Louisa Chu

I'm loving these toaster bag things! I had that same toaster by the way - used it in our hotel room during a long ski trip - had I only had toaster bags! With no stove here in Paris those bags could change my life - my own homemade croque monsieurs, reheated jambon fromage crepes - who needs the ADPA Molteni?! And yeah, southwestern French cafes usually have toasters on every table - love that. And count me in as someone who likes their toast bien cuit.

Jon - is the customer always right? Um - no. The toilet escort thing - is it hard to find the toilets at CT's? I seriously ask because I've been in some restos where you practically need a GPS to get there and back. As for working your way up to a place like Trotter's? Hell no! If you're interested - and you - or your parents or your sugar daddy - can afford it - then go. You may or may not like it - you really never know until you try it yourself. But then have the balls to accept the fact that it was your choice. I don't think anyone ever said CT's was a joint - it sounded like it pretty much was what it is. Adam, I loved the pic of the bison! The plate - a little big?!

Freckels, welcome to eGullet and Paris. Thanks Busboy for your confidence! In Paris I took the wine course at Cordon Bleu. It's taught by Jean-Michel Deluc - who's known as a wine prodigy in the business - and as Le Nez - The Nose. As a bonus we also had available an amazing selection of cheeses and pain Poilane to have after class - so it's really more a wine and cheese course. There's a short Food and Wine Pairing class coming up this month - it's a good sampler of the full-blown three-part course. And our unofficial off-campus cantine was Couleurs de Vigne - right around the corner from Cordon Bleu. It's a fairly new, beautiful little wine cafe/shop. The owner's a retired banker who decided to bring some of his country house life to the city. He's so cool - always totally patient with our rowdy crowds. Some links: Le Cordon Bleu Paris Chateau Online - Jean-Michel's site Couleurs de Vigne 2 rue Marmontel Paris - 15th - Metro Vaugirard or Convention 01 45 33 32 96

Le Tour Montlehry is better known at Chez Denise - and it's one of the last survivors of the authentic Les Halles bistros. Reserve now if you're even thinking about eating there - anytime. They might be open 24/7 but they book up in fall/winter - especially around the holidays. Be aware that's it smoky, noisy, crowded - and the kind of place you can get a real whole tete de veau.

Cordon Bleu does not do it. I work with a few people who went to Ferrandi - I'll ask them about theirs. It's kind of a problem in Paris actually - teaching restaurants - because of lack of space - that and students just stage and apprentice.

We're open at ADPA but expect that most restaurants will be closed - especially the small ones.

saintfan, you're so welcome - and I won't forget about the 7th recs. Got the Bateaux Parisien Reveillon/New Year's Eve dinner menu today - prices range from 290E to 390E - depending on your seating. Jules Verne - in the Tower - has a special dinner too - at both you need to pay ahead. And please don't torture me with talk of toasted ravioli!

admajoremgloriam, did you see if they kept the swings at the bar?

Jamie - atypical! I probably walked right by you that night - it's on the regular dog walk route! Busboy - you are too funny. But yeah, the French holy trinity - bread, cheese, wine. And yes, the traiteurs are great - but for seriously low budget don't forget that you can get a sandwich at just about any bar for just a few bucks - cheaper standing rather than sitting. marcus, I'm biased towards Marie-Anne Cantin for at least a few reasons - one, she's right around the corner from my home, so I'm much more familiar and intimate with them, and them with me and my tastes; two, they store/serve their cheeses at more correct temps - and display them stunningly, beautifully so; and three, they supply our cheeses at ADPA. I've had the Vacherin Mont d'Or from both and I've found them both perfectly good - but they usually have more of a choice of ripeness - in all cheeses really - at Marie-Anne Cantin. What's been the differences in your experiences and how do you compare them?

jackal, would love to join you for dinner but I work both those nights - but at least I can recommend what you should have at ADPA! What's current for us there is the white truffles - giant scallops, bleu lobster, and Bresse Chicken - I've tasted them all and they're all amazing. And everyone wants to try Robuchon - I'm not a fan - but if you do, you can reserve for dinner as a hotel non-guest at 18:30 only. And yeah, I like the Bercy area - very cool, lots of history - the old white wine warehouses - but you're close to everything central too. Bon voyage.

saintfan, you definitely need to reserve ahead for a river cruise - dinner or not. I recommend Bateaux Parisiens - nicest boats - no comment on the food. Email or call but I was just over at their port this morning and they have no idea yet - just keep trying - typical with the French. No fireworks at the Tower on NYE - they only did it for 2000 - but it should be pretty sweet at midnight with the new lights - so much nicer than the old ones - much more twinkly - every top of the hour for 10 minutes - from sunset to 2AM. I've got a few more restos to add to my 7th arrondisement list - will post them before the holidays. Hey, at least you've got gooey butter coffee cake - love that stuff.

Halloween's weird here in Paris - kids get dressed up for school parties weeks ahead - then night of - last night - it's mostly guys out drinking - no trick-or-treating really anywhere. At the Plaza Athenee we did the cutest candies for guests - little cello sacks of white chocolate ghosts, dark chocolate mendiants in witch face molds, etc. - and had Brochettes de Halloween at the Personnel Restaurant - very scary indeed. Toussaint - All Saints' Day - is a quiet, Catholic, family-oriented holiday. Most businesses are closed - and it's celebrated the way most holidays are celebrated here in France - with family, friends, and food.

Most businesses will be closed on November 11th - especially the little restos - we at ADPA unfortunately will not. I just gotta say I get heartburn when I hear about visitors' dining itineraries - bonne chance!

mareuil, I live in one of the most upscale neighborhoods in Paris?! It is pretty swell. Lots of inexpensive hotels in my area - the 7th - one of my favourites in Hotel du Champ de Mars. Nice, warm, Provencal-ish decor, nice staff, right off Rue Cler, almost directly across the street from Marie-Anne Cantin - one of the best and my personal favourite fromagere in the world. Right near Metro Ecole Militaire and two great bus lines - 80 and 92. byrdhouse, I dream about getting back to rural northern California sometime soon - diving for abalone specifically - try the hotel above. And 30 Euros and under for a good meal? Easy - there are a ton of them in Paris - I've got a long list for the 7th alone. Busboy, the happy faced Michelins are called Bibb Gourmands - and yeah, P'tit Troquet's cool - very snug and lots of locals. jeff, no bistros going to throw you out for jeans - and dressy restos just won't let you in. Really it just depends - just ask. If you just want a place to stay in your budget in the 15th there's always the Ibis on Cambronne - no charm but clean and functional. No place I'd recommend in the 8th - either way out of the budget or no bang for your buck. Bon voyage to all!

Can you see ADPA?!

Oh no, there's always one boulangerie in a few block radius that stays open - Sundays, holidays - mine across the street was open Boxing Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. It's actually a law - at least one boulangerie, one pharmacie stays open in every area. The French - slackers they may be - consider meds and bread vital to life. And you such a romantic!

Very good meal - on New Year's Eve - ADPA - menu for 680 Euros.

Pan, yes, it's confusing. All the cuisine is gastro cuisine at ADPA - there are just different restaurants/foodservice at the Plaza. And we talk about cuisine as being savoury versus patisserie which is sweets. Here's the breakdown of the kitchens at the Plaza Athenee Hotel. ADPA - in-house we're just called "Gastro" - includes one big cuisine/savoury kitchen as well as a small patisserie/pastry kitchen/room on one side. All the breads are done downstairs by one guy - my bud Jerome - in Centrale - the central boulangerie/patisserie - more on that later. Le Relais Plaza - also a Ducasse restaurant - technically it's all AD foodservice all the time at the PA. They have their own savoury kitchen but all their breads and desserts are done in Centrale. The Relais has their own dining room but they also do all the room service - and at the PA we like to talk about how room service is not just meals sent up to your room but that each room is like a private dining room of the Relais - and technically of Alain Ducasse. It's at the Relais where he's doing the Fou de France promotion - where he's inviting young guest chefs for 2 weeks stints at a time to promote French cuisine. Le Cour Jardin - the courtyard garden restaurant open only in the summer. They have their own savoury kitchen but all the desserts/breads done once again in Centrale. The Sandwicherie - they do all the food service for the bar and the savouries for tea. All tea sweets done in Centrale. They have a tiny pastry room for Cour Jardin dessert plating. Centrale - downstairs - patisserie in front, boulangerie in back. Everything from some gastro work is done down there by the gastro pastry chef, to daily petit fours/tarts/desserts for the Relais/tea/banquets/the Cour Jardin when it's open. The Centrale pastry chef - who's considered the pastry chef for the Plaza Athenee in general - is a sugar and chocolate freak - he does these amazing five-foot high, spiraling, spinning, mesmerizing sculptures - sometimes just as a stand for a single cake. For VIP clients of course, but it's crazy. And finally there's the Personnel Restaurant kitchen - they do all their own savouries but dessert is usually leftovers from Centrale the one service before.

Sean, sorry, but there's no lack of staff in France! The school's are cranking them out - so much so that it's almost impossible for an American to legally work in France. You worked for Veyrat? That's so cool! What did you do? Can't wait to see his stuff someday - and what he's going to be like in Paris. And you got shithole accomodations? Lucky.

Caviarsation - one of the things I do. And it's langoustines - not ecrivisses - the latter's for one of the amuse-bouche - that's how tired I've been. Pan, thanks. Psychotically heavy-duty - and yeah, learning more than I ever believed was humanly possible. No, not for the uncoordinated - I pretty confident now that if the fate of civilisation depended on me stringing a line of caviar on to dental floss with great speed and explosions around my head, rest assured that I can do it. Staff meals - every day, twice a day on Thursdays and Fridays, our only lunch service days - in the personnel restaurant. On first appearance like a typical cafeteria - but then you realize you're in France when you see the cheese platter - the most amazing aged Gruyere last week. Today I had a veal brochette for lunch and I forget which fish - firm white-fleshed - with an herb vinaigrette for dinner - too out of it to remember. We had all you can drink wine but it seems to be gone now. Mornings, free continental breakfast - pain au chocolat and cafe au lait, etc. at will. Remember the movie The Game? It's like that when you walk into the dining room - we're all in costume. Funny thing is that the patisserie people all really stick together - whereas the cuisine people - especially gastro cuisine - are all over the place. Moby, gastro cuisine - arguably for the people who least deserve it! It's the savoury side of ADPA - where the big boys play. And it is mostly boys - only one female cook. And then there's me - apparently I'm the first female stagiaire ever at ADPA - as if I needed more pressure. edm, I'm sure I've passed it - I used to live not far from there. I know the sandwich place coming from Jussieu but away from Le Jardin des Plantes - towards Maison Kayser - the best French paninis - is that the place you're thinking of? And yeah, love the mint tea thing at the mosque - but no dogs allowed!

As of this week, I'm staging in gastro cuisine. Two months in boulangerie/patisserie - done - just like that. The pressure in gastro cuisine is sick - but I like it. The first day, one of my first jobs was - sure enough - leafing parsley - but psychotically detailed and at lightning speed - everything we do is like a Japanese tea ceremony on crack. But then for the next job - still first day - they hand me a platter of ecrivisses and a tub o' caviar. With two ordinary kitchen knives I'm expected to magically form perfect bars of caviar on the ecrivisses - adding three eggs here, four eggs there. I'm now fairly certain that I can now be one of those people who work with molecules under electron microscopes. During service I primarily do one of the amuse-bouche - served in a martini glass, it's a tablespoonful of foie gras mousse, topped with a langoustine tail lightly coated in langoustine reduction, finished with foie gras foam, and garnished with three perfect tiny chervil leaves. Must sleep now - will write more later.

edm, I'm sorry but personal insults are completely acceptable - in this context. But again, it depends on who it's coming from. If it's your executive chef - you keep your mouth shut and take it - everyone does - even the sous-chefs. But if it's your sous-chefs on down, you can talk back to some degree. Oh man, you just have to know your kitchen! And at the three-star level, they have people around the world begging to be stagiaires - they might like certain stagiaires, but they don't need them necessarily, and they certainly don't need a troublemaking stagiaire. If one cannot work without upsetting the flow of the kitchen - like most jobs - you're outta there. Service is no time to be making a social statement.

Hi Pan, yep, they shoved me around too - being an American girl and all. Definitely not as much were I a guy, but yes. Especially since I started in pastry and pastry kitchens tend to be smaller - you get a lot of people rushing around, working elbow to elbow, fridge doors and cabinets at everyone's knee-level and there's bound to be some - even polite - pushing aside. What's crossing the line for me is any kind of deliberate physical contact that can't even be remotely masked as par for the course in working in a close environment. Yeah, in these kitchens, there's a constant hazing culture - especially for Americans whom are considered soft and spoiled - but most harsh amongst the French themselves. It's acceptable to be pushed around because it's a very physical, close-quartered environment. Uh, no - not nearly as bad as those high school kids! What the hell?! And it's not quite physical attacks - that's the problem, the grey area. But let me make clear that outright physical attacks do not need to be tolerated - you leave the situation and go to the next in command - on up the line as needed - take it to the training director if necessary - but in the kitchen - if you want to be part of this game - you try to keep it in the kitchen. oscubic, the personal stuff - you just have to ignore that. The physical - you literally need a thick skin - but like I said, you have recourse. And I forgot to ask - who's doing the shoving? If it's other stagiaires, no way do you take it at all - shove back now. Apprentices too. Commis - yeah, but more discretely. Anyone else higher up, you just have to take it - unless like I said it's an outright attack - then take it up with your sous-chef first.

Welcome to the world of three-star kitchens. What do I think? You should know what I think - get back there. You've been there - what - two weeks now? And you're there for three months? Piece o' cake. Here's the game - you take what they give you for a month - yes, sir, may I please have another. And then after that you fight back - after one full month you've earned the right. After a month, if someone pushes you, you push back and shout "Attention!" Lines crossed? Oh they're not even close yet - this is France. Good luck - watch your back.

How did I miss this thread the first time around? PCL, welcome to eGullet - and what is it about us - the Chinese diaspora - and gluttony? Jon? I have to admit that I used to buy my cassoulet here in Paris - in cans at the grocery store no less - and it's pretty damned good. But yeah, having made my own - it's hard to go back. The depth of flavour of homemade cassoulet - pure alchemy. For hardcore cassoulet fans there's a brotherhoood of the Castelnaudry cassoulet - there are crazy food cults all over France, God love 'em - that holds an annual festival - gluttony required of course - robes and chanting optional.