Tartine restaurants in France

[John Whiting]

There's an age-old tradition in America that it's safe to lie about things that no one knows about.

[Ptipois]

There's an age-old tradition in America that it's safe to lie about things that no one knows about. 

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En français : a beau mentir qui vient de loin.

[touaregsand]

There's an age-old tradition in America that it's safe to lie about things that no one knows about. 

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En français : a beau mentir qui vient de loin.

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The most bizarre thing about this woman's thought process is that we're in a major metropolitan area. Around 100,000 francophones, two French private schools, French consulate and French-American chamber of commerce. It's pretty easy to fill up a French restaurant with French customers around here. Not surprisingly her French customer base is close to zero if it exists at all. Overall, the market for expensive open-faced sandwiches that are eaten with a knife and fork has proven to be pretty small and inconsistent.

[boulak]

On our last trip to Paris, we noticed a proliferation of restaruants offering tartines, many of them advertised as being on pain Poilane. We purchased the book "Lionel Poilane's Favourite Sweet Tartines" published in English by Michel Grancher in 2001. The price is 15.10 euros. It is about 9" X 5" with a color plate for each recipe. Poilane writes in the foreword that the food requires neither stove nor chef, and that it may be eaten with the fingers. I read that the trains are selling the tartines Poilane as well. Hope this helps.

[cigalechanta]

I think of tartine as a breakfast food, that I've been served for so many years only at breakfast. That means from Cote d'Azur to The west coast,.I've never heard of a restaurant that serves only tartine.

[Bux]

I learned of tartine buerre early in my travels in France. Except for the years we traveled with our daughter and I felt the need to rise early as a good example, it's not unusual to sleep in and miss breakfast or to arrive at cafes after the last croissant has been sold. At that time it was only and always a baguette split the long way and buttered.

[cigalechanta]

I was looking up some place in Patricia Well's "The Food Lover's Guide To Paris"

and found LA TARTINE 24, rue de Rivoli, Paris 1

[Ptipois]

La Tartine, rue de Rivoli, is really a wine bar that serves tartines. Like many other wine bars.

As was mentioned before, there are two "Dame Tartine" restaurants in Paris. One rue Brisemiche, near Beaubourg, and one in the jardin des Tuileries.

They are the only restaurants in Paris that serve nothing but tartines.

Back in the Sixties there was a small bar in rue Saint-Jacques that was named "La Tartine" and really served nothing else. It was short-lived and its formula didn't catch on, though later the Poilâne tartine was to become a convenient staple in cafés and wine bars.

I can testify that the restaurant "serving nothing but tartines" is no institution in France, though there may be a few "concept" exceptions.

[Bux]

. . . .

I can testify that the restaurant "serving nothing but tartines" is no institution in France, though there may be a few "concept" exceptions.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "concept" exceptions and one has to define "restaurant." Cuisine de Bar next to the boulangerie serves only tartines, salads and simple desserts, but I also believe it's not open for dinner. It's less than a restaurant and perhaps less than a cafe.

[Ptipois]

"Concept" = the place is based on a single idea, in this case the "tartines-only" concept. Cuisine de Bar is quite recent, and so far unique. The "tartines de poilâne" at cafés and wine bars are also a fairly recent concept. The two "Dame Tartine" and the 1960's tartine bar I mentioned on rue Saint-Jacques were considered a new thing when they opened and their formula hasn't been widely imitated. What I meant was that it seemed a bit useless trying to further the search for "little mom and pop restaurants all over the place selling only tartines" now that it is clear that there simply isn't anything in France that fits this description.

[menton1]

The use of the word "Tartine" these days in France usually refers to a piece of a baguette served with a morning coffee, usually buttered. Most of the cafés in Paris charge about 1E for it. I usually get this "tartine" as my Paris breakfast. Some of the cafés will also affer a confiture with the bread as well.

I can't imagine a restaurant devoted to only Tartines!!

[Bux]

The use of the word "Tartine" these days in France usually refers to a piece of a baguette served with a morning coffee, usually buttered.  Most of the cafés in Paris charge about 1E for it.  I usually get this "tartine" as my Paris breakfast.  Some of the cafés will also affer a confiture with the bread as well. 

I can't imagine a restaurant devoted to only Tartines!!

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As discussed in the thread, there is a newer use of the word "tartine" and that's an openfaced sandwich, often on a slice of Poilane's bread. I suppose they resemble the open faced sandwiches that were (are?) common in Copenhagen. As I and others have noted, they exist. They are not common, nor run as mom and pop shops, all over France.

[Ptipois]

The use of the word "Tartine" these days in France usually refers to a piece of a baguette served with a morning coffee, usually buttered.

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Not just baguette. Any slice of bread with something spread on it and no second slice of bread on top is a tartine. Before baguettes were common and the most usual bread in France was the large and round tourte or miche, tartines were large slices cut from those breads. The poilâne tartine is actually closer to the old-fashioned tartine than the halved baguette is.

Larousse dictionary definition: a slice of bread covered with butter, jam or any food substance soft enough to be spread: preparing tartines for the childrens' goûter. [Zeitoun was right about the original meaning, but now a tartine may be covered with more solid stuff]: tartine de beurre, de pâté.

A tartine is also, figuratively, an unusually long, perhaps boring, text or development of an idea. People who explain themselves too lengthily are said to make "une tartine". "Don't make a tartine of it" = make it short. A student who writes a very long dissertation or essay says "je leur ai fait une vraie tartine".

[chefzadi]

A tartine is also, figuratively, an unusually long, perhaps boring, text or development of an idea. People who explain themselves too lengthily are said to make "une tartine". "Don't make a tartine of it" = make it short. A student who writes a very long dissertation or essay says "je leur ai fait une vraie tartine".

Also culture is like confiture.

The less you have the more you spread it, sort of like the restaurant owner who inspired the question behing the thread. I guess the name of her restaurant is appropriate for her concept afterall...

Edited March 16, 2005 by chefzadi (log)

[greenwich st]

Just spent a few days in Paris and noticed the novelty of many lunch-y places that seemed to specialize in a salade/tartine menu. I planned a lunch for my family at Cuisine de Bar -- on arriving we found the service very snotty, so decamped down the block to a much friendlier place (Le Confiturier, 20 rue du Cherche Midi) that also served a choice of Poilane tartines/nice salads/homey desserts. Another similar place, on the rue Jean-Nicot is called Simple. I do think this is some kind of trend.