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Insiders Paris

cru

By cru
in France: Dining

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cru

cru

Posted
Posted

I'm looking for bliss in the simpler Parisian delights and need help finding them. Where do I find the best:

Creperie?

Bread coming hot out of the oven bakery?

Quiche?

High tea(fancy, but not the Ritz, been there):

and

Chocolat Chaud?

oh, one more.

bakery specializing in meringues:

thanks for all your help. Let me know of something I might be missing.

Ptipois

Ptipois

Posted
Posted
I'm looking for bliss in the simpler Parisian delights and need help finding them.  Where do I find the best:

Creperie?

Several Breton places around the gare Montparnasse. I have no idea which ones are the best. If the galettes are crisp, they're OK. If they're limp, pick another place.

Bread coming hot out of the oven bakery?

The Moisan bakery on place d'Aligre.

Quiche?

Quiche is not Parisian, so nowhere in Paris but in Lorraine, sure.

High tea(fancy, but not the Ritz, been there):

First choice : Mariage Frères, rue du Bourg-Tibourg (4e). Any fancy hotel in the 1er or the 8e. Or Ladurée, at last resort.

and

Chocolat Chaud?

Best in Paris (but nobody ever believes me): the Special Sip Chocolat Chaud, with hazelnut paste, at the Sip brasserie, Sèvres-Babylone. They're often out of it. Or at La Maison du Chocolat, Delicabar (Le Bon Marché), or Les Deux Magots. Le Flore's chocolate is not bad either.

oh, one more.

bakery specializing in meringues:

Don't know about that one but boulangeries displaying huge meringues in their windows are usually dreadful, you should probably avoid them.

Chez Ptipois
chezcherie

chezcherie

Posted
Posted
Pick up a copy of Food Lover's Guide to Paris by Patricia Wells.

i, too, love the Food Lover's Guide, but you must be forewarned that it has not been updated in quite some time. many of the listings are out of date....still a lot of great info and a wonderful read.

"Laughter is brightest where food is best."

www.chezcherie.com

Author of The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook ,The I Love Trader Joe's Party Cookbook and The I Love Trader Joe's Around the World Cookbook

Laidback

Laidback

Posted
Posted (edited)
I'm looking for bliss in the simpler Parisian delights and need help finding them.  Where do I find the best:

Creperie?

Bread coming hot out of the oven bakery?

Quiche?

High tea(fancy, but not the Ritz, been there):

and

Chocolat Chaud?

oh, one more.

bakery specializing in meringues:

thanks for all your help.  Let me know of something I might be missing.

For bread, Thierry Dubois at the corner of av Bosquet and Champ de Mars

For a salon de thé serving good quiche, Les Deux Abeilles on rue Université

Chocolat chaud, Le Grand Colbert

Patisseries including merinques, Jean Millet on St. Dominique or Gerard Mulot on rue de seine.

Edited by Laidback (log)
cru

cru

Posted
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Posted
La Charlotte de l´isle (24, rue St. Louis en l´Ile on the Ile St-Louis) for decadent hot chocolate in an unusual setting.

Ah! I forgot about that one. I've been meaning to go there. I'll surely make it this time. Thanks for the reminder.

Marianne

Marianne

Posted
Posted
La Charlotte de l´isle (24, rue St. Louis en l´Ile on the Ile St-Louis) for decadent hot chocolate in an unusual setting.

agree with you there, the setting reminded me of hobbits and such, and the hot chocolate was delightfully rich

tighe

tighe

Posted
Posted
Pick up a copy of Food Lover's Guide to Paris by Patricia Wells.

Even better, pick up a copy of Gourmet Paris which is organised around where to find the best version of various foods/dishes...

Most women don't seem to know how much flour to use so it gets so thick you have to chop it off the plate with a knife and it tastes like wallpaper paste....Just why cream sauce is bitched up so often is an all-time mytery to me, because it's so easy to make and can be used as the basis for such a variety of really delicious food.

- Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Book of Food & Drink, 1946

fresh_a

fresh_a

Posted
Posted

Gourmet Paris?? What's that?

Anti-alcoholics are unfortunates in the grip of water, that terrible poison, so corrosive that out of all substances it has been chosen for washing and scouring, and a drop of water added to a clear liquid like Absinthe, muddles it." ALFRED JARRY

blog

fresh_a

fresh_a

Posted
Posted

Oh, I've read that in French, didn't know it existed in English..

Anti-alcoholics are unfortunates in the grip of water, that terrible poison, so corrosive that out of all substances it has been chosen for washing and scouring, and a drop of water added to a clear liquid like Absinthe, muddles it." ALFRED JARRY

blog

tighe

tighe

Posted
Posted
Gourmet Paris?? What's that?

Emmanuel Rubin's guide. Very useful book.

Most women don't seem to know how much flour to use so it gets so thick you have to chop it off the plate with a knife and it tastes like wallpaper paste....Just why cream sauce is bitched up so often is an all-time mytery to me, because it's so easy to make and can be used as the basis for such a variety of really delicious food.

- Victor Bergeron, Trader Vic's Book of Food & Drink, 1946

pete ganz

pete ganz

Posted
Posted
I would search the archives of my friend's David L.'s site for references to your requests. David is a serious expert(seriously funny) on the sweet side of Parisian life. Have fun!

The website

http://wwwdavidlebovitz.com/

seems out of order. Despite different tries through different routes it failed to appear. Please check with your friend to solve the problem.

You're missing the dot after the dub dub dub. Here's the correct link:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/

Bux

Bux

Posted
Posted
Creperie - Ty Breiz

Louisa, I have to ask if you've been to Brittany. Admittedly, I've not spent much time searching for a good creperie in Paris, but I've found all I've tired to be lacking in recent years. On the other hand, creperies in Brittany are not what they used to be either. In the sixties, there were a number of creperies to the east of the old Gare Montparnasse. Our favorite was a family place with a view of the streetwalkers on the rue du Montparnasse. It appears to be long gone.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

Brad K.

Brad K.

Posted
Posted

Bread out of the oven (or at least croissants) - you must go to Poujaran on R. Jean Nicot in the 7th. I believe they bake croissants at least 5 times daily, thus they are always warm or hot. Bread sticks are great too - I like the figue/noisette and the olive oil/salt ones myself.

Margaret Pilgrim

Margaret Pilgrim

Posted
Posted
In the sixties...there were a number of creperies to the east of the old Gare Montparnasse. Our favorite was a family place with a view of the streetwalkers on the rue du Montparnasse. It appears to be long gone.

I have found that often delight is not in the 'where' but the 'what'. To phrase it differently, what was your order? In Brittany? On Montparnasse?

Do you, or others, know of current Paris outlets who do this particular, i.e., your, crepe well?

eGullet member #80.

Louisa Chu

Louisa Chu

Posted
Posted
Creperie - Ty Breiz

Louisa, I have to ask if you've been to Brittany. Admittedly, I've not spent much time searching for a good creperie in Paris, but I've found all I've tired to be lacking in recent years. On the other hand, creperies in Brittany are not what they used to be either. In the sixties, there were a number of creperies to the east of the old Gare Montparnasse. Our favorite was a family place with a view of the streetwalkers on the rue du Montparnasse. It appears to be long gone.

Bux - yes, I've been to Brittany.

Movable Feast
John Whiting

John Whiting

Posted
Posted
Pick up a copy of Food Lover's Guide to Paris by Patricia Wells.

Even better, pick up a copy of Gourmet Paris which is organised around where to find the best version of various foods/dishes...

The latest edition of this appears to be 2002. Best bet, I've found, is Pudlo Paris, which stays pretty up-to-date. It's in French of course, but it only takes a bare minimum of menu French to make it useful.

As for Patricia Wells' Food Lover's Guide to Paris, it contains so many errors, as well as out-of-date entries, as to make it more useful as a vicarious experience than a practical guide.

John Whiting, London

Whitings Writings

Top Google/MSN hit for Paris Bistros

Bux

Bux

Posted
Posted
In the sixties...there were a number of creperies to the east of the old Gare Montparnasse. Our favorite was a family place with a view of the streetwalkers on the rue du Montparnasse. It appears to be long gone.

I have found that often delight is not in the 'where' but the 'what'. To phrase it differently, what was your order? In Brittany? On Montparnasse?

Do you, or others, know of current Paris outlets who do this particular, i.e., your, crepe well?

For me, the ham and egg galette (and for those new to this forum, "galette" is the term used to denote a crepe made with buckwheat flour and the kind of crepe that should be used for savory filllings) is the one by which to judge the creperie. It used to be the complet, which adds cheese, but all too often, the cheese used is inferior. The ham's not all that special most of the time either, but the egg--which should be sunnyside up peering out of the opening of the floded galette--is often a spectacular farm egg in Brittany, and less so special in Paris. Good farm eggs are not limited to Brittany, and I've had them in Paris as well, just at three star restaurants more often than creperies.

On the whole, I'm less pleased with more creative fillings, just as I'm not a fan of strangely creative pizzas. I've seen my son-in-law, who is Breton, enjoy them with interesting fillings, but then again it's always hard for me to object to andouille. I trust "andouille" doesn't bring Cajun sausages to mind in this forum, but for insurance I'll include this link.

Louisa, I didn't mean my question as a put down, by the way, I just wanted a reference point. I never would have suggested your name to Tony, if I wasn't a fan of your opinions.

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

Felice

Felice

Posted
Posted

Chocolat Chaud?

Best in Paris (but nobody ever believes me): the Special Sip Chocolat Chaud, with hazelnut paste, at the Sip brasserie, Sèvres-Babylone. They're often out of it. Or at La Maison du Chocolat, Delicabar (Le Bon Marché), or Les Deux Magots. Le Flore's chocolate is not bad either.

[

I sought out the Brasserie Sip the other day and had the Special Sip Chocolat Chaud at Pitipois' suggestion and wasn't disapointed. It was rich, creamy and delicious with a hint of hazlenut. And it wasn't too rich. I recently had hot chocolate at Laduree which I didn't like at all. It was like drinking a chocolat fondant--way too thick. Merci for the address Pitipois.

I often go to the cafe Danton at Odeon for hot chocolate before a movie. It's definitely not as good as the Sip's but it is made with real chocolate and they pour the milk into the melted chocolate right in front of you. There's nothing worse than ordering a hot chocolate at a cafe and drinking something that tastes like a powdered mix with water.

www.parisnotebook.wordpress.com

Ptipois

Ptipois

Posted
Posted
I sought out the Brasserie Sip the other day and had the Special Sip Chocolat Chaud at Pitipois' suggestion and wasn't disapointed.  It was rich, creamy and delicious with a hint of hazlenut.  And it wasn't too rich.  I recently had hot chocolate at Laduree which I didn't like at all.  It was like drinking a chocolat fondant--way too thick.  Merci for the address Pitipois.

Thank you! At last someone who trusts me! :laugh:

Chez Ptipois
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