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Good morning everyone.
Today we begin a slight detour from our regular Sunday Gravy proceedings. I hope you like the deviation from the norm.
Brother Taj and I spent a week in Paris back in mid April and I thought maybe some of you might be interested to find out more about that excursion.
Since this is me we’re talking about what better way to start our travelogue series than with food.
I’ve got additional episodes of sights and other various things as well that will be featured in an as-of-now undetermined number of parts.
Fuck it though. Food first!
In chronological order here are the things we ate and drank along the way.
Since we rented an apartment via VRBO we had to stock up on comestibles for the room during the entire trip. Not a problem because we were staying right in the the middle of every fucking thing.
The rental was in the city center of Paris in an area known as Le Marais, or “The Swamp.”
There were markets, grocery stores, restaurants, boulangeries, you name it, all within easy walking distance.
Our local boulangerie.
We purchased some eclairs there just to test their wares.
Coffee left, chocolate right. Good but dear God were they sweet. If you notice there are toffee sprinkles on top which fully elevated the sweetness.
First day on arrival, shortly after checking in we required snacks and adult beverages as well as breakfast items for the next few days.
Nice start but we’ll need some salty snacks as well.
Trader Joe’s cashews in Paris? Apparently fucking so. These were from a little market just a few yards away from the rental.
Like in Barcelona the markets and quick stop shops were all run by immigrants from other countries. The women who ran this shop were very nice but they had very little knowledge of the English language and their French was a little dicey as well. We visited this market almost daily. These cashews were purchased again. They were mighty goddamn tasty.
Other snacks included.
These are your plain kettle chips.
I love the back of the bag. It tells their whole story!
The very delicious roast chicken chips.
Delicious because of the …
Chicken meat powder!
And we WILL need beer!
The 1664s were a delicious “Biere Blonde” and were consumed frequently and in suitable volumes.
For the record, the plastic water bottle is from when we checked into the room. There were 3 water bottles on the table and that was all we needed, BECAUSE! in Paris they drink the tap water! Just like I do at home. We simply refilled the 3 bottles that were gifted to us as needed with tap water. Lasted the entire trip.
They take their recycling shit pretty fucking seriously.
Food items acquired, drinks purchased, bags unpacked, it was time to grab dinner in Paris.
The first day upon arrival is always a daze. I can’t sleep for shit on the plane – still – so between the jet lag, nine hour time differential and shortened sleep cycle, you’re pretty much fucking zombified that first day. We did some research for best French restaurants around us within walking distance and discovered what turned out to be one of my favorite restaurants on the very first day.
Here’s the expanded shot. I’ll link to some of these restaurants when I give the title so you can do additional menu browsing if you like.
Very cool vibe, very Paris atmosphere. Loved this place. The service was incredible and everyone there looked genuinely happy to be there.
First meal? Of course we needed French Onion soup.
That bowl itself is fucking gorgeous. Excellent soup but woof! There was a LOT of cheese in that shit. A LOT. This coming from a fromager!
We also ordered another appetizer.
These are softly boiled eggs, tomato, homemade mayonnaise and that thin slice of seasoned matter was a fresh turnip sliced extremely thin. Fucking killer.
Do note the copious amounts of French butter and bread being consumed. Their bread was some of the best we had on the entire trip.
For the entree, I went Steak Frites.
Cooked perfectly and garnished with frizzled parsley, served with a morel mushroom cream sauce. You could bathe in that sauce.
C’est Magnifique!
We also had a beaujolais for dessert that was exceptional.
Back to the room, for drinks and as much sleep as humanly possible. The next day there was a walking food tour of the Marais on tap.
Next Day. First full day in Paris.
Since we had a few hours before the tour we walked across the Seine to Notre Dame. You’ll see those photos later, but on the way I did have this for 2nd breakfast.
Latte and a croissant. This was the best croissant I had on the whole trip. Bought at a little patiserie on the street.
Quick rule of etiquette for Paris. Try not to “eat on the go.” You know, shoving shit in your gob while you walk. The locals don’t think it’s couthe. There are tables and chairs and benches everywhere. Take a breath, sit the fuck down and eat like a civilized human fucking being.
Time to head over for the food and walking tour.
It was about a three hour walking trip around primarily the old Jewish Quarter of Le Marais with many stops and many bites before all ending up for a wine and cheese party at the end.
This will be quick and furious with the photos.
Our first stop was, of course…
The guide grabbed a baguette to be used at the wine and cheese get together at the end of the tour. Everyone on the tour received, a croissant. Second of the day for me. I survived it just fine, thanks.
Next we stopped here.
We sampled a couple of different chocolates. A milk chocolate and a very dark chocolate both were good and you could tell the quality of the cacoa but? I’m not a chocolate guy, what can I say? Taj politely declined his two samples as well.
We also each got a chance to try their specialty which of course was…
A macaron.
These were very good. It had more chew than I expected but the outer shell was crispy and extremely delicate. This shop was supposed to be an award winner for their macarons.
Onward we go.
A real Jewish deli. Loved this neighborhood.
You could really feel the history and age of the city here.
Our food sample was?
A pastrami sandwich.
Sorry no photo.
The sandwich was small, with just enough pastrami, sliced very thin but what made it unique was it was served with fresh lettuce, tomato and 2 spreads. An eggplant spread and a red pepper mayo. Extremely unlike pastrami served in the U.S. It was delicious. I had no idea pastrami could take to unique flavors like that.
We continue.
I had written the name of this very restaurant down months before we took the trip. It was mentioned on several “Best of” lists across multiple websites.
We stopped for…French Onion Soup. No photo.
I liked their soup a little better than Sacre Frenchy’s. It had less cheese, gruyere instead of Emmentaler too and they used a housemade chicken stock instead of the usual beef stock.
This was also a welcoming stop.
After the soup we made another pastry shop stop.
Here.
For some “NOS PARFUMS DU MOMENT.”
I had the lemon cardamom. The pasty is made from fried phyllo dough that’s tightly wound, then topped with French cream and the little flavor dollop.
Best bite of the tour without question. Just a single mind-blowing bite of deliciousness.
I’ve got to find some of this shit in L.A. man! The owner/proprietors were Iranian and I know we have a lot of Iranian restaurants in the city. If I can find anything that’s similar and as delicious as this was? I’ll chime in.
All this walking around makes a person thirsty. What to do?
Find a “Wallace” fountain of course.
Per WallaceFountains.org:
“Wallace Fountains of Paris have been dispensing clean drinking water to residents and visitors for 150 years. The original fountains were a gift to the people of Paris from Sir Richard Wallace, an Englishman. These public drinking fountains have great historic, artistic, cultural and social significance. They also represent the best of public/private partnerships for the common good, as well as being one of the most beloved and iconic symbols of Paris.”
You’ll find the fountains throughout the city usually on the busiest streets in the busier areas. Our guide says that there are even some that are carbonated. Those Euros love their water “Con gas”.
These fountains provide chilled water to anyone and they help reduce waste because Paris doesn’t dig your shitty plastic bottles.
We’re going to break here for the day with still a lot more food to come.
In part two we’ll finish the food tour and also show what we consumed for the remainder of our Paris sojourn.
Until then…
Viva La France AND
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