Margaret Pilgrim

Mark, do you suppose that the reason you lie awake at night is because of those pulled pork sandwiches? Seriously, they sound fabulous. Kind of a Cuban torta on rye.

Robert, we consider these little vignettes of French life "food for the soul", like the hand laundry on rue Perronet just off Saints Peres where an ancient woman irons fragile (and expensive!) cotton blouses with a "sad iron": still not using electricity one block north of blvd. St. Germain!

Ah ha! You caught it! :cheesy:

Several years ago we read about these informal get-togethers that take place every few months in a public or semi-public place in Paris (e.g., Les Halles garden, Gallerie Vivienne, Pont des Arts). Several hundred people of all ages and backgrounds gather to sing classic chansons francaise from communal songbooks accompanied by an accordianist. There is a truly "awesome" atmosphere of goodwill and conviviality. Strangers will notice that you aren't singing, and move over so that you can share their songbook. Some bring wine or snacks for a communal table. We have dropped by two of these gatherings after dinner, and have always left with a smile, feeling very French although we have butchered every song. You can stay for a song or for the next few hours. Next gatherings are in early February and late March. For information, check out their website: http://mapage.noos.fr/bachiquesbouzouks/

We spend some 40 - 45 days away from home in the US each year. Because of the nature of our travel, we usually find ourselves in small towns whose downtowns have given way to malls and chains. We have visited most of these places for over 10 years, so have had lots of opportunity to check out what may be a discovery. There have been few. Advise from locals can sometimes be even more hair-raising than bumbling around on our own. Restaurant listings for these places are just about non-existent, and top rated places still serve what we wouldn't accept at home. Enter Applebee's. Do not make the mistake that we recommend this chain. But when your plane gets in at 8pm and you have to get up at 4am, and you see their lighted logo, they become a viable option. You MUST order simply in these places. My husband makes the mistake of believing the menu, and gets some truly gruesome plates. But if you stick to something like a steak salad (lightly dressed romaine, about 6 oz.sirloin cooked to your specification...if you can get it across that your really mean rare...several tomato and torpedo onion slices, and showered with some adequate blue cheese that I think they actually call Rochefort) you will have a reliable if predictable meal. We would never patronize this type of restaurant at home, nor would we need to. Nor would we go to one when we are in a locale with food options: e.g., Boston, mid-coast Maine, Portsmouth NH, Lambertville NJ. But in the hinterland, Applebee's rules. :)

NewYorkTexan said: In simplest and broadest terms, the difference lies in the management........are they cooks or business people. I have a relative who owns 60 BurgerKings and a handful of Chili's. He considers himself in the real estate business!

The short answer? Yes. It's my sense that the majority of writing has pertained to high profile and multi-starred dining rooms. And that while posts on lesser known (inexpensive to moderate) restaurants receive only passing comment from other posters, the numbers count, i.e., times read, indicates that lurkers make these among the most read posts. Once again concerning your recommendation of the Hamburgers' book, I don't have a copy to refer to, but as I remember my fast perusal brought up such good names as Le Repaire de Cartouche, Le Troquet, Le Bamboche, old workhorse Astier, Dame Jeanne, L'Affriole, Clos des Gourmets, Le Pamphlet and other names that have been in the forefront of Paris food news, but below Michelin radar. What I like most about this book is the way in which the Hamburgers describe so precisely and succinctly both ambience and food of each restaurant. They take the (negative) surprise but not the delight out of dining out. (Edited by Margaret Pilgrim at 11:29 am on Jan. 10, 2002)

There is an annual fair celebrating the Veritable Jambon de Bayonne every year on the three days preceeding Easter, this year the 27th through 29th of March. On exhibit and for sale are the products of dozens of certified ham makers, charcutiers, confits of all kinds, wild game, as well as stalls selling the region's famous Espelette pepper. Bayonne is roughly a 5 hour train ride from Paris, and a hub from which to visit a handful of charming inland villages as well as the attractions of the coastal villages to the south. For more information on the area, the event and the Bayonne ham, see "Take 5000 Eggs" by Paul Strang (Kyle Cathie Limited), and "The Basque Kitchen" by Gerald Hirigoyen (Harper Collins).

Robert, can you mean Intentionist Fallacy, or am I about to learn a new concept?

Scott, the glossary in the back of Patricia Well's Food Lover's Guide to Paris, which you should read anyway, has one of the most comprehensive lists I have seen. If you can't figure out a menu from this guide, you will need the help of the waiter anyway.

Not necessarily. It pointed us to Le Villaret, which was one of our favorites for several years, no ketchup needed there, and to La Regalade, where over the course of our visits we have had to leave portions of more than a few dishes because of their injudicious use of salt. :o

I'm afraid, JPB, that few of the posters to this forum will identify with the Hamburger's book, but I am equally certain that a majority of the readers will. I used the original edition with great success. The writers are on point nearly 100% of the time, and their descriptions of dining rooms give prospective diners all they need to know before choosing and booking. I used this book in conjuction with Patricia Wells' Food Lover's Guide to Paris, and found them in agreement almost all of the time. The advantage of the Hamburgers' book is that it lists many, many more restaurants in the bistro genre. I glanced over this latest edition in the bookstore, and was pleased to note that they had "found" all of the good addresses that we had added since their previous publishing. Now I know that they are on the right track! ;) Thanks for bringing this excellent book to the attention of this forum.

The way professionals (dealers in antique and retro copper, enamel, etc. cookware) remove burnt on grease is oven cleaner. You CANNOT use it on aluminum or bare cast iron, but it is the method least abrasive to a polished stainless, copper or enamelled pan. It is essential that you follow the instruction on the can to the letter, both in regards to ventilation, gloves, etc, and regarding the surfaces on which it can be used. I have used it on le Creuset, Desco, allclad, hammered copper, antique "graniteware" enamel bakeware with glowing results.

Is Sam calling during Regalade's business hours? Small restaurants do not have staff to take reservations during non-business hours like the bigger houses do. I have found that if I call before 6pm, I will undoubtedly be answered by a kitchen worker or janitor, if at all. Also, remember the simple option of having your hotel make the reservation for you. Depending on the time required to get a reservation, 3 to 6 weeks usually, I fax my hotel a list of restaurants we want to visit and a timeframe for them. They fax back a confirmed list, usually the next day.

You have received good advice in both of the previous replies. I would add that you are much more likely to be overwhelmed with starches in Italy than in France. While, as Bux said, some plates will feature a potato accompaniment, I have been served many with a vegetable or herb salad type of complement. Also, I have noticed that since the mad cow scare of a year ago, most menues feature many more fish choices than in the past. I would also suggest that in addition to guaranteeing yourselves a table, eating a bit earlier than the natives will provide you with the waiter's full attention, since you voice a little concern with deciphering the menu. Repeating what Bux said, you will probably find more delight in the unfamiliar than if you stick to what you think is safe. If you have a copy around, you can do worse than sit and read through Julia Childs or similar cookbooks written to acquaint the American cook with French food. At a minimum, it can make you familiar with dishes you might not want to order. :) Prepare to enjoy!

Non-stick pan isn't necessary at all. Plenty of butter is.

Rather than describe what I was looking for in a “restaurant with rooms”, perhaps I should describe one that we enjoyed in Bath, England in the early ‘80s. The chef was a pioneer in the new English food, at about the same time as Clarke in London. The place was improbably named “The Hole in the Wall” and because of the young chef’s passion and creativity, quickly became a destination restaurant. Both restaurant and the several rooms upstairs had been meticulously designed, carved out of and installed in a Gerogian building on Charles Street. Every surface and installation reflected the quality and craftsmanship maintained in the kitchen. There wasn’t a hint of the glitzy or pretentious. The bedrooms were light, spacious, very comfortable and beautifully decorated. There was a stunning breakfast room where breakfasts were prepared to order. As I remember, the rooms were a bargain at around 贶-175 a night in 2001 $$$. In short: 1) a destination dining room; 2) adjacent accommodation so that one could park once, rest and refresh before dinner, enjoy a meal with worry about driving afterward,be able to retreat after dinner to a comfortably equiped room that reflected the quality of the dining experience. What I would not need or expect would be a concierge, turn-down service, a 24hour desk, room service with the exception of breakfast, fitness club or public spaces. One might well ask, "Why not just go to an inn? Very simply, because, done right the simpler r-w-r offers a more intimate retreat and a feeling of closer identification with the chef-owner. I know that many starred dining rooms in the countryside are destination inns as well, but had hoped that within this forum someone might have experience with places that were less well known, insider’s secrets so to speak. Bux’s recommendation earlier this year of the Bistro d’Eygalieres would have been perfect had it come sooner and had we not already had long standing reservations which caused us to visit at lunch instead of dinner.

Reereenforcing Bux's recommendation of AGiT as well as his warning regarding the coming changes in artisan foods in Europe, particularly in France, we had a long conversation with the manager of the Androuet shop in our quartier. He said without hesitation that they fully expect eventual, sooner rather than later, compliance with the new regulations, and therefore the dumbing down of most production. When I raged at the concept, he shrugged and said, "It's been that way in America for decades! Why should France be any different?" I, of course, told him, "Because France IS different!" AGiT tells us that one of the major reasons there has been so little resistance from the small French producer is that much of this product is manufactured and sold "without benefit of clergy" or off the books, however you want to phrase it. So it is rather difficult for these extralegal producers to rebel about new regulations in an industry in which they are supposedly not participating.

Because France is the only European country with which I identify and whose currency is as familiar to me as our own. It is the only country where I am completely comfortable with pricing of goods and services. In other words, it is the one country other than my own where I feel that I have substantial equity. Again, I somehow think that my original post is being misread. It was written as a whimsy, and is coming across as simply fatuous.

I wonder if I am the only person who laments, no, mourns the passing of the franc. While intellectually I can tell you within pennies what my purchase would be in US dollars, to be honest, in most instances I just don't bother. I am used to what most things cost in francs, but not in dollars or, until this last year or so, in euros. I can relate to a 350FF dinner, a 250FF bunch of flowers, a 250FF bottle of wine, but I haven't a clue what a ฿.30 dinner, or a ั.33 bouquet or bottle of wine looks or tastes like. Adding to the emotional disturbance is the fact that they are taking away one of the enjoyable mystiques of travel. I am delighted with a 24FF or 30FF macaroon, but I'm going to be far less enthusiastic about a ū.24 or Ŭ.05 "cookie"! I really don't WANT to have prices posted in a currency that is so close to the US dollar. Until the conversion, I could always turn a blind eye to the euro price, but next year it will be my only option. I am quite up in arms. My husband says that it will take me at least 48 hours to become comfortable with the new pricing, and that during that time he will just have to listen to me rage! (Such a cynic!) Am I alone? Ammendment: When I posted the above I assumed that it was so obviously facetious that smilies were redundant. Maybe it's simply female logic and/or my appreciation of the absurd that accepts that having a foreign currency interface between you and your VISA bill can make such an enormous difference in one's enjoyment of travel. (Edited by Margaret Pilgrim at 9:02 pm on Dec. 24, 2001)

More than fading taste organs, I wonder if diminishing appreciation isn't at least partially a function of a jaded palatte or the demand for an element of surprise. I know that I have been enchanted by a meal at a restaurant, returned, reordered the same dishes that had given me such joy, only to find that, yes, that is what I ate before, and yes, it is pretty good. I read something the other night that startled me with its truth. I also have the feeling that it is something that Bux has been trying to tell me for a long time. Supposedly it is an old saw, however I had never heard it before: "Expectation is the mother of resentment."

The flourishing small restaurants to which I refer are indeed different from the ones you, Robert, Bux and Wilfred remember with such fondness. They are the work of young restless chefs who have left important kitchens to strike out on their own. Eric Frechon left Crillon under Christian Constant to start his eponymous restaurant in Paris' 19e, which he ran for roughly a half dozen years before being tapped to head the kitchen at Le Bristol a year or so ago. Pascal Barbot and Christophe Rohat left Passard's Arpege in order to start now wildly successful Astrance, Paris' 16e, just over a year ago. What these and others of this movement have in common is the desire to serve highly creative and inventive menus at unbelievably low prices. This they accomplish by using the highest quality of the less expensive ingredients, and charging supplements for foie gras, etc. There are now dozens of these neo-bistros in and outside of Paris, and the best of them are amazingly good. And interestingly, many have extensive wine lists that may or may not be priced like the food. OT: No, Robert, we don't have a Dim Sum a Go Go in SF. We live a half dozen blocks from a major Asian restaurant street that tempts us with several nationalities' snack foods: dim sum, Vietnamese rolls and sandwiches, ricetables, Korean hot pot, sushi. Good excuses for shrugging your shoulders when spouses come in asking for the carte!

REALLY off topic, but I would love to see what each/any of us chooses in our own neighborhoods when the question becomes, "What's to eat when there's nothing to eat!". We will find something from the pantry this evening, but went wandering around looking for lunch. We settled on Vietnamese rolls: barbequed pork, fine noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro encased in soft rice wrappers, served with fish sauce. 2 orders at Ū.50 for 2 piece order, take out. They always take good care of me since I am the usually the only foreigner in the dining room and I scare them to death. :)

Robert, as you have noticed by now, I am not a big dog; we visit no-star and one-star restaurants almost exclusively. Is the general state of this type of establishment in decline? I think that Elizabeth David wrote to this topic half a century ago, and even Leibling suggested that a good many of his meals were more stellar in quantity than in quality. That said, I think that, to the contrary, there are probably more good small restaurants now than in any recent memory. The last two decades brought us a tremendous number of "young turk" chefs who left mentors in multi-starred kitchens to strike out on their own, and unlike previous generations, they have brought their cuisines to market at the middle price range. Eric Frechon comes immediately to mind, and of course more recently the dynamic duo of Pascal Barbot and Christophe Rohat. Are these fine, inexpensive restaurants easy to find? Yes and no. They are certainly harder to pin-point than three stars! I find the yearly lists in popular food and travel magazines very disappointing, both behind the time and not as discerning as one would wish, continuing to tout familiar names we certainly would not return to or recommend. I read everything I can get my hands on, and have found that my best indicator continues to be the annual "big yellow" French edition of Guide France, Gault Millau, with its lengthly descriptions which I find far more informative than Michelin. If you read between the lines, and choose restaurants that they rate from 15 through 16, even some 14s, you will very likely find a well conceived and prepared and often highly innovative meal in the 200FF-400FF range, before beverages.

Bux, I have attributed our malaise to living beyond well. It is, I think, possible to surround yourself with so much that you were actually better off when you had less. I have always thought of France as a place where one was given some kind of dietary dispensation, where there were no "no-nos", just "Why nots". And we savored every morsel during those splurges. Then for some unexplained reason within the last year we have been doing the same at home. Rather than the occasional treat, we seem to be making sure that we always have a supply of great cheese, pate, chocolate, and fabulous bread, something we used to bring into the house only with premeditation. And so we go to France and while quality and variety can be better there, we simply are not hungry for these and, unfortunately, many other good things.