259931 Sun Feb 18 19:54:33 -0800 2001 19 26 International 0 1373932 We are acting out a whim, and 4 couples are going to Paris for a long weekend late April. What would people suggest to make this memorable? Sun Feb 18 19:54:33 -0800 2001 0 Ed Hoffer 1 1373934 Swap partners ? Mon Feb 19 09:58:12 -0800 2001 1373932 0 Jon 2 1373935 LOL! That was the funniest thing I've heard all...month. After all isn't that what Paris is for? Mon Feb 19 10:18:47 -0800 2001 1373934 0 magnolia 3 1373938 MF (Madame Femme) and I are heading over there for a weekend at the end of this month. We try to make it over once or twice a year. Our favorites are listed below: L'Arpege - Small modern decor, 3 Michelin stars. The food here is sumptuous, simple, profound and beautiful. Bring your friend Armand Aleggi as you will need to leave him behind. Ask for the rez de chausée (ground floor) not the beautiful but claustrophobia-inducing sous-sol (cellar). Do NOT miss the cheese tray the cheeses are aged by the top affineur in France, you will get the kind of selection only found in Michelin 3's. Au Pied de Cochon - This place is a hoot and it serves at all hours. Terrific for the dreaded it's-Sunday-and-the-whole-country-is-closed problem. The draws include the Pied de Cochon (yup, pigs foot) battered, fried and served with a lovely Bearnaise. Raw bar is excellent, but urchins are a little hard to deal with cuz the French don't clean them and you've gotta work your way around the black gunk. Try the Bulot (whelks) dipped in Mayonnaise (it ain't Hellmans). L'Ecluse is a chain of wine bars around town that are a little pricier than some, but they are satisfying if you like to know what you're drinking. They serve a whole panoply of Bordeaux from a range of different producers and vintages all by the glass. In most parisian wine bars they just tell you the name of the appellation the wine is made in and no producer or vintage info. If you ask to see the bottle, they generally look at you like you just grew a fourth head next to the three you walked in with. L'Ecluse also has nice, simple, reasonably priced french eats. La Maison de la Truffe - Try this place for lunch. Expensive, but if the name alone does not suffice to suck you in, don't bother. If anyone else has any suggestions, PLEASE chime in. MF and I wuld love to have some new places to try. Mon Feb 19 16:52:16 -0800 2001 1373935 0 Roger Lee 4 1373942 For whatever it's worth, Alain Passard has taken Arpège completely vegetarian. Mon Feb 19 18:46:48 -0800 2001 1373938 0 Leslie Brenner 5 1373943 !!!! Are you sure? Where did you hear this? I just checked Passard's website and the menu there still lists meat fish and fowl. http://www.alain-passard.com/flash/carte/carte.htm This is of great concern to me as we have reservations for the 26th and despite the fact that I love veggies, a vegetarian French Haut Cuisine meal is NOT what we have in mind. Mon Feb 19 19:20:56 -0800 2001 1373942 0 Roger Lee 6 1373946 This was reported in Libération at the end of December and picked up by a number of U.S. news outlets. I can't give you a link, since all I found were archives requiring payment, but you can almost certainly find it on washingtonpost.com, 12/30/00. Apparently, Passard had already stopped eating beef because of mad cow disease, and recently stopped eating fish because of problems with dioxin in the feed of farmed fish and in wild fish from Scandanavia. Frustrated by the lack of safe European sources for meat and fish, he decided to go all-vegetarian. If I were you, I would call and ask. Obviously he hasn't updated his site. Curiously we had a reservation to eat there when we were in Paris for New Year's, but we had to cancel at the last minute--and we knew nothing about this until we came back. I'd love to hear what they say about it on the phone--I know when I reserved they said nothing, but I didn't know to ask about it. Mon Feb 19 20:15:00 -0800 2001 1373943 0 Leslie Brenner 7 1373951 When I was in Paris over New Year's this was the talk of the town. However, the announcement was that his SPRING 2001 menu would be redesigned as a vegetarian menu with seafood on those days he had "confidence" in the fish supply. It not technically being spring yet, and Parisian winter vegetables being mostly root vegetables, I wouldn't be surprised if he's still serving meat at the moment. FWIW, the general consensus among my Parisian friends was that Passard is a media whore, and that this "veggy" thing was a ploy designed to cater to the needlessly paranoid rich Americans who make up 90% of Arpege's clientele... Personally, I thought it seemed like a neat idea - solves at least one night of the headache of what to do with a vegetarian in Paris... Tue Feb 20 09:54:50 -0800 2001 1373946 0 Elaine 8 1373953 I just called them and it seems that you're correct Elaine, the menu is currently still the winter menu as listed on Passard's website. I have to say that I am a little torn between being curious as to what Passard would do with a vegetarian menu and my conviction that the French don't know beans about cooking vegetables (which is weird as they have such nice ones), but I am relieved that I don't have to scramble around looking for an eleventh hour Michelin 3 rezzie (MF and I are addicted to the quality of the cheese carts you can only get at these places). Tue Feb 20 12:00:12 -0800 2001 1373951 0 Roger Lee 9 1373964 I can attest that the current menu -- or at least the late fall menu -- was only a couple of ticks away from being a meatless menu anyway. It is clearly where Passard's interest lies at the moment. But if your lust for three-star meals is all about the cheese, certain of the better two-stars -- the splendid L'Elysees du Vernet, Jamin and the shockingly inexpensive Astor -- do just as well as the three-baggers, without the kerfuffle. Tue Feb 20 21:43:03 -0800 2001 1373953 0 Pepper 10 1373969 Well the cheese is a significant inducement, but by no means the only factor. I haven't tried any of the 2's you've mentioned. The truth of the matter is that I've only dined at a few 2's and each time I was underwhelmed - don't get me wrong, the food was good, but the prices were almost as high as a 3 and somehow the meals just failed to sparkle. At these prices I expect a little magic, not just correctness. Even 3's are often a disappointment - Lucas Carton for instance. I found everything meticulously perfect but just missing that little bit of freshness, liveliness, brightness... something. Wed Feb 21 09:13:09 -0800 2001 1373964 0 Roger Lee 11 1373975 I didn't have the cheese course at Astor (big mistake, I guess--in fact it's probably always a mistake not to get a cheese course), but I have to say I found it quite mediocre. However, I've had astoundingly good meals at several two stars in past years. I suppose I've been lucky in my picks, because all three of these wound up getting bumped up to three not long after I dined at them. (Grand Vefour, Les Ambassadeurs, and Michael Bras.) I had a very good--très correct--meal a year and a half ago at another Paris two-star, Gérard Besson, but I can't saw I was wowed. Wed Feb 21 15:35:57 -0800 2001 1373969 0 Leslie Brenner 10 1373970 It pains me to agree with Pepper, but I must concur on Astor - great cheese plus if you've never eaten a chicken cooked inside a pig's bladder, you should try it once, at least for the fun of the presentation (looks like a balloon) if nothing else. Wed Feb 21 11:07:32 -0800 2001 1373964 0 Elaine 8 1373954 Thanks for clarifying, Elaine. And I'm with you Roger: I'd be torn. I'd be very curious to see what wonders Passard would work with vegetables--especially since he's a guy who made his name serving tomatoes as dessert! And while I agree with you about the French and vegs in general, from what I've experienced in restaurants at this level (two-three star), sometimes the vegetable garnishes are even more spectacular than the protein elements. Tue Feb 20 13:17:36 -0800 2001 1373951 0 Leslie Brenner 1 1374037 First, forget the food snobs--Paris is much more than food! For a short stay, try a hotel near Place Concorde, maybe the newly refurbished Meurice or our favorite, the Cambon. For restaurants, go for something unique like Le Souffle--and have drinks at Le Rubis, one of the last wine bars unchanged by time and modern influences. Brasserie Balzar may have changed owners and maybe the food is only OK(thats excellent vs anything in most US cities) but you will be touching the magical Paris we all read about years ago. And bring a good umbrella and raincoat! Tue Feb 27 21:23:43 -0800 2001 1373932 0 J K PETERSON 2 1374155 What arrondissement can we find Le Rubis in? It sounds grand. And also, le Souffle? I have the info. on Brasserie Balzar, and we shall try. Thanks, Barbara Sun Mar 11 12:45:50 -0800 2001 1374037 0 Barbara 1 1374038 Favorite museums-Picasso Museum(Not just Pablo),Musee d'Orsay. Parks-Parc Monceau,Jardin du Luxembourg.If you had to pick one church- Sainte Chapelle.Take the Metro or walk everywhere. Don't eat breakfast at your hotel. Wine is inexpensive, drink cabernet franc(i.e.Chinon),Pouilly Fume, or Beaujolais with your non fancy meals.The French have very good Duck and Cheese. If you want water you usually have to ask for it,ask for a carafe.I don't know if it's still there but if you like Ferris Wheels there was a giant one near the Place de la Concorde.This is pretty at night as is a boat ride on the Seine.Ile St. Louis is attractive,go to Bethillon for ice cream. The Place des Vosges in the Marais is worth a visit. Wed Feb 28 01:12:29 -0800 2001 1373932 0 howard 2 1374040 I found most Parisians to be friendly and helpful.(Surprise,surprise) Like New Yorkers many are in a hurry and some are jaded. Unlike New York they are more formal with greetings and manners. You must (in stores,restaurants,addressing people) say hello, goodbye,thank you. It also helps to say good morning or good evening. You get used to it,it makes life more civil. I love New York but Paris is so beautiful. Wed Feb 28 01:40:47 -0800 2001 1374038 0 howard 3 1374044 Well just got back from Paris where we ate and drank ourselves silly for the weekend. Some brief tasting notes follow: L'Ecluse Wine bar Madeleine: Pauillac Lacoste-Borie '94 by the glass at a little over $10 per glass at the current exchange rate (approx. 7FFR/USD) delicious and a steal by NY standards (as if you could find such a wine by the glass in NY). If you drink like we do, just go ahead and get the bottle. Tartare here is mild, creamy and quite good, makes a nice snack for two. If they don't give you a plate of saucisson sec, (They usually do when you order by the glass) ask and ye shall receive - it is excellent. The staff is friendly, we spent quite a bit of time chatting with them and one night we closed down the bar and went out with the manageress and two server/bartenders to Le Who's bar where we had a grand old time dancing, singing along to covers of Rock and Roll classics and quaffing way too much Leffe (the French don't seem to believe in actually waiting until you finish one drink before ordering the next one. When they order a round, everyone gets one, fill level of your prior round notwithstanding.) La Maison de la Truffe - Sadly, the Omelettes aux Truffes were not quite as perfect as I'd hoped they be, there was a slight leatheriness to the exterior, the flavor however was good. The smart play here seems to be the Oeufs Brouille (sp?) as that is what the locals were observed to be ordering. One particularly BCBG looking lady was presented with a whole truffle, a shaver, a pile of toasted Pain Poilane, olive oil, and fleur de sel. She proceeded to calmly shave a heaping pile of truffles onto the toast and consume it with a little drizzle of oil and some salt (yikes!). We also tried the Jabugo 5J here and boy was it good. The meat was evanescently smokey, mild, sweet and flavorful, the fat was creamy and delicate. If you've never tried this rare ham, don't miss it. La Repaire de Cartouche - This place is a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant that we decided to give a try. The decor is certainly a bit tired but it's obvious that they care about food and they like it in large quantities. Instead of butter or olive oil with the bread they put out a ramekin full of pate de cochon. When MF's appetizer, a terrine de sanglier was served, they basically placed the whole terrine on the table with a knife stuck in the side for her to serve herself with. An entire crock of cornichons also appeared. Carre d'agneau was beautifully tender, pink and juicy, packed full of lamb flavor served with an intense mushroom concasse. and the Tete de Cochon Croustillante was crunchy on the outside and tender and gelatinous within. Service is a little disorganized and haphazard, but overall this place is a winner. Au Pied du Cochon - The raw bar was, as always excellent. We actually prefer the Speciales no. 4, to the Belons in oysters and if you like littlenecks as we do, the Praires are your best bet. The Bulot (whelks) which you almost never see here are delicious with a rich butteriness augmented by the real mayonnaise which they are dipped in. The Pieds themselves seem to have a spicier bread crumb coating that they have in the past and are a touch less meaty, but still very good. L'Arpege - Fookin' deadly. When I have some time I will post more fully on this one. But, Wow. Just don't look at the prices and enjoy. Wed Feb 28 12:44:20 -0800 2001 1374040 0 Roger Lee 4 1374045 Can't wait to hear about Arpège! Wed Feb 28 14:19:38 -0800 2001 1374044 0 Leslie Brenner