I Prefer Paris

Sweet Week 2: Comme a la Maison

2010-02-10T06:23:00+01:00

I wrote in my original post about Comme a la Maison that I was so enamored with the hot chocolate, that I dismissed their pastries.Not wanting to rob my readers of a pastry opportunity, I came to my senses and decided it was time to go back and see what goodies they offered.

I went with Vanessa, one of my former tour clients who was in town in January. It was a cold, blustery day and we huddled in the tiny space with Provencal print tablecloths to get warm. I purposely didn't order the hot chocolate, so my palate would be neutral. Cathy, the owner, generously prepared us a sample plate of the day's desserts, which she bakes from scratch daily: raspberry tart, Galette de Roi/Kings cake, apple tart with pate brisee crust, and pear tart with flaky crust. If that wasn't enough to overload my sweet tooth, she also brought out a basket filled with chocolates. Vanessa and I agreed our top choice was pear tart, in which the freshness and delicious taste of the pears really came through, with the pastry as just an afterthought. I also enjoyed the tangy raspberry tart. The Galette de Roi/Kings cake was a classic adaptation of the original recipe made with almond paste and the apple tart could have used some warming up to bring out the flavor and texture. From the assortment of chocolates, the chocolate covered orange rind was the standout with a nice bitter tinge to it.

Even though the pastries were not exceptional, I would still recommend Comme a la Maison if you like simple, home-made fruit tarts and cakes made with tender loving care. After all, the name means "like home".

Comme å la Maison
Village St. Paul/ Court Vert
9 rue St. Paul, 4th arr.
Metro: St. Paul
Tel. 06 89 32 00 10
Open 12PM to 6PM, Tuesday to Sunday
Note: It's a little tricky to find. If you walk down Rue St. Paul from rue St. Antoine, look for the last open archway on the right side and walk through the courtyard to find it.

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

New! Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes
I am happy to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes. Come take an ethnic culinary journey with me and chef and caterer Charlotte Puckette, co-author of the bestseller The Ethnic Paris Cookbook (with Olivia Kiang-Snaije). First we will shop at a Paris green-market for the freshest ingredients and then return to Charlotte’s professional kitchen near the Eiffel Tower to cook a three-course lunch. After, we will indulge in the delicious feast we prepared along with hand-selected wines.

Cost: 185 euros per person (about $240)
Time: 9:30AM- 2PM (approximately 4 1/2 hours)
Location: We will meet by a metro station close to the market
Class days: Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
Minimum of 3 students, maximum 6 students.

Click here to sign up for the next class or for more info.

Sweet Week 2: Christophe Roussel

2010-02-09T06:22:00+01:00

Note to subscribers: I accidentally left the I-Phone Apps in the subject line of yesterday's mail. Please open it to read about Sweet Week 2: Chez Bogato

Instead of having a mundane, overpriced gift shop in the lobby or trendy cocktail lounge, the Cadran Hotel had the genius idea of installing a chocolate bar. Is that a great concept or what?

Christophe Roussel is a rising star in the crowded, high-stakes Paris sweet shop world with his unusual and exotic flavored chocolates and pastries. The designers of spare, sleek lobby space wisely choose black as the background color, so that the brilliant shades of the macarons and the hot pink accent color of the packaging would pop. Caramel with salted butter, rum and Coke, chocolate & banana, lavender & apricot, green tea, and lime daiquiri are just a sampling of the dazzling macaron flavors. I safely chose a salted butter caramel and I am glad I did because it was not too sugary and the salt gave it bite.

For my lone chocolate, I decided to get more exotic, choosing the ganache with green apple and when I bit into the hard shell, the green apple flavor pierced my taste buds immediately with its intensity followed by the rich, creamy texture of the chocolate. Superb! Other flavors I sadly skipped were gancahe with tiramasu, almond paste from Provence with pistachio, intense ganache with African chocolate, Passion fruit, ginger with lime, and bergamot scented ganache.

The manager, lovely Anne-Sophie, gave me a pair of chocolate lips which I PROMISE I didn't eat and gave as a gift.

There is also a lounge area with black leather club chairs to enjoy a hot chocolate, coffee, and of course the heavenly chocolates and macarons.

I think it should be mandatory that every hotel lobby have a Christophe Roussell BAR a Chocolat.

Christophe Roussell BAR a Chocolat
Cadran Hotel
10 rue de Champs de Mars, 7th arr.
Metro: Ecole Militaire, 8 line
Tel. 01 40 62 67 13

http://www.roussel-chocolatier.com/

READ my chocolate lips

Green apple chocolate in the middle

Sit back, relax, and bring on the chocolates and macarons

Lovely Anne-Sophie- How does she stay so thin?

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

Sweet Week 2: Chez Bogato

2010-02-08T06:22:00+01:00

I am a bit overdue on Sweet Week this year but I thought changing it to the week before Valentines Day was perfectly appropriate. I know all of you have been salivating since last January when I first introduced Sweet Week and have been totally consumed wondering when Sweet Week 2 would arrive. So nix your failed miserable attempts to diet from your boring, predictable New Years resolutions you know you weren't going to keep anyway and slip into a diabetic coma (safely on your computer screen) with me while I tempt you with my latest batch of sweet shops for the next four days.

Chez Bogato is a most charming sweet shop and bakery tucked away on a quiet, mostly residential street in the 14th arr. near Denfert-Rochereau metro. It's a melange of a penny candy shop, toy shop, and bakery. The focal point of the shop is a kitschy flaming pink dinette table piled with individually wrapped sables(butter cookies) in fun shapes, a glass dome with thick American-style cookies studded with M&M's and peanuts underneath it, and a wooden boxed filled the most adorable life-like carrots, asparagus, beans, mushrooms, and potatoes, all made out of praline. On the side walls made of neutral light colored wood were baking and kitchen accessories for kids, party paper plates and cups, and other numerous cutesy things.

I had enough cutesy for the moment and made a beeline to the glass counter to get to the serious stuff my sweet tooth was waiting for: the individual cakes, tartes, macarons, and cupcakes. Cleverly shaped and decorated, it was, as always, hard to choose just two (one for me and one for Vincent). Since Vincent is a carrot cake expert, the choice was simple: the carrot cake sphere topped with a spot of cream cheese and a carrot colored candied bunny rabbit. Of course for myself it wasn't so easy, so I asked the advice of the shop's owner Annais, and without hesitation said the Carambar tarte, one of her specialties. Carambar is a French caramel as popular in France as M & M's and Reese's pieces are to the U.S. Some of the other choices I mournfully gave up were the Bambi cupcake with pistachio cream, mini macaron flowers, cupcake d'amour with beets and cheese, sweet burger- two bun shaped almond macaroons with marzipan cheese in the middle, and a Nutella tarte.

Annais had to get back to work in the kitchen, so I asked if I could follow her and she kindly said yes. She was rolling out chocolate sable mixture and cutting out shapes with her molds while her bakery elves iced cookies and whisked some wicked chocolate mixture in a metal bowl. I stood there transfixed by the smell and finally had to wake myself up to get the hell out of there before I did something my waistline and sugar count would regret.

I later learned that Annais gives baking classes to kids and adults in her kitchen and she posts the monthly schedule on her website. Chez Bogato also does wild and creative customized special occasion cakes. I wish this passionate, talented lady the best of success with her special combination of French pastry making and touch of American cake and cookie style which I sometimes miss.

Vincent loved his carrot cake which he said was fluffy and light with just the right amount of icing and my Carambar tarte was- Ay, Caramba, Lucy- mucho delicious.

7 rue Liancourt, 14th arr.
Metro: Denfert-Rochereau
Open Tuesday- Saturday 10AM-7PM
Tel. 09 61 05 04 00
www.chezbogato.fr

Annais

Bakery elf

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

Paris I-Phone Apps

2010-02-04T06:26:00+01:00

The revolutionary I-Phone has many useful and informative Paris apps. A tour client of mine Jeff from San Diego and my friend Linda from www.parisiensalon.com, for which I am a contributor to, have kindly taken the time to write personal reviews of some Paris apps they used when they were here.

Jeff's List

Free French Tutor and French Essentials- Good. It allowed me to hear the audio of what the correct pronunciations of words in French are.

The Paris Cluny and Louvre- used only briefly as a resource (hours open, etc).

Paris2Go - real nice - The best overall Paris travel app. Full of great information, places to see, nearby, transportation, etc.

Paris Street map- very handy because the streets of Paris are not always that easy to navigate and it is a great pocket resource and you don't have to look so silly unfolding a big paper map. It is GPS
enabled, helpful.

Paris Lite HiGuide - GPS enabled map of Paris, helpful.

The I-phone while traveling was great, I could even follow the Eye Prefer Paris blog!!

Linda's List

Metro Paris-the best darned app. It's more than a map of the metro. It offers a screen showing the stops on each line. You can search by station or use the GPS to locate the stop closest to you. But my favorite feature is the "route" feature - input your starting point and end point (by metro station), and it shows you the best route to take and where to transfer.

Paris Offline Street Map- I have a map that uses the locate me feature, but it's unwieldy if you have the data feature turned off and aren't near a WiFi hotspot. So I recommend this one, where you don't need internet or WiFi location services.

Paris i In the City Guide - a directory of restaurants, shops, nightlife, events.

I am listing one more app that could be very useful.

mPassport is an application that helps English-speaking expats and travelers access medical care in Paris. The application was developed by HTH Worldwide, a global health and safety services company, who also sponsors the blog www.HealthyTravelBlog.com. It works without an Internet connection.

Here are some of the things you can do with the app:
* Search, map and choose among carefully selected English-speaking doctors, dentists, hospitals and pharmacies.
* Schedule an appointment with one of these doctors on short notice
* Find equivalent medication brand names and translate important medical terms and phrases (even hear them spoken in French)
* Use a Google maps connection to get walking or driving directions from your current location or pre-loaded landmarks

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

Grand Palais

2010-02-03T06:21:00+01:00

The beauty and grandeur of the Grand Palais never ceases to amaze me.I was there the other day to see the Christian Boltanksi Monumenta installation and for some inexplicable reason it underwhelmed me. My eye kept going to the stunning architectural details. Instead of snapping photos of the piles of old clothes strewn on the floor from the Boltanksi exhibit, I took some of the best photos I think I have ever taken of the the mustard colored fancy ironwork, the sweeping staircases, and the ornately embellished columns.

Currently the largest existing ironwork and glass structure in the world- 162,000 square feet- the Belle Epoque Palace was built for the 1900 World's Fair by three architects.Henri-Adolphe-Auguste Deglane was assigned the front section, Albert Louvet was given the middle, Albert-Félix-Théophile Thomas the posterior and the head architect was Charles-Louis Girault. It was also referred to as Beaux-Arts style architecture.

Grand Palais

Avenue Winston Churchill, 8th arr.

Metro: Champs Elysees-Clemenceau

Night photo

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

Metro Posters 3

2010-02-02T06:22:00+01:00

I love the this series of clown portraits.The ads are for www.jesuisunclown.com, a website about what else? Being a clown.There are fascinating videos about how the clowns in the posters prepare for their shows and put on their makeup. Can you guess which one is a female clown?

The other two series are clever ads for Malibu Rum and a horse race prize.

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

February Eye Need to Do's: A Little Night Music, Cookbook Festival, & Chinese New Year

2010-02-01T06:25:00+01:00

A Little Night Music

Sondheim's glorious musical ode to the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer's Night is having an all star revival. Greta Scaatchi and Leslie Caron are the dueling divas, Desiree and Lady Armfeldt and Lambert Wilson plays the man in the middle. Isn't it rich, are we a pair...

Feb. 15-20
Theatre du Chatelet
1 Place du Chatelet, 1st. arr.
Metro: Chatelet
http://www.chatelet-theatre.com/2009-2010/

Johan Creten Dark Continent

Johan Creten's evocative, stunning sculptures are inspired by Freud's famous metaphor. He discovers the hidden power of the earth behind the fragility of ceramics.

Till March 13

Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin

10 Impasse Saint-Claude, 3d arr.

Metro: Chemin Vert, Bastille

www.galerieperrotin.com

Paris Cookbook Festival

All you cookbook lovers will have a readable feast at the Paris Cookbook Festival. Four days of wall to wall celebrity chefs and food writers from all over the globe from Mexico to Lebanon.The prestigious Gourmand World Cookbook Award will be awarded.

February 12-15
Le Centquartre
104 rue d'Aubervilliers/5 rue Curial, 19th arr.
Metro: Crimee
Open 9:30-6:30, except Sunday till 5PM
Admission: 8 euros
http://theethnicpariscookbook.blogspot.com/
http://www.cookbookfair.com/

Chinese New Year Parade

It's the year of the tiger on the Chinese calendar, so you better watch out. There are two parades, the massive one in the Chinese area in the 13th arr. and the Dragon Parade in the 3d arr. Hold that tiger!

Dragon Parade
Starting at Hotel de Ville
Sunday February 14, 2PM
http://www.chine-informations.com/actualite/programme-et-defiles-du-nouvel-an-chinois-a-paris_17471.html

Thanks so much for all your thoughtful Birthday wishes.

Coming soon: Eye Prefer New York Tours

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Carrot Cake Bake-Off Birthday Bash

2010-01-28T06:23:00+01:00

It was my birthday Tuesday (PLEASE don't ask how old I am) and I decided to have a carrot cake bake-off. How this idea came about was I met two new friends Magda and Julia a few months ago and we got to talking about carrot cake. I claimed to make the best carrot cake and so did they. So what else was there to do but to have a bake-off and doing for my birthday would be the perfect occasion.

I invited a small group of about 15 for Champagne, wine, and of course, carrot cake. I thought it would be too chaotic to have everyone judge, so I decided on two judges: Vincent my partner, a bona fide carrot cake expert, and Julia's husband Pino, a pastry chef and teacher. We made sure we didn't tell them which was which till after they tasted them, so they wouldn't be biased. Needless to say, I was the winner and most of the other people at the party confided that mine was the best. Not that I would ever show off. Of course Julia and Magda were crushed and I found them huddled in the corner sobbing hysterically, shamed by their cruel and bitter defeat.Like they say on the reality show Project Carrot Cake, one day your carrot cake is IN, and the next day it is OUT. I was DEFINITELY IN that night.

Finally Magda and Julia wiped their tears away and joined the festivities that lasted till 2AM.

By the way, I am still accepting extravagant and very expensive post-Birthday gifts such as a first class ticket to Buenos Aires, a gift card from Hermes, a Bulgari watch,dinner at Tallivent etc. Hint, hint.

My WINNING Carrot Cake Recipe (slightly altered from the recipe in The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook by Anna Pump)

Ingredients

2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups of safflower or vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
7 pitted prunes diced
1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
3 cups of grated carrots

Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese- room temperature
1/2 stick butter- room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease tube pan
3. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed till smooth.
4. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
5.Add prunes and walnuts to egg mixture, then flour mixture and beat on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add carrots and mix till blended thoroughly.
Pour batter into pan and bake for 1 hour and twenty minutes till toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool completely before adding icing.

Icing
Mix all ingredients with electric mixer till smooth. Spread over top and sides of cake. Garnish with 1 cup of chopped walnuts.

Moi, Vincent, and my WINNING carrot cake

My bevy of beauties

Pino, the judge and Julia, courageously smiling after her shameful defeat

Magda, trying to smile through her bitter tears and Nadja holding her up

Vincent and super-glam Susan

Modeling my fab Marc Jacobs hat I received as a gift

All three carrot cakes

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Marais Photo Contest Winner

2010-01-27T06:22:00+01:00

As usual, I caved and chose two contest winners. The coincidence is that both winners have Paris blogs.

The first photo was sent by Anne from Just Another American in Paris and is a quirky mural on the rue Vieille du Temple. The second photo by my friend and fabulous photographer Virginia Jones, whose blog is Paris Through My Lens, is the garden of the Carnavalet Museum shot through a leaded glass window.

Congratulations to the winners! You will each receive a copy of Murder in the Marais, generously donated by author Cara Black. Below are the runners-up.

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to submit their photos and sharing their happy Marais memories.

Place des Vosges by Verena Schrom

Two of Carnavalet Museum- Maurice Carrillo

Jardin St. Gilles shot by Barbara Reininger on one of my Marais tours

Mural off rue des Archives by Mathann Purvis

Two by Shirley Lerman- rue de Barre & Village St. Paul

Place des Vosges by Virginia Jones

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Lunch with Lynn/Under 20 Eats: Chartier

2010-01-26T06:23:00+01:00

I've been hearing about the "legendary" Chartier, known for its classic French Brasserie atmosphere and dirt cheap prices, for years and maybe that's what kept me away. I am always weary of anything that carries the "legendary" stamp for fear that I will be disappointed. Located on the gritty Faubourg du Montmartre off the Grand Boulevard, Chartier is inside a a long passageway with velvet ropes to manage the crowds. (They don't take reservations). Built in 1896, I could feel the old world grandeur and it fulfilled the wonderful cliche of the lively Paris brasserie with dark wood paneling, long mirrors, high-ceilings, and tile floors. There was a wall of small draws, which I was later told were used to store the regular diner's napkins.

We were there at 12:30, smack in the middle of lunch hour and it was filled with mostly French diners. The entree/starter list had more interesting dishes than the plats/main courses, so I ordered three of them. The vegetable soup had a carrot base and served in a metal bowl. It was just the right thickness and what you would expect of a simple vegetable soup. The paté de compagne/country paté was hearty and quite tasty accompanied by crusty bread(the crust was good but the inside was like Wonderbread), cornichons, and strong mustard. Speaking of strong mustard, that's what was missing from the dressing in the frisee salad with lardons and croutons, which otherwise was crispy and delicious.It didn't bother me that it wasn't topped with a poached egg. Lynn had the roasted chicken with fries/fries and her response when I asked how it was, she said "You can't screw up chicken too much, so that's why I ordered it". I tasted her frites and they were crunchy on the outside. A shared dessert was a passable, almost not -worth- the-calories chocolate mousse. The waiter kindly gave me the paper menu as a keepsake and he wrote our order on the paper tablecloth. When I asked for the bill he wrote and added it up on the tablecloth under our order. The total was a whopping 27.80 euros which included my 3 starters, Lynn's chicken, one dessert, and a half carafe of red wine. We sat next to a lovely French couple who lived in the south, but frequently visited Paris. Lynn asked them for some other cheap eats recommendations, figuring a French person's perspective could add a new dimension to our dining experiences, and they boasted of a place on rue Gregoire de Tours in the 6th, which we will try soon.

The "legendary" Chartier didn't disappoint and if you are looking for an authentic Paris Brasserie experience with simple, honest, straightforward French food at more than reasonable prices, head on down as soon as you can.

Chartier
7 rue du Faubourg Montmartre, 9th arr.
Metro: Grand Boulevards
http://www.restaurant-chartier.com/www/
Open daily- Lunch 11:30-3PM, Dinner 6PM-10PM

Napkin draws

Our bill

Marais Photo Contest

I am looking for unique and intriguing photos that don't show the typical Marais sites or a new perspective on a popular site. Take a cue from some of the photos I am posting today so you have an idea of what I am looking for. Please send no more than 4 images to r.nahem@gmail.com and also include a short description and location. I will post the winner and photo next Wednesday, January 27.

Now for the BIG prize. The winner will receive a copy of Murder in the Marais by Cara Black, a stylish and entertaining murder mystery about private female detective Aimee Leduc's attempt to unravel the murder of an old Jewish woman who was an Auschwitz survivor. Murder in the Marais is the first in a series of books of murder mysteries with private investigator Aimee Leduc in different areas of the city including Murder in the Sentier, Murder in the Bastille, Murder in Montmartre, Murder in the Ile St. Louis, Murder in Clichy,Murder in the rue de Paradis,Murder in the Latin Quarter and Murder in the Palais Royale coming out in March which takes Aimée back to the crime in Murder in the Marais. Click here to look at all the books in this series and to order.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com