Great Foodie Streets in Paris

[Druckenbrodt]

To be honest, I think the rue Montorgeuil is a bit overrated. I know that sounds terribly spoilt coming from someone who is lucky enough to live round the corner. But it all feels a bit selfconsciously pretty - with a lot of very second rate cafes. There are lots of other great foodie streets in Paris.

My real number one favourite - which I normally keep under my hat - is the rue du Faubourg St Denis. It's not pretty at all which is probably partly why I like it so much. It's a funny sort of mixed ethnic neighborhood with about five Turkish run (I believe) green grocers. You can have endless fun working out the best offers going backwards and forwards along the street. Lots of Halal butchers selling Turkish bread, yoghurt and halva, with stalls outside selling a huge variety of honey drenched sweet meats. Afrocaribbean wig shops and hairdressers. A nice little fishmonger and a great Italian delicatessen with fresh home-made pasta. Further up the street is my all time favourite cheese and wine shop. The lovely chap in charge of the wine looks about 25 and is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable. He's always got something new on the go which he gets his devoted customers to taste, and I inevitably end up buying a couple of bottles. Whenever I've asked him for recommendations he's always spot on. Then there's the passage Brady or whatever it's called which is full of (not particularly good) Indian restaurants (allthough there is an Indian grocer there too which sells home-made mango pickle and delicious home-made samosas, and which is great for stocking up on spices.) I forgot the Chinese grocer with its fresh home-made tofu and which always has good quality Chinese greens on offer.

I also forgot the Turkish grocer which seems to be permanently open, even at midnight, and which sells slabs of honeycomb about a foot long, and where they make tour de France jokes if I turn up on my bike.

All this takes place behind the splendidly pompous Arch of the Porte St Denis (I think it's called), floodlit at night for further festive effect, on the other side of which is the rue St Denis with its bizarre mixture of sweatshop garment district and ladies of the night (and day, even.)

The French shops and the ethnic shops somehow complement eachother perfectly. You see immaculate little old French dames buying their two carrots and stick of celery standing in the same queue as a North African guy buying a pot of harissa paste. It feels like a street that belongs to a real living neighborhood. Rue Montorgeuil I think is in danger of suffering from bland trendiness.

[Bux]

Rue Montorgeuil I think is in danger of suffering from bland trendiness.

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I suspect it's a trend that started when the wholesale markets were moved from les Halles.

[bleudauvergne]

Druckenbrodt, I love you description of the neighborhood. What's the best metro stop to get off and be right in the thick of things?

[fresh_a]

Montorgeuil has been suffering for awhile. What was once the oldest market street in Paris, a few years back suffered a property boom (think an upscale Oberkampf) which inflated the "bobo" population, and brought a stream of mediocre, fake-trendy establishments. The market's are expensive, as in most of the markets in upscale neighborhoods now. It is in the heart (formerly, the belly) of Paris, and is well-placed however for many of its designer, textile magnate, and tourist broker residents.

[Druckenbrodt]

The nearest metro is Strasbourg St Denis on the number 9 line. It's North of the arch. It's refreshingly unpretentious, and a bit rough and ready, one of the many reasons why I like it.

I'm sure there are lots of other similar, more working class neighborhoods in Paris. Particularly round the back of Montmartre I could imagine.

[John Talbott]

I'm sure there are lots of other similar, more working class neighborhoods in Paris.  Particularly round the back of Montmartre I could imagine.

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Right you are. Indeed, I live in a very ordinary working class neighborhood on the North side of Montmartre where a French friend who was born on the street tells me more people who were born there still live there than in other quartiers. Yet it is a "market street" which encompasses the rue du Poteau, place Charles Bernard and rue Duhesme and has 2 horsemeat stores (another recently closed), two cheese shops (down 2 from 1990; and one #9, fairly well known), three wine shops, at least three boulangeries, three butchers and whatever else one needs. (The only downside is that as the cremeries and horsemeat stores close, women's underwear and eyeglass places take over.) But everyone knows everyone and despite its realness, the markets and stalls flowing out from the buildings makes it magical from 6 AM til 8 PM. I say this not to get into a "whose neighborhood is best food fight" but to point out that working class and foodie streets are not mutually exclusive.

[Ptipois]

Oh, yes. I hadn't been through rue Montorgueil for years when I saw it again last night. I was so sorry to see what had become of it. But not surprised.

Some traditional foodie streets have been dreadfully cutified, some have not. Rue Montmartre at its root (near the Saint-Eustache church) is not exactly a foodie street but it still has good shops. Rue Mouffetard, still as crowded and pretty as ever, but by no means what it used to be in terms of quality. A few good wine shops, a couple good fromagers, two decent butchers, and that's about it.

Now let's make the best of the remaning foodie areas before they get bobo-ized. Rue de Lévis-rue Poncelet in the 17e, rue Daguerre in the 14e, quite a few streets in the 15e in the rue du Théâtre - rue du Commerce zone, and of course the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis which I've been keeping under my hat too. Fascinating and complete with Turkish, North African, Indian, Pakistani, Eastern-European groceries and butchers. Delicious rasgullas at the Pakistani caterer on the lower part of the street, right side. Rumanian Cotnari wines, etc. But it does pay to walk up the street past the gare du Nord to discover, at the other end of Faubourg-Saint-Denis, the Tamil and Srilankan stores.

Walking further up towards the butte Montmartre is my favorite foodie area: the African market streets of Château-Rouge (rues Polonceau, Doudeauville, Dejean, des Poissonniers, etc.). It is a bit too far from my quartier to allow frequent shopping visits but where else can you find the freshest okra, over-the-counter sodabi in plastic water bottles, white cornmeal cakes, red palmnut oil from Togo, frozen ndolé and smoked capitaine fish? I sure would hate it if this place got seriously gentrified.

[Druckenbrodt]

John it's funny hearing rue du Poteau is your 'local'; I came across it the other night on a run where I was following my nose and it looked like such a fun street that I made a mental note to memorise the name. That was exactly the street I had in mind when I mentioned I thought there might be interesting stuff round the back of Montmartre. I also thought it had some rather promising slightly tatty looking bars (I mean that in an entirely positive way.) Am very tempted to explore it again after your description!

Mmm, Ptipois, can I come shopping with you next time you're in the neighborhood?! Sounds like you know exactly what to look out for!!! What are rasgullas? and what is/are frozen ndole?

I think the working class neighborhood thing can often be true in France and also in Italy. But not in the UK... ha ha! Unless you like deep fried mars bars a la Glaswegiana. I had the great fortune to live in Venice for an autumn term in my final year at university. I lived in a flat on the Giudecca island which people at the time said was one of the few remaining working class areas in Venice (may have all changed now). There was a wonderful, very simple, market behind that weird old 19th century flour mill which dominates the horizon at one end. Cheap shoe stalls and awful jeans stalls next to a van grilling chickens sort of scene. Maybe it was the smell of autumn in the air. Maybe it was because I was younger and much more impressionable than I am now. But all those buckets of water filled with artichoke hearts! I'd never seen anything like it! And all those vegetables I'd never eaten before! My brother who is an excellent cook and learnt (almost) everything he knows off a Roman friend and his grandmother, came to visit. I suddenly learnt there were all these incredible flavours out there that I'd never come across before. The fact was it was all 'normal stuff' to the locals, and cheap, and I don't think you could have got any of it in the sterile supermarket where all my fellow students went. My brother also had an unerring hunch for spotting a run down bar which as a 20 year old girl I would never have dreamed of entering on my own, but which would have perhaps one or two types of prosecco on offer and other locally grown wines, and a few home-made antipasti - delicious. And not an ugly twisty bit of murano glass in sight. It was like finding the other, living side of Venice I'd constantly been looking for. With all its traditions and history still there to a certain extent in the food and the wine. I think those no nonsense neighborhoods have a lot going for them for the simple enthusiast. Long may they live!

The moral question is, should we or shouldn't we be posting about them? Should we keep them under our hats or share our knowledge and run the risk that, in the constant hunt for novelty and stories, some newspaper will start writing about our favourite 'secret' places? Perhaps what will save the working class neighborhood from that fate is the fact that it isn't quite special enough to warrant a long distance pilgrimmage - part of the point is that it has to be 'your local'. And those that do make the trip are also more likely to be genuine food enthusiasts who will add to the custom of those specialist shops, which is surely a good thing, (if those specialist shops don't get funny ideas about 'modernising' or putting up their prices.) And maybe those neighborhoods also need to always remain slightly seedy to discourage Starbuckification.

[bleudauvergne]

The moral question is, should we or shouldn't we be posting about them?  Should we keep them under our hats or share our knowledge and run the risk that, in the constant hunt for novelty and stories, some newspaper will start writing about our favourite 'secret' places?  Perhaps what will save the working class neighborhood from that fate is the fact that it isn't quite special enough to warrant a long distance pilgrimmage - part of the point is that it has to be 'your local'.  And those that do make the trip are also more likely to be genuine food enthusiasts who will add to the custom of those specialist shops, which is surely a good thing, (if those specialist shops don't get funny ideas about 'modernising' or putting up their prices.)  And maybe those neighborhoods also need to always remain slightly seedy to discourage Starbuckification.

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The reason why certain neighborhoods get taken over by chains is because the local businesses die. So I say trumpet it loud and clear, and then we should go there and keep those businesses alive.

[tomdc]

I was on the rue St. Denis last week looking for a the Passage St. Foy, never did find it. Anyone know where it might be ?

Tom

[Bux]

I was on the rue St. Denis last week looking for a the Passage St. Foy, never did find  it.  Anyone know where it might be ?

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Ste. Foy. It runs from rue St. Denis to rue Ste. Foy a few blocks north of rue Réaumur, actually about halfway between Réaumur and the grand boulevard where blvd. Bonne Nouvelle becomes blvd. St. Denis. That's the northern end of rue St. Denis. The question is, "why were you running around Paris without some pocket edition of Paris par Arrondissement? Even for a short stay, if one is determined to find one's way around Paris beyond the major momuments, it seems an invaluable purchase.

[dfunghi]

How accurate is the information here from 4 years ago? Has much changed ? Having grown up in NYC and remember when 9th ave. behind the PA was all spice shops and 14th street had at least 4 or 5 great cuban / puerto rican, dirt cheap, restaurants (more snack shops really with stand up service like a pizza place and the best roast pork and rice and beans) and Morris Park was all Italian........ I digress.

I am no stranger to ethnic and even sketchy areas in search of great food. I would love to see how the Mid East and African food is in Paris versus USA. I imagine the restrictions on USDA imports would make PAris far more authentic.

[John Talbott]

How accurate is the information here from 4 years ago? Has much changed ? Having grown up in NYC and remember when 9th ave. behind the PA was all spice shops and 14th street had at least 4 or 5 great cuban / puerto rican, dirt cheap, restaurants (more snack shops really with stand up service like a pizza place and the best roast pork and rice and beans) and Morris Park was all Italian........ I digress.

I am no stranger to ethnic and even sketchy areas in search of great food. I would love to see how the Mid East and African food is in Paris versus USA. I imagine the restrictions on USDA imports would make PAris far more authentic.

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Interesting question. Since I wrote the above, one fish store , one specialty (Auvergne products) store, one coffee roaster and one green grocer have closed to be replaced by a Halal butcher, nothing, a junk store and a fine wine store; in addition, a big cheese emporium has downsized and some occasional stores have made way for a giant cell-phone vendor.

In brief - fewer choices except for wine and Muslim meat.

And, as the news reports about once a week, food product prices have increased every since the conversion to the euro (which conspiracy theorists see as linked).

[John Talbott]

Some additions:

As I walked back home from lunch today I realized several other changes:

1. Our local dive, the Nord-Sud, now has a blackboard of "cocktails" - shocking!

2. We have replaced a cursed space (that was various things over the decades, incl a chicken take-out place) with a lovely flower shop (and our big flower shop was taken over by Monceau Fleurs, just as our great #9 Poteau Cheese Shop was taken over by Quatrehomme).

3. A crappy pseudo-Italian traiteur that used to be called The King of Sausages has rebranded itself as Olives, Salami & Co.