mercredi 30 juillet 2008

Paris in August -- good food nevertheless

Every foodie who is in Paris in August is likely to feel cheated. Because it is someone people ask me very often these days, here's a list of foodie places open in August. I'll enrich this list with my discoveries and memories all month. I'll also be hapy to add your suggestions.

Top restaurants
- L'Arpège (best restaurant in the world, most expensive too)
- Joël Robuchon (at La Table, don't miss the 55eur lunch deal, including beverage)
- La Grande Cascade (Frédéric Robert is an exceptionally rigorous cook, a true master -- to my taste he lacks the inspiration and genius of his former masters Senderens and Peyrot, but both owe a lot to his rigour nevertheless and the place itself is georgeous, in the Bois)
- Le Cinq for the first steps of Briffard this summer
- Le Bristol always (don't miss the poached poularde, the ris de veau)

More ordinary restaurants
Brasseries/bistrots
- La Rotonde (the textbook, very good brasserie at the corner of Bd Raspail and Bd du Montparnasse -- everything is great, everyday and all day long until midnight)
- Le Petit Riche (for its specialities like the rillons and the veal chop and the setting -- also serves late night)
- Astier (a textbook bistrot, cheap and open 365 days a year, with good cheese and great wines)
- Meating (for expensive meat in the 17th)
- La Fontaine de Mars, Chez les Anges in the 7th
- The historic bistrot brasserie Joséphine Chez Dumonnet is listed open by some and closed by others. I'll check.

Asian
- In Chinatown: Solya, Sinorama, Asia Palace, Pho 14
- Japanese: Kinugawa (rue du Mont Thabor), Benkay (by the Seine in the 15th), both luxurious
- Fancy Chinese: Tsé Yang, Tong Yen, Passy Mandarin
- Co Tu, rue de la Croix-Nivert

Italian
- Fontanarosa, bd Garibaldi

Bakeries
- Pichard, rue Cambronne
- BE in the Printemps (bd Haussmann)
- Le boulanger de Monge

Pastry shop
- Constant, Dalloyau, Hediard are open all summer. Don't miss Constant's icecreams, Dalloyau chocolate macaron (chocolate only), pastry at Hédiard (eventhough they're not made on site). The bakeries I mentioned have good pastry as well.

Butchers
- Boucheries Nivernaises rue du faubourg Saint Honoré (especially for their well aged Simmenthal beef)
- Lesourd rue Lecourbe (don't miss his summer deals on sweetbreads)
- A Corsican shop on rue des martyrs whose name I can't remember

General food shopping
- Most markets become desert in August. Lafayette Gourmet (Galeries Lafayette, bd Haussmann, 8th) is a good alternative to la grande Epicerie (rue de Sèvres, 6th)
- Nevertheless, the market on av du Pdt Wilson has Thiébault (the extraordinay lovall grown vegetables that most top restaurants use) all August -- on wednesdays and saturdays morning.
- Quatrehomme and Cantin do not close (cheese)

vendredi 4 juillet 2008

Your food guide to France

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