Paris, March 2006

[VivreManger]

My wife & I will spend a short week in Paris in early March. Since this is the one season which I have never spent in France, it will be a new experience. I am seeking advice on two questions.

Are there any seasonal products - - fruits, vegetables, cheeses - - distinctive to early March?

Do any annual gastronomic events that occur then?

[MobyP]

Black truffles should be peaking.

[John Talbott]

According to my trusty Almanach du Gastronomie by Armelle de Scitivaux (Bottin Goumand, 1998, 133 FF), the following are in full season in March (underlined items are biggies) – oysters, bar, turbot, cod.sole, lotte, merlan and lieu; baby goat, lamb and veal; eggs; bleu de Gex, fourme de Montbrison, Abondance, Comte, Laguiole, Salers, Cantal, Ossau-Iraty, Epoisses, Maroilles, Langres, Munster-Gerome; spinach, sorrel, broad beans; kiwi fruit, pomelo and pineapple. And while I don’t want to steal Felice’s thunder, in Paris alone there will be the Salon International de l’Agriculture (see prior threads) and elsewhere nine other fairs celebrating ham, cheese, wine, endives, chocolate, sausage and andouille.

[VivreManger]

John,

Thanks for that helpful report. I am looking forward to trying them out, particularly the epoisses! In the States and even in Canada it is difficult to find a good true raw milk epoisses. The market is largely limited to the semi-raw milk cheeses made by Berthaut. According to your information March should being them to market.

The plans for the visit are advancing. It seems that we will be taking an apartment near the Place Vendome on Rue St. Honore. My memories of that location include Willi's Wine Bar, an unsung Morrocan (Darkoum), lots of cheap Chinese-Vietnamese that never seemed appealing, a reasonable small resto on rue Mont Thabor, L’ARDOISE, (I noticed you recommended it in the November discussion of 1st versus 5th arrondisement). Any more detailed and recent reports on that place? I did a Forum search, but got so many hits that it was difficult to separate wheat from chaff.

BTW is there any map searching device specifically geared to France & Paris? Yahoo does not go there and Mapquest is incomplete and primitive. I do recall finding on the Web very good maps for Paris, with restos, markets, landmarks, metro stops, and other such useful coordinates, but I don't remember how.

Thanks again.

[John Talbott]

The plans for the visit are advancing.  It seems that we will be taking an apartment near the Place Vendome on Rue St. Honore.  My memories of that location include Willi's Wine Bar, an unsung Morrocan (Darkoum), lots of cheap Chinese-Vietnamese that never seemed appealing, a reasonable small resto on rue Mont Thabor, L’ARDOISE, (I noticed you recommended it in the November discussion of 1st versus 5th arrondisement).  Any more detailed and recent reports on that place?  I did a Forum search, but got so many hits that it was difficult to separate wheat from chaff.

I have not been in quite a while but was never disappointed.

BTW is there any map searching device specifically geared to France & Paris?  Yahoo does not go there and Mapquest is incomplete and primitive.  I do recall finding on the Web very good maps for Paris, with restos, markets, landmarks, metro stops, and other such useful coordinates, but I don't remember how. 

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Yes, there are two and again they are buried back in some prior threads. I'll try to locate next week.

[Carlsbad]

One map that is very helpful for bus and metro planning is http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/carteparis.php If you click on a metro stop and then on the local map, it shows a detail of the area around the stop.

Michelin has pretty good maps, and if you sign up for My ViaMichelin (free) you can get all the restaurant and hotel reviews.

Les Pages Jaunes are also very helpful.

I think have some others I'll dig out.

[Carlsbad]

There are some good food shops in the area of your apartment. Max Poilane, 42 place du Marché Saint-Honoré, for bread. Aux Beaux Fruits de France, 304 rue Saint-Honoré, for produce. Jean-Paul Hévin, 231 rue Saint-Honoré, and La Fontaine au Chocolat (Michel Cluizel), 201 rue Saint-Honoré, for chocolates. Gargantua, 284 rue Saint-Honoré, has good pates, prepared salads, cooked chickens, bread (including Max Poilane) and baked goods, etc. Torréfacteur Verlet, 256 rue St-Honoré, has great coffee by the cup or to make at home.

Next to the Palais Royal, which is a reasonable walking distance or one metro stop, A Casaluna on rue Beujolais, is a very nice Corsican restaurant with moderate prices, which has been favorably mentioned here several times. Just around the corner, we also enjoyed Aux Trois Oliviers, 37 bis, rue Montpensier, a small, casual, provencal place where the owner, Edouard, was most hospitable, the crowd was interesting and fun, and the food was very good. The mojitos are outstanding, so that may have been why we liked the place so much.

[John Talbott]

One map that is very helpful for bus and metro planning is http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/carteparis.php  If you click on a metro stop and then on the local map, it shows a detail of the area around the stop.

Michelin has pretty good maps, and if you sign up for My ViaMichelin (free) you can get all the restaurant and hotel reviews.

Les Pages Jaunes are also very helpful.

I think have some others I'll dig out.

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Just be sure to go to the photo part of Les Pages Jaunes. I assume you've "flown" over the city via Google Earth, not all the markers you may want but awesome.

[VivreManger]

Thanks for les pages jaunes suggestion.

I have found another site which I consider quite amazing

http://www.paris.fr/portail/accueil/Portal.lut?page_id=1

It is the website of the Mayor's Office in Paris, mostly in French.

On the right hand side, towards the upper corner there is a box: Plan Interactif, Paris a la carte. Clicking on the map that appears will yield all sorts of options, including bird's eye view photo maps, detailed maps, and simplified maps. In addition there is an Itineraire option that will allow you to plan a journey within Paris, on foot, two-wheels, four-wheels, or public transport, quite the most powerful such engine I have every seen. In addition to furnishing the route, the site also gives the precise distance and an estimate of the time.

I have yet to compare it to pages jaunes, but I suspect it is a bit more powerful.

Now I have checked both. The Paris Mayor's map page tells you how to get there. The Pages Jaunes tells you what you will see.

Edited January 10, 2006 by VivreManger (log)

[TarteTatin]

Willi's is always good...they also own the place next door which we haven't tried.

We went to L'ardoise in November, very, very good. Adventurous, delicious, not too formal, they did rush us a bit....not cheap for lunch....well worth it.

Also, Juveniles is in that neighborhood. Former Willi's people, its a wine bar with a small selection of food, about 5 plats daily...

[VivreManger]

Willi's is always good...they also own the place next door which we haven't tried.

We went to L'ardoise in November, very, very good. Adventurous, delicious, not too formal, they did rush us a bit....not cheap for lunch....well worth it.

Also, Juveniles is in that neighborhood. Former Willi's people, its a wine bar with a small selection of food, about 5 plats daily...

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I like Willi's very much. Almost ten years ago I was working around the corner from that resto, usually right through the normal French lunch hour, till a time when nothing but a stale sausage sandwich was left forlorn in the vitrine of the local bar tabac. Willi's then had a custom of offering their regular lunch menu at the bar past the lunch hour. I wandered in one day and chatted up Will Johnson (?) while he was on the phone with Patricia Wells, advising her on his favorite bistros. I ate there from time to time until one Saturday when I look lunch at the proper hour in the dining room. The meal was great. I particularly recall an excellent mango confection. Unfortunately later that day I developed a nasty bout of food poisoning. I couldn't help but connect it to the meal at Willi's, though at the time nothing I ate was off. Somehow I have been unable to return.

BTW have you ever done tarte tatin research in Paris? With neighborhood patisseries, the availability is uncertain, here one day, gone the next. Furthermore March is not exactly apple season, so I am not optimistic about finding them in abundance in the late winter.

Given your name, I would hope that you had some recommendations!

[John Talbott]

My wife & I will spend a short week in Paris in early March.  Since this is the one season which I have never spent in France, it will be a new experience.  I am seeking advice on two questions.

Are there any seasonal products - - fruits, vegetables, cheeses - - distinctive to early March? 

Do any annual gastronomic events that occur then?

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I am bringing this thread back up since we are about to enter March and we will be posting a summary of "What's Available in the Markets of France" each month.

Please contribute your observations, readings, suggestions, etc so that others can know what to be on the lookout for as they prowl the markets.

[Felice]

Do any annual gastronomic events that occur then?

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If you are in Paris on March 10-12, you won’t want to miss the SALON PARIS FERMIER DE PRINTEMPS being held at the Parc Floral.

I’ve posted more information about it in the events and on the eGullet Calendar

[John Talbott]

As intruiging as the discussion was about food poisoning, I think it was off the topic, which is what's special in the markets and events in March. Thus I've moved the posts to one on Food Safety. Hope that's OK.

Back to March.

Edited March 1, 2006 by John Talbott (log)

[John Talbott]

As of this week, the hunter-gatherer in our foursome discovered the big thick stalks of green asparagus grown in France (not Spain or points south) in the Poncelet market. They have not yet appeared in out local market, however.

[Felice]

I was in the cheese shop Quatrehomme yesterday and asked which cheese were particularly good right now and they said that goat cheeses are at their best.

[John Talbott]

I was in the cheese shop Quatrehomme yesterday and asked which cheese were particularly good right now and they said that goat cheeses are at their best.

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Good tip. We've had three goats this week; a Brin d'Amour from Alleose and a Tomme de Chevre and regular goat cheese both from Quatrehomme; all were fine but the Brin d'Amour from Alleose was the best; was it the Brin d'Amour or Alleose? Ah, who will know?