The other day I was in my old neighborhood and I wanted to get a loaf of bread. When I moved to that neighborhood circa 2011, there were five bakeries, and all five of them were not good, to be kind. I know some people can’t imagine a not good bakery in Paris (yes, to me it’s unimaginable too), but that’s how it was. There was a lot of hand-wringing about the decline of French culture, and cuisine, back then, which even Time magazine covered.
Others piled in, including the NYT with a controversial article, Can Anyone Save French Food, and French journalists filmed themselves pulling empty boxes from legendary bistros, proof the restaurants were selling pre-packaged Poulet cordon bleu and bœuf Bourguignon. It seemed France was doomed. And then, it wasn’t. One by one, all those regrettable bakeries were replaced by really, really good ones. On the day a few weeks ago, I couldn’t decide which bakery to go to to get my bread—Chambelland, Graine, The French Bastards, Maison Landemaine, Fermentation Générale, or newcomer Polka, not to mention the not-too-far-away M. Jacques and Benôit Castel.
We’ve also been blessed with amazing produce shops, such as Miyam, Terroirs d’Avenir, Au Bout Du Champ, Le Zingham, and Le Pari Local, with gorgeous fruits and vegetables grown by small producers. And restaurants serving foods from other countries, which were not well-represented before, such as foods from Mexico—a country France tried to colonize, twice, unsuccessfully—Korea, India, China, and Japan, are popular, serving authentic fare that’s no longer toned down for local tastes. I’d still like an H-Mart or 99 Ranch supermarket, but I don’t want to get greedy. But Ace Mart, a Korean grocery store, just opened a new place on the rue de Louvre in Paris with very good take-away dishes, and Irasshai is a new Japanese food shop that was a little more upscale than I was expecting. But if you’re looking for shiso syrup or smoked soy sauce in Paris, they’ve got you covered. After a trip to Brittany for Romain’s birthday (for paid subscribers), which included some antiquing, we started buckling down at home for l’hiver (winter), which meant winterizing the garden. I managed to get two dinky, but powerful, Espelette peppers from the withering plants…
…and harvested the very last of the cherry tomatoes. I got a few more than shown below, and since the “viral” paper bag trick, where you put them in a paper bag in a dark place for a week and they magically come out ripe and red, didn’t work, I turned them into Green Tomato Apple Chutney.
I’m a big re-user of jars. When I met the owner of Bon Maman, I mentioned how great it was that the labels slip right off the jam jars, which he told me they do on purpose so people reuse the jars. Not only is that good, ecologically, to encourage/make it easy for people to reuse jars, but it’s great publicity for the brand too as everyone in France has at least one Bon Maman jar, new or being reused, somewhere in their kitchen.
In what my friend Elise dubbed “Jar wars,” I tried to get some stubborn labels off my jars at home. Romain once told me back in the day, before bar codes, they intentionally made price tags in France hard to remove due to people trying to swap them out at the supermarkets. I don’t think people are swapping out jam jar labels, unless they’re trying to mess with other shoppers’ heads, i.e., why is the apricot jam purple? — which would be kind of funny. People chimed in on social media with all sorts of suggestions, urging me to use everything from lighter fluid to eucalyptus oil. Some people got a wee bit huffy when I didn’t try their suggestion, but when my friend Margot, who owns Combat bar, told me to make a paste with a little bit of oil and baking soda, adding, “I use it on bottles all the time here,” I figured that was a pretty good reference. I’ve also learned not to argue with bartenders (or anyone on social media, for that matter), and it worked very well, even when my trusty American Goo Gone failed, which was no match for French glue.
 In addition to great bakeries, produce markets, and food shops, the quality and variety of restaurants in Paris have made dining out a pleasure…if you can get a reservation. Because restaurants are small, and some only do one seating, some places require reservations a week or more in advance. Prices have gone up too. But compared with other cities, you can still eat well in Paris and not spend as much as elsewhere, especially when you factor in the price of wine. I had a really good meal in November at Pompette, a casual wine bar/restaurant that’s open only for dinner. We started with Cecina (air-dried beef), œufs mayo with dried bonito and Thai chiles (above, left), and a brochette of grilled duck hearts, which sound scary if you’ve not had them, but they were the best I’ve ever had. I’m generally wary of ordering pasta in Paris (that, and risotto), but the homemade Cavatelli with Mimolette cheese was outstanding, and the line-caught tuna was terrific. The chocolate ganache with smoked chiles, salt, and olive oil was good…and rich, but we all absolutely loved the roasted apple with miso caramel and sabayon. Dinner was accompanied by a bottle of wine from the Jura, La Pinte Savagnin (€55), which went well with everything. Not trying to upsell us, the very friendly server did suggest at the start that we get the dégustation menu, which was €125 for everything. It seemed like a lot of food (and money), but if there are 3 or 4 of you, that’s the way to go, as the bill for 3 of us was around €195. [Also, kudos to the server for pointing out that the tip, which the electronic point-of-sale terminals that many are now using in Paris add as suggestions—10%, 15%, 20%, etc.—was entirely optional, which is the case with tips in France. Restaurant workers get paid a living wage with full benefits, and you’re always welcome to tip for good service, but it’s now being made to feel mandatory.] I’ve also been doing some cooking at home. For Romain’s birthday, I made braised beef in red wine where I seared the beef, added onions, carrots, garlic, and yellow turnips, as well as a few sprigs of thyme from the garden, and a bay leaf from my neighbor’s tree (hey, it was hanging over the fence…) and cooked everything in chicken stock and bold red wine at a low simmer until the beef was tender, about 3 hours. I strained the liquid, reduced it by about two-thirds, and served everything over celery root puree. I don’t cook a lot of beef, but it’s hard to go wrong with braising, which is my favorite technique for cooking pork and lamb too.
The last weekend in November, we were invited to a large gathering in Paris for Thanksgiving. I figured a lot of people would be bringing cakes and pies, so I decided to make a double batch of White Chocolate-Fresh Ginger Ice Cream, which pretty much goes with any winter holiday dessert. Christmas/Hanukkah came for me early this year when I bought myself a new ice cream machine, so I’m looking forward to churning out lots more ice cream in 2024. See you then! -David
Ways to Help2023 seems to have been an especially tough year for the world. One bright spot was reading in Evan Kleiman’s newsletter about Miry’s List, a grassroots organization in the U.S. that helps refugees resettle where they land. Many have left brutal situations, and persecution, with nothing but the clothes on their back, often with kids in tow, and have a hard time dealing with paperwork and adjusting to life away from their home country. Miry’s List provides support and essential items, as well a bridge between communities, which is heartwarming to see. If you’re looking for a charity to support this season, check out Miry’s List. An organization in France that provides similar assistance is BAAM.
Paris Tips and LinksVegoresto Another way Paris, and France, have changed, is that you can eat very well if you’re vegetarian or even vegan. There’s an annoying social media post that’s going around about a French waiter saying “Non” to someone asking if they have oat milk for coffee. (True, you won’t find it everywhere, but just about every coffee shop in Paris has it now, and Danone is converting one of its largest dairy plants into a non-dairy plant.) But vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants and bakeries have become much more popular than ever in Paris and in other cities across France. A new-to-me website, Vegoresto, helps you find them. Using its search engine, I found 798 vegan-friendly places in Paris. You will find chains like Subway and Amorino in the mix, but others, such as Edwart chocolate, VG Pâtisserie, and Land & Monkeys, which has a silly name but makes very good breads and pastries, are listed. You can filter the site for 100% vegan places as well as masque (hide) chains. [And for those who are gluten-free,The Real Emily in Parishas a gluten-free guide to Paris with over 100 addresses for restaurants, bakeries, and cafés where you can eat sans gluten.] Alltheway A few days before a recent Air France flight, I got a message that I could check my luggage all the way to my destination before I go to the airport. They work with a service, Alltheway, which allows you to drop off your luggage between 4 and 30 hours before your flight at various hotels in Paris, for €25 for the first suitcase, €10 for a second, and check it through. You can also have them pick up your suitcase at any address (from €65) and even drop it off at your final destination (from €45), with tracking along the way. A friend recently bought too much stuff at the flea markets in Paris and wondered how he’d get his voluminous luggage to the airport. If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, or you just don’t want to schlep your luggage to the airport, you might want to check it out. (I haven’t used them, but if you have, let us know in the comments your experience.) Paris Flea Market Finders People frequently ask me how to find flea markets in Paris. Brocabrac and Vide-Greniers are two websites and apps that list flea markets (vide-greniers) and antique sales (brocantes) in Paris, as well as across the country. They’re updated frequently and are great resources for finding brocantes and flea markets. Note that both seem to have the same information; I keep the Brocabrac app on my phone. My Books Make Great Gifts If you’ve got Francophiles on your gift list, My Paris Kitchen and Drinking French make great gifts for friends and family who are into cooking, baking, and drinking. 😊 My books are listed here and are available online as well as at your local independent bookstore.
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Friday, December 1, 2023
December 2023 newsletter
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