I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked the age-old question: “How did you start cooking?” My usual wise-guy answer? “Well, I turned on the stove and put a pan on it.” In reality, I probably should acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Anna Maria Albergetti who got me on this whole obsessive measuring-thing, hawking those carefully delineated bottles for mixing up Good…
There’s a new face in the Marais: Gérard Mulot. Sure there’s lot of shoe shops, sunglass boutiques, and questionable “art” galleries in the Marais. But there’s a dearth of bakeries and pastry shops. So imagine my surprise and delight when one not-particularly-good bakery near me closed (the surprise part), then re-opened the other day as…Gérard Mulot! (the delight) For those of you who don’t know…
(Dispatch from San Francisco) I simply can’t recall the last time in Paris that I was ate French fries that were actually made with real, freshly-cut potatoes. And served crisp, cooked like someone cared about how they tasted. Nor can I think of anytime in the recent past when I’ve been served fresh, seasonal tomatoes in a salad. Last week I ate at Nopa, a…
Here’s my address book for the most popular and some of my favorite places for ice cream in Paris. I recently published an updated list of ice cream shops in Paris=> Here! In addition to these glaciers, some of the pâtisseries make their own exceptionally-good ice cream which they’ll scoop up from freezers parked on the sidewalks outside during the summer. Some of the best…
It’s pretty overwhelming visiting a fromagerie. After years of trying as many French cheeses as I could, I’ve settled on a few favorites that I go back to over and over, which include moist, piquant Roquefort de Carles, which I like drizzled with chestnut honey, little rounds of tangy chèvre and ash-covered Selles-sur-Cher, and nutty Comté from the French alps, which if you taste one…
A blog is an online diary where you can write about what you see and what you eat. It’s a marvelous thing that you can use to share your culinary experiences for everyone to read. The flip side of having a blog is that others can, and do, read it. A while back I wrote something about a chocolate shop in the Marais that I…
I was excited to finally visit the famed kitchen of La Maison du Chocolat, just outside of Paris. Robert Linxe, who was born in the Basque region founded La Maison du Chocolat. He was one the major proponents of using ganache in his chocolates; that slightly-airy amalgamation of chocolate and cream. Then he went on to develop a flavor palette of ganache-based chocolates…and the rest…
When I moved to Paris, I was pretty shocked at how expensive things were. And I don’t mean Louis Vuitton suitcases or Kelly bags. Something as simple as a sponge at the supermarket would cost 4€ or a plastic storage container at the BHV might run you 15€ around here. Ouch! Then I learned about the Paris pas cher stores all over town. Although concentrated…
That’s the new one meter box of chocolates from Patrick Roger, over three feet of pralines, caramels, nougats, and creamy-smooth ganache-filled bonbons, all enrobed in ultra-dark bittersweet chocolate. I don’t know how someone would brave getting one of those home on the métro, but I’d surely appreciate their efforts if I found one under my tree! Patrick Roger 108, Boulevard St. Germain (6th) Tel: 01…
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