The versatile marvel behind eclairs, profiteroles & more If French pastries are your thing, you’ve certainly already encountered the humble pâte à choux, or choux […]
French Choux Pastry: A Short History
Food
Inside Paroles de Fromagers, a Great Stop for Cheese-Tasting in Paris
If cheese-tasting in Paris sounds like your speed, this unassuming little shop, tasting bar, and “cheese school” may be just the ticket. Paroles de Fromagers […]
Decrypting French Restaurants: Brasseries, Bistros, Table d’Hôtes & More
With its some 40,000 restaurants and eateries, Paris is, as poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen quipped in a signing of his own lithograph print depicting […]
French Brioche: Short History of a Popular Sweet Bread
True, the baguette is the most familiar bread staple in French households. Bakeries reportedly produce some six billion elongated loaves each year, and it’s believed […]
How to Save Money on Eating Out in Paris & France: A Few Tips
Harboring more Michelin-starred restaurants within its borders than many other countries combined, France is widely associated with “la haute gastronomie“: high-end cuisine that remains frustratingly […]
A Few Paris Cafés Coveted & Recommended by (Today’s) Writers
Good Spots For Working, Thinking & World-Gazing Generations of writers have elected Parisian cafés as ersatz offices, even second homes. How many novels, short stories […]
The Curious History of the Croissant (& How It Became France’s Favorite Pastry)
There’s something mysterious– even alchemical— about the qualities that have to come together to yield the ideal croissant. It needs to be buttery and tender, […]
5 Classic French Desserts & Sweets for Christmas
As this goes to press, December has snuck up on us– and I find myself craving a few classic French desserts and sweet nibbles typically […]
Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin: A Modern Temple to Wine (Making & Tasting)
It would take a 21st-century team of curators and wine experts for Bordeaux to get its Cité du Vin, a massive complex dedicated to wine […]
Where to Taste Delicious French Pastries in Paris: A Few Picks
The history of French pastry-making is, like almost everything else in the Gallic world, passionately disputed. Some claim it starts with the 13th-century baker Régnaut-Barbon, […]
In Paris, Café Terraces Spill Into the Streets Amid Health Crisis
The outdoor café is part of what gives Paris its charm and energy. Whether it’s occupied for breakfast and morning coffee, pre-dinner apéritifs with friends, […]
Some of the Most Beautiful Restaurants in Paris: 5 Stunning Settings
Recent trends in food have tended to de-emphasize the importance of the dining room from an aesthetic point of view– or at least pretend to. […]
The Forgotten History of Paris’ Wine Market (Halle aux Vins) & Warehouses
The area around the Quai St-Bernard at the edge of Paris’ Latin Quarter is strikingly contemporary– in contrast to most of the 5th arrondissement, where […]
Inside Le Train Bleu, One of the Most Beautiful Brasseries in Paris
During the heyday of train travel in the late nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries, rail stations in major cities were places where wealthy travelers showed off […]
History of Champagne: How the English Helped Birth Bubbly, & Other Facts
There’s something deceptively timeless about raising a toast over a glass of champagne (or some other form of sparkling white wine). It’s easy to imagine […]
Inside Maison Julien, the Bakery Awarded Best Baguette in Paris This Year
It’s an annual tradition that’s certainly not taken lightly. Every year since 1994, a panel of judges gathers in the French capital to select the […]
Why Brittany Butter is Salted (& Coveted): A Bit of History
My partner and I almost always have a block of salted Brittany butter in the fridge, and usually there’s a “backup” somewhere in the freezer, […]
Some of the Best Places for Coffee in Paris: Roasters & More
It’s starting to feel like a routine to note that Paris has been getting significantly better at producing things it was once mediocre at. Craft […]
In Review: Clover Green, for an Elegant but Relaxed Meal in Paris’ Saint-Germain
It can be surprisingly difficult to find a “traditional” French restaurant in the capital that offer reasonable fixed-priced menus and thoughtfully presented, delicious dishes. But this […]
Paris Cocktail Week: Sample the City’s Most Creative Drinks
Cocktails haven’t always been a strong suit in the French capital. Just a few years ago, procuring a decent mixed drink– much less a thoughtfully […]
