Felice

This year's Fooding® awards in Paris include: (from their website) Fooding® 2007 du meilleur bobo-vino (Best Bobo wine bar) IL VINO Fooding® 2007 du meilleur décor (Best Decor) CHEZ JEANNETTE Fooding® 2007 du meilleur home cinema (Best Home Cinema) LE SALON CINEMA DU PANTHEON Fooding® 2007 du meilleur 1 Pièce Cuisine (Best One Room Kitchen) SPRING Fooding® 2007 du meilleur bistrot (Best Bistro) LE GRAND PAN Fooding® 2007 de la meilleure cave à manger (Best wine shop/restaurant) RACINES

Wow, Ajgnet that is outrageous really. Obviously there was a misunderstanding of some sorts since you showed up and the Maitre d should have realised this. Did he say he left a message? I can't believe he said the restaurant was booked "pour toujours".

The gallery Fraîche Attitude in the 10th arrondissement is set to open Food a " foodothèque' or library of information dedicated to cusine with a selection of works in both French and English by Claude Deloffre. Fraîche Attitude 60 rue du Fg Poissonnière 75010 Paris www.fraichattitude.fr

26 November-3 December This year's "Semaine de la Fooding" starts tomorrow and like last year, there isn't one event, but a series of events going on around the city. There is a bit of everything, from an espresso bar in the 9th, a night for two with room service in a Parisian hotel, dinner chez Patrick Samot of La Famille, or dinner in the kitchen of some of Paris best restaurants (the Ritz, Violin d'Ingres, Flora, Gazetta, La Regalade, etc), a hidden Cognac bar, to a seat aboard a wine bus accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture. Sounds fun, but the truc is to secure a place, which will not be easy. To try your luck, head to their website www.lefooding.com The Fooding guide has also just been released and is available in newstands now. I have to say this is definitely one of my favorite guides. Photo: Iris de Moüy

I stopped by for a very late lunch on Friday and was seating right away (it was already 14h30). I realised that I had not been for lunch in nearly a year and things have certainly changed. The prices have all been raised by a few euros and the plats which were 13-14€ when they first opened are now 17-20€. The other notable difference was the service. In past visits, one or two harried waiters/waitresses handled the whole dining room whereas now there were at least 5 waiters. Customers were definitely international. My beef cheeks served over macaronni with black trumpet mushrooms were delicious, with a rich red wine sauce with hint of garlic and lemon zest. However, I agree that there are many other restaurants serving equally good food, without the international fame.

I had a nice experience at Vingt 2 as well and if I lived in the area would certainly go back. A friend and I shared two sablés which we liked very much, although I can't remember what they were topped with. I then had the day's special, grilled bar, simply prepared. It seems like the kind of place to stop in for something light with a glass of wine or where you can have something a bit more substantial if you'd like and the prices are very reasonable, I think my bar was 11€. It's a young, fun, hip neighborhood place and not a reastaurant that you would seek out while visiting.

I have talked with two very knowledgable wine people in Paris, both who own respected wine bars and both were very much in favor of plastic corks and screw tops.

I saw whole frozen cranberries at Picard this morning, however they were not with the other fruit but in the meat section for some reason.

Hunters and game lovers take note, the Paris Country Show or the Salon de la Chasse runs concurrently with the Salon d'Agriculture this year at the Porte de Versailles beginning the 28 of February. The Salon d'Agriculture runs from the 23 February until 3 March. www.countryshow.com

A very interesting documentary on Arte this week called La Guerre du Camembert and Lactalis's efforts to change the AOC to include non-raw milk cheese. For now, happily they have not succeeded. I was shocked to learn that there are only 5 small producers of Camembert left and that Lactalis has bought most of the raw milk producers. You can watch it here for now http://plus7.arte.tv/fr/detailPage/1697660...Id=1728420.html I think I'm going to go buy a nice raw milk Camembert for dinner!

Maybe I'm not as discerning, but I've had several meals at le Comptoir and loved all of them, from my first dinner with John probably on day two or three to subsequent dinners later and several lunches. For lunch I have never had to wait more than a few minutes to get in and have been fairly lucky at dinner too. However that was when it first opened so I'm sure if I had to wait 6 months, I might wonder what all the fuss was about. I decided to take a chance last Friday since I was in the area and stopped into the hotel, waited to speak to the very busy receptionist and was very nicely told that they were completely booked as expected. Tant pis. I agree with Fresh A that the hotel receptionist is probably called 1000 times a day and must turn away 98% of those who call, so it must be tiring. In the US they would have a reservationist who only handled reservations, but this is not the case in a small hotel in France. I'm sure they reserve most tables for hotel quests, which is normal, save a few for regulars, friends, etc and then have a very small number of tables left for reservations. Like Pti, I think they would be better off not taking reservations at all, except for hotel guests. It's a great restaurant but certainly not worth jumping through hoops to get a table. There are many restaurants that are equally good in Paris that don't involve reserving months in advance.

Retour sur Les aventuriers du pain perdu There was a very good report on Envoyé Special this past Thursday, 15 Nov on bread with Frédéric Lalos, a meilleur ouvrier de France, Eric Kayser, and Steven Kaplan, the American bread historian who you will see speaks pretty perfect French. For now you can see it on the Internet Enjoy! http://envoye-special.france2.fr/emissions/36249420-fr.php (scroll down to the bottom)

Just to note that the sommelier of Les Ambassadeurs, was just named 'meilleur jeune sommelier de France'.

What night did you try? They only serve the menu gastronomique Monday-Friday, so if you went on the weekend that would explain it.

It is very unfortunate for wine makers in Beaujolais who are making serious wines and whose reputation has been ruined by Beaujolais Nouveau. People now equate the words Beaujolais with Beaujolais Nouveux and forget that there are some delicious wines from some of the crus like Morgon, Juliénas, Fleurie, etc.

According to the article Sarkozy Whirling into Washington , in today's New York Times, three-star chef Guy Savoy is part of the French President's entourage.

I am 100% for photos and always think they contribute something to the post, so please, if you have them, I would love to see photos and am very much looking forward to your report.

I wanted to add the average monthly waiter salary for 2007 as given by Hotellerie Restauration Barman 1526 Waiter 1564 Maitre d'hotel 1897 Dining room manager 2023 Restaurant manager 3263 Average montly salary for all positions in a Paris restaurant €1824. These figures are all pre-tax and pre-social security, so the take-home pay would be several hundered less. So, as you can see, a few euros for good service is probably appreciated by someone only taking home 300€ a week. *Edited to add that these are monthly salaries

The newspaper L'Hotellerie Restauration has a supplement on salaries this week and lists the following for average monthly salary for kitchen staff in France. (These figures are before social security and other charges are taken out, which can be several hundred euros) Chef de Rang: 1969€ Cuisinier: 1849€ Chef de Cuisine 2500€ The average salary for all positions combined in Paris is €1825 *Edited to add that these are monthly salaries

I think your original plan is a good one, especially because in addition to great food you will get to see two of the loveliest neighborhoods in Paris, plus walk along the Seine. I have nothing against the 16th but having lived in both areas (near Porte Maillot for one year and in the 6th near the Pont des Arts for three) your first itinerary in the 5th and 6th would be my choice without hesitation. And I would not be surprised if Da Rosa had foie gras, they have amazing unusual products and certainly have foie gras on thier menu. Although I doubt it is canned. There is a place on the Ile Saint Louis which only sells foie gras, in jars. It's not far, so you might have time. On rue Dauphine, not far from Da Rosa, there are two charcuteries, Charles (10 rue Dauphine) and Coesnon (30 rue Dauphine), they might cary some as well. Although I tend to think it won't be canned. Da Rosa does have a website but it does not list all of their products.www.restaurant-da-rosa.com/restaurant-menu.php

Nope, you can even find American brand peanut butter here (not sure that's a good thing though ). I know I've seen Jiff or Skippy in my market.

Merci Julot, I have been to Desnoyer but have not been to Nivernaises, so will have to try it. I recently saw a show which featured Desnoyer and followed his beef from the cattle farms to the slaughter house and then on to some of Paris's best restaurants. Do you know if most cows in France are still grass fed in pastures or are they mass produced in feeding farms as they often are in the US? It would be interesting to know exactly what the Label Rouge signifies for beef.

Felice, Thank for sharing and for the tip. My question is that if I read this book will I ever eat again? Or, will I turn vegan? Or will I simply give up on food entirely and go onto a 100% wine diet? ← No, don't worry, you won't want to give up eating at all, you just might be more inclined to buy local, unprocessed foods, which I am sure you do for the most part. I always try to support local farmers and producers, but reading this gave me an understanding of why it is so important and makes me feel less guilty about spending more money than I feel I have on food.

I thought of Dave Hatfield and his quest for getting great beef in France while reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan. I was also surprised that the steaks here in France were often a lot tougher than those I remembered in the US and like Dave was often disappointed. Why was French beef so differenent? After reading part one of Pollan's book, which was a facinating—and sometimes horrifiying—look at how the majority of US cattlle are raised, it made me reexamine French beef which I assume are mostly grass fed as opposed to corn fed, which seems to be the US standard. I suppose you might wonder what is wrong with corn, but if you were to read Pollan's book, you would probably think differently. My grass-fed steak I bought at the market- this weekend tasted all the better with a little bit of knowledge about what went into it. If you haven't read The Omnivore's Dilema, I highly recommend it. It's a wonderful, very indepth look at where our food comes from which will certainly change the way I shop.

La Semaine du Goût 15-21 October The Semaine du Goût starts this week, with countless food-related activities throughout France. You can visit their website for a list of all activites, including a list of restaurants offering special menus—with much lower prices-- including Arpege, August, Drouant, and the Ritz amongst others. www.legout.com