serve them 24 hours a day. They are one of the most famous brasseries in Paris and manage to have a pretty steady patronage even in the wee hours. Try the pig snout, the pig tail, or if that's a bit much for you, a large pile of shellfish." I know where I'm going the next time I'm out drinking in Paris!
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 19, 2007 at 1:28 PM
Recently in Travel + Leisure Magazine, Linda Dannenberg lists eight of the best boulangeries in Paris according to a specialty: croissants, sourdough loaves, miche, baguettes, pain au raisins, pain au chocolat, croissants aux amandes and fougasse.
[via roboppy del.icio.us]
Posted by Robyn Lee, March 13, 2007 at 11:15 AM
By Robyn Lee | When one of my friends told me to eat a green macaron for her in Paris, she was probably referring to those of the pistachio flavored kind. Instead, the first green macaron I ate during my vacation was flavored with the fatty squeezings of olives and a hint of vanilla, borne from the incomparably distinctive kitchen of Pierre Hermé who I believe makes the best macarons in Paris. What did it taste like? Well...olive oil, if it had the texture of a solid, creamy ganache surrounded by lightly chewy macaron cookies. The first bite was oddly delicious, but after getting over the not exactly surprising shock of, "Oh my god, this reallllly tastes like olive oil," my tastebuds felt like they were hit by a bomb stuffed to 1000% capacity with olive-based fat. Unless you love olive oil to the point that you drink it straight, it's best to share Hermé's nugget of fat with another olive oil lover.
But you do have to try it. Don't be a wimp.
Until additional gelato hunting tells me otherwise, my favorite gelateria in Paris is Pozzetto. My two friends and I each forked over 3€ for a small cone or cup (which they will fill with more than one flavor if you want, but considering the baby-fist size of the portion I'd stick to one or two) of their creamy and intensely flavored gelato. I immediately went for my favorite flavor, pistachio, while my friends chose the lighter pear and kiwi. The fruit flavors tend to be stronger than the nutty ones, but the cioccolato fondente is probably the most, "Ohhh baby, I need this now," inducing. Since they only carry 12 flavors at once it's easy to try all of them if you visit enough times and order large sizes, both of which I would recommend doing.
Pierre Hermé
72 rue Bonaparte, 6ème
185 rue de Vaugirard, 15ème
Pozzetto
39 rue du Roi de Sicile, 4ème
21 rue de Levis, 17ème
Robyn Lee is interning at Serious Eats for the semester. Like what you've read here? See more at The Girl Who Ate Everything.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 18, 2006 at 4:58 PM
In this month's Food & Wine Anya Von Bremzen interviewed Francois Simon, Le Figaro's Grand Reporter, who according to Vom Bremzen is a "provocateur who uses his whimsically poisonous prose to shake up the ossified world of French haute cuisine, and the ferocious expense and acrid snobbery that goes with it." My friend Steingarten knows and respects Simon very much, so I tend to trust his judgment as well.
Here are a few of his picks:
- Gaya: 44 rue du Bac, 7th Arr.: 011-33-1-45-44-73-73: Three star chef's inventive, casual new fish restaurant.
- Le Bistrot Paul Bert: 18 Rue Paul Bert, 11th Arr.: 011-33-1-43-72-24-01. Great insider's bistro.
- Bakery: Boulangerie Julien (75 Rue St. Honore, 1st Arr., 011-33-1-42-36-24-83. Baguettes and croissants.
For the rest go to Food & Wine
Posted by Ed Levine, February 20, 2006 at 1:09 PM
My brother Mike just got back from a long weekend in Paris (lucky him) and because he is as obsessed with food as I am, he immediately called us to tell me about two great meals he had. Le Severo is a tiny bistro that specializes in great aged Limousin beef, saucisson and frites. Those are all the major Levine food groups in one meal. Need I say more? Perhaps to counteract the effects of all the aforementioned animal fat he and his wife Carol also went to a really simple fish restaurant, Cagouille. He found both restaurants on Patricia Wells' website. Wells is the restaurant critic at the International Tribune and a terrific cookbook writer. Her Food Lover's Guide to Paris
was one of the inspirations for my own New York Eats. The website is quite comprehensive when it comes to restaurants in Paris (both casual and formal), but what I miss on the website are her write-ups of bakeries and chocolatiers, which to me made her book truly swing. Otherwise the site is a superb resource and reference for Paris food.
