Tartine restaurants in France

[touaregsand]

I don't recall seeing restaurants that serve nothing but tartines on my trips to France. I was told by a woman that she had seen "lots and lots of them allover France. These cute little mom and pop restos that serve nothing but tartines." Maybe I'm not as observant as I thought, but I don't recall seeing any in Paris or Lyon and points in between. I also tend to not look out for such food, so maybe I did indeed walk past "lots and lots of them." This woman claimed that they were allover Paris as well. I asked my husband about this and he says he's never seen them either, he thought maybe it's a new fast food chain or something. Neither of us have a recollection of seeing even one.

[John Talbott]

I don't recall seeing restaurants that serve nothing but tartines on my trips to France.

←

I've sure seen plenty of panini and pizza places.

[zeitoun]

I don't recall seeing restaurants that serve nothing but tartines on my trips to France. I was told by a woman that she had seen "lots and lots of them allover France. These cute little mom and pop restos that serve nothing but tartines." Maybe I'm not as observant as I thought, but I don't recall seeing any in Paris or Lyon and points in between. I also tend to not look out for such food, so maybe I did indeed walk past "lots and lots of them." This woman claimed that they were allover Paris as well. I asked my husband about this and he says he's never seen them either, he thought maybe it's a new fast food chain or something. Neither of us have a recollection of seeing even one.

←

I have lived close to 20 years in Paris and i've never even heard of it!?!??!? I might be stretching it a little too far but may be she got confused with Tartine et Chocolat? The kids clothing stores ??

[Ptipois]

There's a couple of Dame Tartine restaurants in Paris, specializing in... tartines. I forgot the addresses, one is near the Pompidou center. That's the only kind of address that's likely to serve "nothing but tartines" and you see that's not much.

Most "bars à vins" serve tartines but you don't see them everywhere. And they don't serve only that.

In the morning, your average troquet may present you with a quarter of a baguette sliced in two and covered with a half-a-micron layer of butter. With a small dose of vaguely colored pectin jelly posing as jam and some hot pure robusta sock juice, this is baptized "petit déjeuner".

That's about it for the tartine culture in France. So much for the cutesy little Mom and Pop restaurants all over the place. I too believe that the lady has seen too many Tartine et Chocolat shops. Or she had a dream. A tartine dream.

Edited March 9, 2005 by Ptipois (log)

[Bux]

Cuisine de Bar

8, rue du Cherche-Midi

75006 Paris

This is what I wrote back in July or 2001.

"We had a quick and light lunch at a little spot we know and like around the corner from the Lutétia. Cuisine de Bar a small place that serves excellent tartines, or open faced sandwiches, on grilled pain Poilâne, as well as salads and desserts. This is a good location for a quick and tasty bite at lunch."

It's next door to Poilâne. In fact, I've heard there is a connection to the boulangerie whose bread they use. At that time, it had been there for a number of years. It was a place we remembered from a previous trip. It was, for an American whose first trip to Paris was over forty years ago, a most unFrench establishment, but of course it was quite French, just up to date. My sole complaint was that I found the salad dressing sweet. Now that was decidedly unFrench to me. There were more ladies than gentlemen having lunch, but enough other men so I never felt out of place.

The tartines I've had at bars have always been the top or bottom of a baguette. At Cuisine de Bar, they were open sandwiches on sliced bread. The selection was quite varied and included tinned items as well as fresh ones. I recall ordering canned monk fish liver pate once just for the curiosity. It was a product of Denmark and neither as good as foie gras pate or the monk fish liver I get at my local sushi bar in NY. The better choices are quite excellent and depending on which you chose, you might well feel you were snacking in Florence or San Francisco rather than Paris.

[touaregsand]

Well this woman had already opened up a restaurant called Tartine something in the States and part of the "back story" for this place was "these mom and pop tartine places allover France" she even put it in her press kit and yes a few food writers repeated her fabrication in print.

I figured she was lying through her teeth. But I wanted to make absolutely sure. The weird part is she stuck to her story even in front of my husband who was born and raised in France, attended culinary school in Paris and traveled or worked throughout most most of the country. We were stupefied. I did believe my husband when he insisted that they do not exist, but I was wondering if there was even one.

Or she had a dream. A tartine dream.

You got it, she was hoping it would take off like panini.

[lalala]

I think you are referring to the ubiquitous and pretty decent chain

Le Pain Quotidien

which is now in England, Rome, New York and Belgium. I'm sure there are more, but those places come to mind right off the bat.

They serve tartines, a pretty decent breakfast and have some nice things to buy.

The best thing is that they have a communal table,so you don't have to wait if you are alone and they are non--smoking.

Is that what you were thinking?

lalala

[Bux]

From France Magazine Summer 2003 Quick Fixes by Alexandre Lazareff:

". . . no list of snacking venues would be complete without mentioning Cuisine de Bar, founded by the late and much missed Lionel Poilâne. Poilâne bought the shop next to his legendary bakery as a place to experiment with bar food: The place would have no cook or oven, he proclaimed, just a barman and a toaster. The bread—excellent of course—comes from next door and the delicious open-faced sandwiches are house recipes. Gourmets favor the Saint-Marcellin cheese, country ham and marjoram-scented ham combination, as well as the duck combo (mousse de canard and smoked magret de canard). Other excellent choices are the tomato, mozzarella and basil tartine and the prawn guacamole.. . . "

[touaregsand]

I think you are referring to the ubiquitous and pretty decent chain

Le Pain Quotidien

which is now in England, Rome, New York and Belgium. I'm sure there are more, but those places come to mind right off the bat.

They serve tartines, a pretty decent breakfast and have some nice things to buy.

The best thing is that they have a communal table,so you don't have to wait if you are alone and they are non--smoking. 

Is that what you were thinking?

lalala

←

I'm not sure if you're directing this at me. I'm aware of Le Pain Quotidien. But this woman adamently insisted there were "cute little mom and pop boutiquey places that served nothing but tartines allover France."

[lalala]

I wasn't directing at you, but it fills the bill as a tartinerie.

I haven't seen any sort of mom and pop tartine shops in my time in Paris other than le pain and dame tartine.

[touaregsand]

I might be stretching it a little too far but may be she got confused with Tartine et Chocolat? The kids clothing stores blink.gif ??

You all are pretty sharp here. Her decor, let's just say it was very cute and girly, not frou frou girly. But she is the type to latch onto a cutesy name.

So, Zeitoun you're not that far off with this assessment. My husband and I thought the same thing.

[Ptipois]

I think you are referring to the ubiquitous and pretty decent chain

Le Pain Quotidien

which is now in England, Rome, New York and Belgium. I'm sure there are more, but those places come to mind right off the bat.

They serve tartines, a pretty decent breakfast and have some nice things to buy.

Le Pain Quotidien is a Belgian chain, not French. It didn't take off in France until the late 90's. And tartines are a small part of what they serve. I'd never describe it as a "tartinerie".

Edited March 10, 2005 by Ptipois (log)

[SuzySushi]

The only one I recall is La Dame Tartine right in front of the Stravinsky Fountain near Pompidou Center. (They may have other branches as well, but I never checked the Paris phone book.)

I never saw tartine restaurants in any of the other cities or towns we visited in France; many cafes serve tartines and open-faced pain poilane sandwiches (even if they're not listed as tartines) as part of their menu but not the whole menu.

[zeitoun]

many cafes serve tartines and open-faced pain poilane sandwiches (even if they're not listed as tartines)

←

This is actually an important precision about "tartines", a "tartine" refers to a "spread" rather and not necessarily an open faced sandwich. "Tartiner" in french means "to spread".

Correct me if i'm wrong but if the spreading of anything "spreadable" on top of bread such as butter, jam, rillettes, tapenade etc..is not involved, then it cannot be called a "tartine".

[SuzySushi]

many cafes serve tartines and open-faced pain poilane sandwiches (even if they're not listed as tartines)

←

This is actually an important precision about "tartines", a "tartine" refers to a "spread" rather and not necessarily an open faced sandwich. "Tartiner" in french means "to spread".

Correct me if i'm wrong but if the spreading of anything "spreadable" on top of bread such as butter, jam, rillettes, tapenade etc..is not involved, then it cannot be called a "tartine".

←

This is what I found on yourdictionary.com:

"tar·tine

n.

A French open-faced sandwich, especially one with a rich or fancy spread.

[French, from Old French, diminutive of tarte, tart]"

[zeitoun]

This is what I found on yourdictionary.com:

"tar·tine

n.

    A French open-faced sandwich, especially one with a rich or fancy spread.

[French, from Old French, diminutive of tarte, tart]"

←

I don't mean to rewrite the history of "tartines" or be picky but I think this definition is a bit misleading. IMHO not any ingredient on top a piece of bread makes a tartine. If that ingredient is soft enough to be "spreadable" (with a knife or spoon or whatever else) then it is a tartine.

This is why, as you correctly pointed out, some open-faced poilane sandwiches you may have seen wouldn't be listed as "tartines".

[Ptipois]

This is actually an important precision about "tartines", a "tartine" refers to a "spread" rather and not necessarily an open faced sandwich. "Tartiner" in french means "to spread".

Correct me if i'm wrong but if the spreading of anything "spreadable" on top of bread such as butter, jam, rillettes, tapenade etc..is not involved, then it cannot be called a "tartine".

←

I'm afraid it can. A "tartine" is a slice of bread with something on it, spreadable of not, as opposed to a "sandwich" (French meaning), with two slices or pieces of bread around a filling. Therefore a tartine is really an open sandwich (with slabs of pâté, ham, slices of cheese, or more sophisticated toppings). Even if the original meaning of the word involved some kind of spreading, this is not essential to a tartine.

[Ptipois]

This is why, as you correctly pointed out, some open-faced poilane sandwiches you may have seen wouldn't be listed as "tartines".

←

All open-faced poilâne sandwiches are called "tartine de poilâne", whatever there is on top.

[touaregsand]

From what I know about tartines you're both correct. I think that tartines made at home started off with a simple spread of butter or preserves. For lunch maybe some leftover ingredients were added on top. This concept recontexutalized into a restaurant setting became more "gussied" up with more ingredients. Lionel Poilane made "chic" versions and also published a cookbook of sorts on his tartines. So originally they had a spread and the fancier versions mostly seem to have a some sort of spread as a base but with "gourmet" additions layered on top.

Ptipois or my husband are more qualified to explain this than I am. But that's my tuppence.

[zeitoun]

I'm afraid it can. A "tartine" is a slice of bread with something on it, spreadable of not, as opposed to a "sandwich" (French meaning), with two slices or pieces of bread around a filling. Therefore a tartine is really an open sandwich (with slabs of pâté, ham, slices of cheese, or more sophisticated toppings). Even if the original meaning of the word involved some kind of spreading, this is not essential to a tartine.

←

I always thought a tartine was initially meant to designate a spread of butter on bread and that the term had expanded to include other "spreadable" ingredients such as nutella, jam, honey etc...(thus the word "tartiner" in french which comes to designate only the act of "spreading"???)

I guess one learns everyday,

[chefzadi]

I'm afraid it can. A "tartine" is a slice of bread with something on it, spreadable of not, as opposed to a "sandwich" (French meaning), with two slices or pieces of bread around a filling. Therefore a tartine is really an open sandwich (with slabs of pâté, ham, slices of cheese, or more sophisticated toppings). Even if the original meaning of the word involved some kind of spreading, this is not essential to a tartine.

←

I always thought a tartine was initially meant to designate a spread of butter on bread and that the term had expanded to include other "spreadable" ingredients such as nutella, jam, honey etc...(thus the word "tartiner" in french which comes to designate only the act of "spreading"???)

I guess one learns everyday,

←

You're correct Zeitoun. The concept just got expanded, so now it's used to refer to open faced sandwiches in general.

[artisanbaker]

last time i went to paris i ate a tartine at a random bar that happened to be open at 4am. i remember that it was quite good, which says a lot because i had consumed quite a large amount of reisling.

it was made on a poilane style bread, and i think that it was indeed a poilane loaf.

i don't think that they are that hard to find in paris. i remember seeing them on the menu somewhere else. i'm not sure if i would say that they are "all over paris," mais qui cherchent, trouvent.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I hope you are not writing about the woman who opened Tartine in the Mission district of San Francisco. This is a lovely little bakery that serves both sweets and savories of impecable quality. It's likes are indeed abundant in France, although not known by that name.

[touaregsand]

I hope you are not writing about the woman who opened Tartine in the Mission district of San Francisco.  This is a lovely little bakery that serves both sweets and savories of impecable quality.  It's likes are indeed abundant in France, although not known by that name.

←

No I'm not talking about the woman you mention.

[Ptipois]

I always thought a tartine was initially meant to designate a spread of butter on bread and that the term had expanded to include other "spreadable" ingredients such as nutella, jam, honey etc...(thus the word "tartiner" in french which comes to designate only the act of "spreading"???)

I guess one learns everyday, 

←

The thing is a bit more complicated than it sounds. "Tartine" has in fact always meant "open sandwich" in France, but it generally involved spreading some butter at first, and perhaps putting something more solid on top, like pâté, saucisson or ham, or squares of dark chocolate (une tartine de chocolat, old style). Hence the word "tartiner", which sort of stands on its own and acts here as a faux-ami. You may use the word "tartiner" in other situations, i.e. not on bread. A slice of bread may be a tartine without having been tartinéed.

There have always been tartines de saucisson, tartines de pâté (unspread), tartines de confiture, tartines de rillettes (spread). In the former case, though, a light spreading of butter is expected. But not mandatory.