Greetings from les vacances. After a, um, rather lengthy spring and summer (and winter), enfin—we took a break. People in France are either juillettistes or aoûtiens, depending on whether they take their vacations in July or August (some do both!), but for a variety of reasons, we left Paris in late August and are out and about in September, which is actually nice because the problem with everyone taking their vacations at the exact same time is that everything is crowded and even beach-shack burger joints require reservations, often five to seven days in advance. And at the weekly summer festival in the village where we are staying, ordering from one of the food trucks requires a one-hour wait to get your burger or pizza. And the village ain’t that big… Fortunately, the wine is served immediately, and copiously.  For years we’ve headed west to Brittany and Normandy for vacation, which are lovely parts of France. But the weather can be hit or miss—one year we rented a charming little home in Brittany, and we spent the whole week inside while it rained hard every day. To me, it isn’t a vacation unless I get in some beach time. And while there are gorgeous beaches in Brittany and Normandy, you have to like icy-cold water to take a swim. It’s not very relaxing, inching my way into water that feels like there are slivers of ice floating on top, doing my best to keep moving once I’m in so I don’t freeze to death. My idea of a beach is sun, sand, and lots and lots of sunscreen. Summer in the south of France, such as where we are in the Occitan, also means spectacular produce at the markets. Tasty, home-grown tomatoes abound, as do sun-ripened melons, berries, tresses of fragrant pink garlic, and locally made goat cheeses. We’re loading up at the markets and saying goodbye to swimsuit bodies with homemade chèvre-spinach quiche (the entire savory tart was only €6!) and tiny Mariguette strawberries, a cross between Mara des Bois and Gariguette berries that we get from Valérie, who is at the Olonzac market on Tuesdays. (Pro Tip: Get there before 10am, to get your pick of the best stuff before it runs out. And buy a tress of purple garlic, which the region is famous for.)
We quickly made friends with many of the vendors, and before we left (and the crowds moved in), we snacked on socca (chickpea pancakes), bought spit-roasted meat and dried duck sausages, circled back to pick up the goat milk ice cream, and while we didn’t pick up any pains au chocolat…  …or less-expensive chocolatines* 😉, we did get quiche and fouace (the sugar-crusted yeast bread in the photo above, next to the tomatoes) from the woman selling breads, quiches, and other baked goods.
*There’s a heated discussion in France about whether it’s a chocolatine or pain au chocolat, which at one point was debated in the French parliament. In the southwest, most people are in the chocolatine camp, and the vendor above has two prices, depending on what you call it (!)
For those of you following my Paris Apartment Stories, yes, we moved last month. Hence the need for a break. The day began with my relatively new computer crashing — aka the black screen of death. Fortunately, I back up my data, but I lost my photo editing software, so I am going low-tech for a while and taking pics with my telephone, which I have to say, does a better job in some cases than my fancy DSLR camera and complicated photo editing software. I still have PTSD from when Apple introduced retina screens and the thousands of pictures on my blog were suddenly all pixelated, and I spent a few weeks hyperventilating, seeing years of blog posts suddenly having squared-up pictures, having to go back and re-edit them all. Oof. Fortunately, I’m no stranger to crises, and after the kitchen designer threw up her hands and quit, unable to find a kitchen sink…after finding out the one she ordered in March wouldn’t be available—at all—which the company told us five months later…I took the reins and found one and had it delivered. It was holding everything up because they couldn’t make the kitchen counters until the sink was installed.
Being crowned the king of finding things online, after scrambling for the sink in my previous renovation and finding it (new!) on Le Bon Coin, the French website where everybody sells everything, I found a company that: A) Had it in stock, and B) Would deliver it in five days. I also got €15 off for being a nice guy on the phone, and a few days later, the sink arrived. The delivery guy wasn’t super, um, engaging when he delivered it, especially when Romain said he wanted to inspect it to make sure there were no chips or dings, as we’re in a country where returns can be a challenge (I still have emotional scars from returning a defective bike), but his scowling was no match for Romain’s tenacity, and the guy hefted the sink for him to examine it. Now that the sink is installed, they can finally start fabricating the kitchen counters, which is going to be a while as people are just trickling back in from their summer vacations. But as I said in one of my previous posts, some people don’t have kitchens (or running water), so we’re fortunate to have what we have. It’s not the end of the world washing dishes in the bathtub. And for me, it wouldn’t be the first time either.
When people ask me about restaurants in Paris, I’m hesitant to recommend specific favorites because then I can’t get in. (Which happened with Café Les Deux Gares.) I’m also not keen to recommend any one place to them in particular since if someone doesn’t like it, I’m responsible. (And I can only be responsible for my own happiness at the moment.) So I maintain a list of Favorite Paris Restaurants on my website, which I regularly update, and have all my Paris restaurant posts Categorized. And now I can’t get into Café Les Deux Gares when I wanted to go with two friends last month. But when they suggested Le Verre Volé, I figured since so many places were closed in August, if he would get us into one of the rare “hot” restaurants (since I couldn’t,) we’d go. So we did.
While I didn’t order it, my neighbor’s saucisse au couteau, hand-chopped sausage, with purée (the French word for mashed potatoes) hit the spot for him. I had a snafu when I went there a number of years ago when we showed up for our reservation and while it was in the book, they didn’t have a table available and handed me a business card for another restaurant, in another neighborhood, and was told to give them a try. So even though I am famous for holding grudges, I was glad I gave them another try.
I also decided it was finally time to visit Pan Bagnat, the famed sandwich of Nice that’s often described as a “Salade Niçoise on a roll.” There’s some controversy over what makes an authentic Pan Bagnat, and like the Salade Niçoise, it’s been tinkered with over the years, and in many cases, unrecognizable from the original. Readers were surprised (and some, indignant) when I mentioned that the true Salade Niçoise has no cooked vegetables. Yup, there are no green beans or potatoes on it, even though people do use them. (Including Larousse.) Hey, don’t blame me. I don’t make the rules around here. If I did, I’d start somewhere other than with a salad. Being France, there’s an authorisée list of ingredients in a Pan Bagnat, with an organization to protect it. But even chef Jacques Pépin goes off-script, adding Brie cheese (!) to his sandwich:  Right after he does, Julia jumped in with, “….this is kind of a Lyonnaise version…” of the sandwich, which she then goes on to attribute to Marseille. I’m not going to correct Jacques or Julia, but it’s fun to watch them cook together no matter what they’re making or how they’re making it. (Lest you think the French are sticklers for authenticity, celebrity chef Cyril Lignac got his hand slapped online for presenting a Salade Niçoise with a Parmesan Crumble on top. And Thierry Marx, another celebrated and television-friendly chef in France, offers up Pan Bagnat sandwiches filled with honey-baked chicken as well as Ham and Mozzarella.) For the record (and just for fun), here’s a vintage video of making the vrai Pan Bagnat in Nice, in 1965…  If you haven’t made a Pan Bagnat, it’s a great sandwich, no matter where you are, who you are, and, dare I say, however you make it?
In other news, I got to chat with my good friend Brad Thomas Parsons for my podcast in his Brooklyn kitchen about traditional French and Italian apéritifs, and present a few recipes: And in another podcast, I spoke with legendary cookbook editor Susan Friedland about what makes a cookbook a classic, and much, much more: I’ve got a few more days of vacation left, so we’re hopefully going to head to the beach. That’s it for now. For those following my Paris Apartment Stories, yes the chairs are done, and I’ll be posting photos of them when we get back. We’ve got a few more hurdles to go before the apartment is done. But for now, we’ve got a beach to go back to, and a few more markets… -David
Links I’m Liking-I had to make the switch to induction, so was curious to read Cooking Goes Electric, which makes a compelling case for it. Related: My new stovetop arrived with half of the heating elements not working. (Taste) -A new Bravo series, Real Girlfriends in Paris, brings a bit of sass (and, uh, something else…) to Paris. (People) -Learning to make Neapolitan pizza with a master pizzaiolo in Naples. (Susan Loomis/YouTube video) -What it’s like to have a chef-cooked dinner flying high in the world’s first hot air balloon restaurant. My question: Où sont les toilettes?/Where is the loo? (Gastro Obscura) -Production of famed French fromage Salers halted due to drought and lack of grass. (The Local) -An article about this French region, being one of the wine world’s best-kept secrets, although I already know and love the wine…and the cheese! (Travel & Leisure) -Journalist friend Mort Rosenblum fondly remembers his neighbor, the beloved Sempé, the French cartoonist responsible for over 100 iconic covers for the New Yorker, as well as his spot-on images of France. (Mort Report) -Legendary, and much loved, White House pastry chef for twenty-five years, Roland Mesnier, passes away. (Washington Post/unlocked) -French Connections explores stereotypes and clichés about the French, how accurate they are (strikes, chain-smoking, complaining, showering, and wearing berets, for example), and why they persist. (France24/video)
And lastly…happy 51st birthday to Chez Panisse! Here’s a photo of me years ago (probably back in the ’80s or ’90s) working in the pastry kitchen at Chez Panisse along with my bestest pastry pal Mary Jo, who’s now the pastry chef:
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Wednesday, August 31, 2022
September 2022 Newsletter
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