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Armistice Day: A simple Reminder

The insecurity of man during times of war or peacekeeping came home to my family when we recently received the news that one of our own family was lost keeping the peace in a distant land.

Kensington House Hotel: A Splendid Hotel with a Golden Heart

"Kensington House Hotel: A Splendid Hotel with a Golden Heart" is the first review in our “Paris Getaway” series that has us hopping a plane from Paris for a change of scene.

Moulin Rouge, Cafe Moderne, GaultMillau BUZZ (PREMIUM)

Since 1889 Le Moulin Rouge has been turning – if you haven't been to Le Moulin Rouge, immortalised by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, you haven't really been to Paris. Café Moderne, just behind the old Bourse, was launched by Frederick Hubig-Schall a few years back (he also owns the excellent Astier in the 11th), and it keeps getting better. “Petit revolution dans le monde gastronomique,” announced the French press as Le Guide France 2010 reached bookshops/kiosques.

The Resto Rating Game (PREMIUM)

What’s this Rating Game all about?

When I started writing up restos in Paris it was strictly for my friends; indeed, most of them I cribbed off of the guy (Paga) who was always weeks and months ahead of me in trying places.

Houseguests a la Francaise

When one moves to Paris, or for that matter anywhere in France, one obtains immediate celebrity status. People you hardly remember always seem to be able to remember that they know you (sort of) and that you live in Paris, you learn to acquire the habit of never answering the phone just after a U.S./Paris airfare war has been announced. This is especially true in the days of the weak dollar where airfares may be cheap. But once you arrive in the EU, living is expensive.

Benjamin Fondane at the Memorial de la Shoah

To live in Paris is to live intimately with its history. Paris has been the stage for many of humanity’s greatest achievements; it has also been the setting for unspeakable tragedy. The Mémorial de la Shoah serves as a reminder of the most horrific of this second category of history, a history difficult to confront: that of France under German occupation during WWII. Through January 31, 2010, the museum dedicates a temporary exhibition to the works and life of Holocaust victim Benjamin Fondane, Romanian poet, essayist, playwright, filmmaker, and philosopher.

No Appetite

That’s it, that’s the problem, the social disease called distraction. If Luc walked into a room filled with Dürers, Vuillards, or Raphaels, he would no more think of eating a sandwich than peeing on the floor. If you want to admire Rembrandt admiring himself in a self-portrait or watch a football match on television or listen to Vivaldi (all right, Couperin), that’s what you do. These activities, these pleasures, deserve attention, not distraction, and so does dinner.

The Breads of Paris

The siren’s call that brings us back to Paris is different for each of us. For me, it’s the bread. To borrow a Michelin Guide barometer, the breads of Paris are, alone, worth the journey.

Bonjour Paris Marketplace

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Please free free to comment and recommend additions to our lists.

Paris: Nine Years Later

The year 2001 was not a good year for Americans. It was a double whammy for me. Just weeks before the terrorist attack, I was diagnosed with a serious illness. The recovery from both would be slow and painful.

Adding to that pain, I had to cancel that year’s “Paris Fix.” It would be nine years before I saw that treasured city again. During that time, I moved from New York to San Francisco. I think San Francisco is part of the reason I stayed away from Paris so long. I now lived in the American Paris and could enjoy the wonders of these sister cities without enduring a thirteen-hour flight.

Holiday Wines for 2009

The holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year’s is the perfect time to enjoy your favorite wines, and also to try some new ones. So, relax and enjoy the holidays! Do some planning now, while the seasonal wine sales are on, and you can plan to drink what you enjoy most over the holidays. After all, you’ve earned it!

Thanksgiving Abroad

Many Americans are in the process of making plans for Thanksgiving. Families traditionally gather over turkey and all the fixings to give thanks and catch up with relatives. If you’re an American living abroad, Thanksgiving poses a different type of challenge. It’s your holiday. But it’s not one in the country where you’re working.

Bye Bye French Halloween

Whatever happened to Halloween in France? A few years ago, around the mid 1990s, it showed up big time. Nevertheless, in France, where All Saints Day is a much honored national holiday, the whole Halloween ritual on the evening before never really caught on.

Jacques Maximin chez Rech, Gastronomy in the Metro BUZZ (PREMIUM)

French cuisine icon Jacques Maximin leads the kitchen at Alain Ducasse's latest bistro, Rech. “It's all signed Brand Maximin, and I'm delighted with the team here," he grins. “They call me 'roi de l'impromptu.' I just created carpaccio de mulet à l'oursin, un curry de haddock aux moules, un filet de rouget avec sauce au foie au vinaigre de Banyuls."

Elsewhere, three super-chefs are cooking in the Metro at station Miromesnil.

Seeking the Immortal Nicolas Flamel in Paris (PREMIUM)

Want to live forever? Nicolas Flamel did.

Yes, Nicolas Flamel of Harry Potter fame was a real person. Some believe he is a real person.

Flamel was born in 1330 in Paris or its immediate environs. He achieved success as a scrivener and book seller in Paris. He and his wife, Pernelle, spent their later years in a house at 51, rue de Montmorency. Built in 1407, the house is the oldest in Paris still standing. You can literally get a flavor for Nicolas Flamel’s home by dining in the restaurant that occupies the building’s ground floor, the Auberge Nicolas Flamel.

Dope

Some things need no translation, no matter where you see them. They play in a lingua franca more widespread than Greek, Latin, Pidgin, or Esperanto ever were, like the universal kabuki of a drug deal. It’s strange, now that I have to think about it, that I don’t remember ever being a bystander to a casual drug deal in Paris. And after all these years, there’s one performed right in front of me, the buyer and the dealer furtively looking over their shoulders, their hands low, showing nothing, faithful to tradition.

The Spring-Table d’Eugene-Frenchie Problem (PREMIUM)

Maybe two years ago, Le Figaro’s crack gastronomy staff made phone calls to see how far out about 10 well-known restaurants were booked. And to their surprise it was not l’Astrance or Le Cinq but Spring that was impossible to book. I guess I was not surprised because I had been going pretty much from its opening. With only 16 covers, Spring's success, I knew, would result in long waits. Did that stop me from raving about it? No.

Marriage or PACS? In France Things Are Changing

Here’s a tricky question about French etiquette you may need to know if you’re coming to France. How do you address the female member of a couple who are not married in the classical sense but are “pacsé”? That means they officially are living together under what is known in France as the “PACS,” the “Pacte civil de solidarité.” If the woman concerned were traditionally married she would, of course, be addressed as “Madame.” But that’s the point. She’s not married.

How Business Manners Differ in France—And No, It Isn’t All Bad

Have you noticed that in U.S. offices, people who work together tend to confide in one another? They frequently spend more waking hours in each other’s company than they do with their families. If you opt to work in a French office (or for that matter, conduct business in France), be prepared to encounter differences. Some are subtler than others, but it’s important that you understand the ground rules. It’s a different playing field in France compared to the U.S.

Bistro Saint Ferdinand, La Sidreria, Le Boudoir, and Le Master Class Chocolat Pierre Herme BUZZ

New décor for Bistro Saint Ferdinand: book table 87 beneath the magnificent black Murano chandelier, by the water-wall feature, and you're in Las Vegas. At La Sidreria, all things Basque and beautiful. Food and fun at Alice Bardet's Boudoir. Or lunch and all the chocolate you can eat at Le Master Class Chocolat Pierre Herme.

Avignon to Carpentras: Tranquility, Minstrels and Popes

The city of Avignon boasts a palace of the Popes. There is also the Petit Palais, once the home of the Archbishop of Avignon. Visitors still visit the famous Pont St. Benezet made famous by the song “Sous Le Pont d’Avignon." The bridge dates back to the 12th century, although much of it was destroyed in 1668. But the tiny Chapelle St. Nicholas just above the spot where people once danced is still there. Sous means under in French but now people say sur. which means on.

Hotel Saint-Paul-Rive Gauche: A Three Star Haven of Elegance and Tranquility in the Latin Quarter

Valerie Benigno, Directrice d’Hébergement de Hotel Saint-Paul-Rive Gauche, recalls receiving a large envelope postmarked from the UK. Inside was a huge porte clef to room 12. “It was a heavy, old fashioned key,” Valerie says. “Probably 50 years old.” We are in the sitting room which has a large bay window, Haute Epoque furniture and a crimson bio ethanol-fueled fireplace. The room’s exposed stone walls were a part of the foundation of defense that surrounded Paris at the time of Philippe Auguste. The key, a more recent artifact, was among the effects of an elderly gentleman, and his son was returning it to its rightful home on rue Monsieur le Prince.

Why Do I Like Ledeuil and Pacquin over Aizpitarte and Barbot?

Must be crazy, eh? The darlings of the Anglo-Saxon web and buzz are chefs like Inaki Aizpitarte (La Famille→ Transversal→ Chateaubriand) and Pascal Barbot (School of Hard Knocks (i.e., self-taught)→ Arpege→ Astrace) rather than William Ledeuil (House of Savoy→ Les Bouquinistes→ Ze→ KGB) or Rodolphe Paquin (House of Constant→ Repaire de Cartouche→ Cartouche Café), but I, as usual, am swimming against the flow.

Home is Away from Home

You’ve moved to France, (or another foreign country), and it’s now your primary residence. Unless you were kidnapped at a very early age, it’s nearly impossible to lose your native identity and your sense of place and roots. Even if you wanted to, you can’t—and most people don’t and shouldn’t. But the question remains: How do you become acclimated to a new environment?

le metropolitan & Michelin NYC 2010 BUZZ

le metropolitan is chic central for the BCBG tribe of the tony 16th arrondissement. Launched recently it's the canteen of the edgy Hotel Le Metropolitan, recently transformed, located on the angle of Place Mexico and the buzzing rue des Belles Feuilles. Great location for flexing the Centurion: stay here and there are endless little boutiques and bars to satisfy the kvechiest of kvechers.