One of the great regrets I had in life was when I went to Beirut and didn’t go to the Tawlet Souk el Tayeb, a culinary project supporting local farmers, cooks, and producers. There’s also a weekly farmers’ market, classes and meals. Because my schedule was so packed on my trip, as much as I tried, I didn’t make it. A few years later – as…
No matter how many wonderful the foods, and other things, are in France, when I go back to the States, there are some things that I bring back to France with me. When I go to the other way, to the U.S., I pack things that I have a hard time living without or to give as gifts. Friends or hosts might get a loaf of Poilâne bread,…
I snuck my way into the workshop of master Paris chocolatier Jean-Charles Rochoux. When asked which is the best chocolate shop in Paris, it’s hard to pick just one, but his boutique is at the top of my short list. Each chocolate is hand-crafted in the kitchen just below the shop, where a small team of chocolatiers and Monsieur Rochoux dip, sculpt, mold, and enrobe…
The way to shop for cheese in France is not to go into a shop with a list of cheeses that you plan to buy. The way to do it is to go in, look around, see what looks best that day, and buy that. There is, however, another factor – and probably the most important one – and that’s to listen to the advice…
[Update: Mon Éclair closed in the spring of 2018.] I was recently part of a panel on France24 television to debate the subject: “The argument over French cuisine.” Rather than being a debate, though, it was more question-and-answer session once the cameras were rolling. But beforehand, the four of us on the panel had a very lively discussion in the lobby about the subject, which at one point,…
When people ask me “Why did you move to Paris?” I’ll usually stop, point to the nearest cheese shop or bakery, and let them figure it out for themselves. There are a lot of pastry shops in Paris, over a thousand of them. But the first was Stohrer, which opened in 1730 by pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer, the pastry chef for Louis XV of France and his…
Not long after I’d arrived in Paris, I met Jacques Genin. At the time, he was working out of a small workshop deep in the 15th arrondissement. Inside, he and his team of five or so worked in a very tight space: A large table where they worked sat in the center of the room, taking up probably 90% of the space, enrobing machines…
[UPDATE: Pasdeloup has closed, and new owners opened Kubri in the space, an excellent Lebanese-inspired restaurant that’s well worth going to.) It wasn’t until recently that I became very in awe of bartenders. I used to just go in and order a beer when I was younger, not really aware that these people are the pastry chefs of the beverage world. Now that I’m older,…
[UPDATE: As of September 2022, after 46 years, Madame Acabo has retired and closed her shop in Paris.] When a gas explosion that happened in the basement destroyed her shop, many couldn’t believe that one of their favorite chocolate shops in Paris was gone, including Denise Acabo herself. I visited her shortly afterward and she was in shock, missing her store – but most of all, missing…
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