Felice

That sounds like a New Yorker article about "David Karp, the 'Fruit Detective,' a sometime "provisioner" who finds rare fruits and rare varieties of common fruits for specialty stores." You can find the article online but to read the whole thing you need a subscription. John Seabrook, Our Far-Flung Correspondents, “The Fruit Detective,” The New Yorker, August 19, 2002, p. 70

I am surprised no one has mentioned Jean-Yves Bordier's ubiquitous butter. Probably because he doesn’t need any more publicity. His butter is served at most of the best restaurants in Paris and you can find it at some cheese shops as well. If you Google it you will find a wealth of information in both French and English. I do think it is very good, however I wish they would give other producers a chance, as Ptipois points out, there are many wonderful butters in France. I love the butter I buy at my market but can't remember the name and unfortunately I am out. We had a butter tasting some time ago and the results can be found here

Actually as Fresh_A mentionned, we have discussed "bistronomiques", néo bistros, and gastro bistros in many different threads, it's just that they are not all in one place and weave into several topics. I did a quick search and found the following where we discussed the difference between traditional bistros and néo or gastro bistros. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=37806&hl= If you scroll down a bit in this thread, you will find favourites in each http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=107995&st=50 To my knowledge, the first mention of Bistronomique, as Ptipois pointed out above, was by Sébastien Demorand for the Fooding awards in 2004, with the Meilleur Bistronomique going to Mon Vieil Ami.

Just wanted to add that Dave is right, in France, if you have a student visa it usually allows you to work legally for 20 hours a week. I say usually because this is not a blanket rule for all schools and depending on where and what you are studying it can change. Also in France there is an exchange program with the US for those under 35 (I think that is the cut off age) that will help you get your visa to work for 18 months once you have a job lined up, but I believe you need to have a university degree. If this sounds interesting you can PM me for more details. I looked into this a few years ago and I assume it is still around.

Thanks for the article Linda! This year's Grand Fooding d'Eté in France kicks off this Sunday in Paris (well the Parc de Saint Cloud, just outside) with a menu "barbecunomique" by Mauro Colagreco of le Mirazur, Christophe Pelé of La Bigarrade, Guillaume Delage of Jadis, Brudo Doucet of La Régalade, Lamdaun Chinnasri of Lao lanexang, Cyril Lignac of Le Chardenoux and Federica and Fabrizio Mancioppi of Caffè dei Cioppi and a wine atelier by Bertrand Bluy. The entire menu can be found on their site. As always, it looks like a great event. I plan to go and will post about it after. www.lefooding.com/evenements/grand-fooding-d-ete

I will second these. La Table d'Eugene was outstanding and worth a trip, so I would recommend it without hesitation.

Actually I agree with all of the advice above. I always make reservations but hardly ever do in advance and most often wait until the very last minute. Unfortunately, that strategy has left me calling my 2nd and 3rd choices on more than one occassion (the most recent was a Saturday night not long ago around 18h00 and I ended up only being able to get a table at 19h15 or something like that after calling several places). As Julot said, it really depends on the restaurant and the night.

Next time, have a friend order a coke first and see what she says. But honestly I don't think she was making any judgements. I often have people ask if I want diet as well when I order a "coke", and I never thought they were making a judgement of any kind. I just assume that everyone orders diet now and that they want to be sure that I really want regular.

Hi Diann, I think your plan sounds like a good one. I definitely would recommend reservations in most restaurants, some you will only need to reserve a few days in advance, others (like Arpege) should be reserved weeks in advance. You can try to book the same day, but in my experience, you may have trouble getting in to the best places if you reserve last minute ,so it is better to reserve a few days earlier when possible. Lunch I assume should be a little easier than dinner on a Friday or Saturday night.

I read the article, which seems to be just a silly repeat of similar articles talking about how the « crise » has affected the restaurant business, with depressed Parisians opting for bargain prices and buying nearly expired food at rock bottom prices. Nothing profound, nor very interesting. I have to say, luckily I don’t recognize the Paris he writes about. My Sunday market, where I do most of my shopping, is still packed and I need to go early if I want to beat the long lines at my favorite stand whose prices are pretty steep but products impeccable, with homemade butter, fresh eggs, and some of the best pork chops that can be had. The restaurants I have been to don’t seem to be suffering either, with tables in some of my favorite places hard to get. And my friends don’t seem any more depressed than usual, and I don’t hear much talk about the crise. So, please don’t think the author is describing France as it is, in my opinion, they were just trying to sell a story, and a bad one at that.

Merci encore FreshA. Is there any hint of his cooking from Aida? From what you've written it looks more traditional French.

FreshA was of course right Three hearts today.

If it is the one I have written in my little black book of places to try, then it's the one in the 13th, on 58, r. du Javelot. I wonder though, if this is going to be one of these places that you are thrilled to go to if you live here, but not so much if you are here only from time to time.

How about Le Bar des Roses for cocktails, seems like it is getting a lot of attention.

I can't vouch for the cocktails but I wouldn't go to the Baxto for the food. It reminded me of trendy American cuisine from the 90s with wasabi mashed potatoes and balsamic glaze. Might be nice to sit and have a cocktail in the summer though, although the "terrace" is only 4-5 tables over looking the street, however it is a quiet street and overlooks a little park.