Best of 2011: My Favorite Foodie Finds (Paris)

Joy Anna Becvarik — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:05:56 +0000

Like I said in the 1^st post in this series (on Berlin), 2011 was filled with lots of foodie adventures.

I made some fun discoveries traveling, yet many of my favorite finds were right here in Paris. From restaurants and wine bars to markets and vegetables, here are my top picks for the year.

Favorite Restaurant

Le vin qui chante (“the singing wine”)

Sebastien found this one for Valentine’s Day, though we didn’t celebrate on the actual day – which I recommend! Whenever we go out in Paris on the real Valentine’s Day we’re confronted with too many people, overwhelmed waiters and set-menus – none of which lead to the ideal dining experience. Instead, we find it better to go to a nice restaurant on any other evening in February.

Our meal at Le vin qui chante was excellent and we highly recommend it for a special night out. I enjoyed the “menu gourmand”: three courses, each paired with a glass of wine.

Address: 52, rue Sainte Anne (2e)

Telephone: 01 40 20 03 70

Metro: Auber, Quatre Septembre or Pyramides

Favorite Wine Bar

La Trinquette

A hidden-away bar just north of the Marais that specializes in wines from the Languedoc region in France. Very good tapenade and cheeses to accompany your wine.

Addresse: 62, rue des Gravilliers (3e)

Telephone: 09 52 07 80 60

Metro: Arts et Métiers

Favorite Crepe Stand

La Creperie du Comptoir

This is the most “gourmet” crepe stand in Paris, and offers both savory galettes (buckwheat) and sweet crepes. You may take crepes to go or stand inside at the counter for wine and tapas.

Address: 3, carrefour de l’Odéon (6e)

Telephone: 01 44 27 07 97

Metro: Odéon

Favorite Farmers’ Market

Marché biologique des Batignolles

100% organic! Excellent quality. Low-key, down-to-earth atmosphere.

When: Saturdays 9am-3pm

Where: 34, boulevard des Batignolles (17e)

Metro: Place de Clichy

Favorite Vegetable Discovery

Chou-rave

Kohlrabi, also known as German turnip or turnip cabbage, is easy to find at Parisian farmers’ markets. It’s a member of the cabbage family and great eaten raw. I like to grate it into lentil salads for example.

Favorite Vegetable Re-discovered

Choux de Bruxelles

Brussel sprouts are especially abundant in the winter months. I eat them like popcorn! Cut them in half, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake until they are brown and crispy. This is my version of crispy kale.

Favorite Bread

Quinoa and chestnut bread from Naturalia health food store. I like it toasted and smeared with salted butter.

Favorite Biscottes

Le Moulin du Pivert’s Spelt biscottes (without palm oil)

“Biscottes” are little crunchy toasts often eaten for breakfast in France. Finding anything without palm oil is difficult these days (yes, including something as simple as breakfast toasts!), thus I was happy to find these. They’re sold in health food stores.

Favorite Cheese

Fourme d’ambert

This is a creamy blue cheese from the Auvergne region. It is amazing in an endive and walnut salad.

Favorite “I can’t believe I ate that!”

Escargots with butter and garlic at Chez Chartier

I know, I really did eat snails!

Mardi Gras Crêpes (Recipe)

Joy Anna Becvarik — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:10:26 +0000

It’s Mardi Gras! While Halloween may be underplayed in France, Mardi Gras certainly isn’t. A tradition stemming largely from the Middle Ages, children and teenagers (and even some adults) giddily dress up in all kinds of colorful costumes for a day of festive revelry. No trick-or-treating or candies for this celebration; instead, French tradition calls for chocolate-smeared, sugar-sprinkled and jam-filled crêpes.

Mardi Gras, commonly known as Fat or Strove Tuesday, goes hand-in-hand with Carnival, a wild festival which has origins in ancient Rome and Greece. Back then, for example, pagan celebrations honoring the gods Dionysus and Bacchus (Greek and Roman gods of wine), were a time of fun and drunken merriment. Another celebration from ancient Rome, the Festival of Saturn, gave citizens the chance to dress up as members of the society that they were not (the rich as the poor, women as men, slaves as masters). Such festivities became closer to the Carnival we know today with the rise of Christianity. Christians supposedly adopted the pagan tradition of rowdy merry making, incorporating it into their own religious practices. The word “carnival” comes from the Latin “carne vale,” which roughly translates as “farewell flesh.” In medieval times, Carnival would have been the last chance to eat meat before Lent.

Carnival is still celebrated around the world today and ends with Mardi Gras. The Fat Tuesday we know today (complete with feasting, costumes and revelry) is, thus, a combination of both Pagan and Christian festivities. The actual date changes each year, depending on Easter. It always falls the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40 days of Lent. It is said that “Fat Tuesday” is so-named because of the tradition of using up all the butter, oil, eggs and cream in the house before the fasting period. Thus, the French tradition of making and eating such goodies as fried beignets and crêpes.

Here’s my most-recent (and easy) crêpe recipe:

What’s probably already in your cupboard

2 eggs

½ liter whole milk (or less)

250 grams all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon melted, unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Beat eggs and add about half the milk.

2. Begin adding the flour/salt and mix, alternating with more milk, until all the flour is used up and you get a thick ribbon of batter when you lift up the whisk.

3. Add the melted butter.

4. Let batter sit in the fridge for several hours (this helps it settle and really does make the crêpes easier to cook).

5. If needed, add a little more milk just before cooking.

5. Cook (kind of like pancakes) on an appropriate crêpe pan or other hot skillet (there’s a whole spreading/flipping technique, but that merits another post entirely…).

Make lots and enjoy with your favorite toppings.

The Tomato Knife » crepes

Best of 2011: My Favorite Foodie Finds (Paris)

Mardi Gras Crêpes (Recipe)