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!

]]> http://thetomatoknife.com/2012/01/best-of-2011-my-favorite-foodie-finds-paris/feed/ 0 http://thetomatoknife.com/2012/01/best-of-2011-my-favorite-foodie-finds-berlin/ http://thetomatoknife.com/2012/01/best-of-2011-my-favorite-foodie-finds-berlin/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:52:07 +0000 Joy Anna Becvarik http://thetomatoknife.com/?p=2026 2011 was quite a year – full of travels and culinary adventures!

In the course of 12 months, I spent time in Berlin, Scotland, San Francisco and New Mexico – not to mention Alsace, the Loire Valley, and Bordeaux. I’ve never traveled so much – and, uh yes, sorry to admit, written so little! I’ve been taking notes though, and here is the first in a series of posts on my travels and favorite foodie finds in 2011.

Berlin, I must say, was one of my favorite trips of the year. I remember watching the Wall come down on TV when I was nine years old and have since had a deep fascination with the city. When we arrived on a Friday night last November, it felt exactly how I had imaged – modern (most of the city was destroyed during World War II and has since been rebuilt), yet full of history.

We only spent a long weekend, so it wasn’t enough time to see and taste everything, but we took full advantage of the time we had. It helped having good friends to show us around and take us to their favorite spots. The first place we headed was the Winterfeldtplatz Market in Schoeneberg. It had a different feeling than Parisian farmers’ markets. For one, it was rather calm (no one banged into my heels with their caddy) and most people were just arriving at lunchtime (when markets here begin to close up shop). For two, there were lots of samples and yummy items ready to eat (we tried melted “käse” on bread and “apfelkuchen”, apple cake). People didn’t seem to be doing their weekly shopping, but going to have Saturday lunch and buy a few apples or whatnots. The funniest difference, though, were the little children – instead of nibbling on pain au chocolat, they were happily walking around with sausages. I’m serious – miniature chubby hands and huge slimy sausages!

Our friends also introduced us to some of Berlin’s innovative ways of preparing and serving food. Kochhaus (also in Schoeneberg), for example, is a one-of-a-kind grocery store that specializes in “ready-to-make” meals. Basically, several “recipe stations” are set up around the shop and at these stations you find every ingredient you need to make the proposed recipe (down to a teaspoon of spice). The directions are printed on leaflets for you to take home. It reminded me of paint-by-number, but for cooking. Check out this article in the New York Times: “A Streamlined Approach to Eating at Kochhaus”

While it was fun looking around this “walk-in-cookbook”, we also had innovation in restaurants to check out. That’s how we ended up at Vapiano for lunch one day. Though it has since gone international, the first spot opened in Germany in 2002. This is an Italian restaurant where you use a “clip card” (kind of like a credit card) to keep track of your bill. You hand over this card, order from a menu on the wall, watch your food being prepared before your eyes and then sit down to enjoy. I appreciated that the restaurant used fresh ingredients. I even saw one customer picking basil off a plant to sprinkle on his pasta – apparently this was allowed!

We also stumbled on the mittendrin restaurant/café where I had a “flammkuchen” (I like to translate this as a “flaming kitchen”) with spinach, feta cheese and olives. Quite nice.

Above all, one of our favorite spots was the Solar, a bar on the 17^th floor of a 1970s skyscraper. The view was amazing, the DJ excellent and the drink menu as long as a novel (I chose the raspberry mojito).

Last but not least, we ended our trip with a traditional German meal at Joseph Roth Diele (Postdamerstrasse 75). The restaurant is named after the 19^th century writer and was bustling on a Monday at lunchtime. The decor was warm and inviting, and the menu fully in German! Fortunately, we had our friends to translate. I got my fill of German spaetzle just in time to take the plane back to Paris that afternoon…

Though nothing to do with food, here are three must-sees while visiting Berlin:

- The Reichstag Dome (admission is free, but advanced booking required)

- German Historical Museum (you’ll spend hours here)

- East Side Gallery (the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall decorated with colorful murals)

Like I said, a weekend isn’t enough and I’m sure we left lots to be discovered in Berlin.

Any other recommendations to share?

Here’s a French-inspired dish for you, but first let me write an important reminder to myself: there are no outdoor food markets in Paris on Mondays. Not anywhere, ever.

Back to the gambas and the restaurant that inspired me to cook these large prawns in a creamy saffron sauce with onions and garlic. Chez Bruno (Place Michel Debré, Amboise 37400) is one of my favorite wine-bar bistros in the Loire Valley – actually, in all of France. It’s a tiny place located just at the foot of the Amboise Castle, and in the summer and early fall you can sit out on their terrace under dreamy umbrellas. The first reason to go the Chez Bruno is for the view of the castle and the pleasant atmosphere. The second reason is for the wine (try La Closerie de Chanteloup’s chenin or sauvignon-blanc, for example). The third reason is for the satisfying, no nonsense French cuisine. We went there for the first time about a year ago, and that’s when I ordered prawns in a cream sauce over rice. Ever since then, it’s been in the back of my head to recreate a similar dish.

Here’s what I came up with (for 4 people):

Shopping List

24 large prawns (cooked)

½ onion (chopped0

1 close garlic (minced)

1 cup (20 cl) light cream

Several pinches ground saffron

Olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 cups uncooked rice

Recipe:

1. Peel and prepare the prawns. Set aside.

2. Brown the onion and garlic in olive oil.

3. Add the light cream, saffron, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer over low heat, stirring regularly.

4. Add the prawns and continue simmering until they are fully heated; stir regularly.

5. Cook the rice and continue simmering the sauce to bring out flavor. If it becomes too thick, add a little milk until the sauce is the consistency you want.

6. Add a little butter/salt to the rice if desired. Dish onto plates and pour the prawn sauce over it. Bon ap’!

Starting today, the Paris farmers’ markets are “en fête,” which means they’re celebrating with music, photo contests, and all sorts of fun goings-on.

When I get back from the market, I think I’ll make my “Buddha Bowl,” a cold rice-noodle salad piled with fresh, raw vegetables. I’ve been calling this dish “Buddha Bowl” for no apparent reason, except that it sounds cute- and I always seem to feel that much more “zen” after eating one. I naively thought this pet name was my own little invention, until I just googled it (I’m chuckling since I just used “google” as a verb). Apparently, a whole slew of bloggers have a plate-less recipe with the same name and, worse… it’s an actual bowl that one can buy! Since I’m more or less addressing the subject of “enlightenment,” I’d prefer to stay in my own little world and pretend it’s just mine- my interpretation of it in any case.

For my “Buddha Bowl,” I make a three-ingredient sauce, using orange juice and agave nectar as the secret ingredients. The orange juice gives a slight citrus taste and the nectar sweetens it just enough.

For the toppings, you can obvious choose whatever you like. For me, ripe avocado and carrot ribbons are an absolute must.

Shopping List

Vermicelli rice noodles

Tofu (cubed)

Sesame oil (one splash for two people)

Soy sauce (two splashes for two people)

Sesame and sunflower seeds (small handfuls)

Red pepper flakes

Carrot ribbons (made by using a vegetable peeler)

Cucumber (diced)

Lettuce

Bean sprouts

Cashews

Cilantro (or coriander)

For the sauce (two people):

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons soy sauce

¾ teaspoon agave nectar

Recipe:

1. Stir-fry the tofu (until it’s golden brown) in the sesame oil, soy sauce and red pepper flakes. Just before the tofu is done, add the sesame and sunflower seeds so they will be slightly grilled, but not burnt.

2. Chop and prepare all the cold ingredients.

3. Cook the rice noodles and rinse in cold water* (move around under the faucet with a fork or your fingers to separate them). Shake excess water out of the colander and let sit a minute.

4. Prepare the sauce by combing the three ingredients and stirring.

5. Place noodles in bowls and cover with about half the sauce. Add the tofu, the veggies and then the remaining sauce. Decorate with the cashews and cilantro.

*The package always says to soak the rice noodles in water, but I’ve never been successful doing this. I just boil them like regular pasta (but only for about a minute- you have to taste) and immediately run them under cold water. Don’t let them cook too long or they’ll get mushy.

This is the perfect dish for a hot day, as the tofu can be prepared ahead of time and served cold.

Amboise, a small town in the Loire Valley, is known primarily for its overbearing medieval castle- once home to some of France’s most famous rulers, as well as to Catherine of Medici’s ten children!

Amboise is also renowned for Clos-Lucé, the stately home where Leonardo da Vinci (invited by the French King Francois I) spent the last years of his life.  We recently discovered that Amboise is also noted for it’s Sunday morning open-air market- for us, this meant the discovery of some new cheeses and cheese desserts.

At first I thought it was a mistake- that the unidentified food item sitting on the vendor’s booth was burnt, really burnt. Turns out, that’s the way a tourteau au fromage is supposed to be. Made from thick, creamy fromage blanc this cake is originally from the Poitou-Charentes region of France. Outside, it’s round and looks like a turtle shell, or rather a crab shell (in French, a tourteau is a large crab). Did I mention it looks like a burnt crab shell? Inside, it’s light, airy and slightly sweet. We were told we could eat this delight either with an aperitif or for breakfast- it didn’t actually make it that far.

The next foodie adventure was camembert au Calvados- basically soft cheese soaked in alcohol and then covered in bread crumbs. Calvados is a brandy made of distilled apple or pear from Normandy. I had trouble deciding if I actually liked this cheese or not- it was smooth and creamy like ordinary camembert, yet had a very strong kick, thanks to the Calvados. We ended up saying, “It’s different.” Definitely worth trying, but might not make regular appearances on the cheese platter.

Next post: Still in the Loire, but this time…chocolate in Bracieux.

Back from San Francisco- with lots of foodie stories to share!

When I travel, it’s all about food- well, at least 85%. It’s about trying new fare and seeing what’s in, what’s local. It’s about color and spice and just plain satisfying the palate.

Food-wise, San Francisco is a beautiful fusion of culture. I felt like I traveled the world in only a couple weeks. Sometimes I almost felt like I was back in France (French-inspired cafés and bakeries run rampant, as do fine red wines and decadent cheeses). Other times I was transported to far-off places like China, Italy, and Thailand. San Francisco is definitely the place if you like variety- high quality, healthy variety that is. What struck me most about the city is its abundance of fresh, organic produce and gourmet-style vegetarian cuisine.

You can’t write just one post on an entire trip, so I’ll be spreading my San Francisco food adventures over several days. I’ll talk about a few excellent restaurants, including my new all-time favorite, Green’s. I’ll also fill you in on tea, coffee, fortune cookies and cupcakes. Let’s start with farmers’ markets, though- essential when visiting this vibrant , farmer-friendly city.

I made it to two a couple open-air markets, but the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market was my favorite: a definite must if you’re in San Francisco on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. Overtaking the Ferry Building Market Place in the Embarcadero neighborhood, this market has a great community vibe. It’s happy. It’s bustling. It’s full of mouth-watering samples.

My mom and I started our morning out at Frog Hollow Farm’s café just inside the Ferry Building back doors. Actually, we ended up spending more than just one morning here- thanks to the cherry almond scones and well-made coffee drinks.

Revved up and ready to go, we headed to the clock tower to meet up with a good college friend of mine and take in the humming sights, sounds and tastes of the market.

Meyer lemons were everywhere, from Frog Hollow Farm’s zest-filled lemon marmalade to lemon-flavored quark cheese. These sweet, fragrant lemons are originally from China, but are the craze in California today.

Quark cheese, originally made in Eastern Europe, proved to be a special, and addictive, find. It’s a soft cheese, kind of a cross between ricotta and cream cheese. While the garlic, lemon and vanilla flavors were all fun, we all ended up favoring the latter. The cheese naturally has a slight tang which gives a subtle kick to the vanilla. Such quark is great at breakfast, spread over warm toast or homemade scones.

We eagerly wandered from stand to stand in awe at all the edible originality for sale. Tangled kiwi vines- well, those aren’t actually edible, just a sight for the eyes. Stinging nettles- yes, those are edible, when cooked. Cap’n Mike’s Indian Smoked Salmon, (basted in honey). Herbal sugars- such as lemon (there it is again!) verbena and rose petal- and dried Thai basil at the Allstar Organics booth. Crispy, juicy Asian pears (which had a slight lemon flavor by the way).

I could go on and on, but I’ll just mention a few more finds…

On more of a French note, we encountered huge bundles of fragrant, organic lavender; some not-so-ordinary mushrooms; rich, creamy cheeses; fine red wines; and excellent renditions of real French bread. Just inside the Ferry Building doors, for example, lies Far West Fungi, a small shop that offers all sorts of intriguing mushrooms I’d never heard of before (like Nameko and Pioppini). Also inside the building is the Cowgirl Creamery, the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant and the Acme Bread Company. The best way to combine it all (and feel a little French) is to sit down for wine, cheese, marinated mushrooms and baguette at the wine bar.

We ended up going back to the Ferry Building several times. On one such occasion, we enjoyed two 2007 Californian reds: a Scribe Pinot Noir, Carnezos-Sonoma and a Nalle Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley. The cheese: a ½ round of Mt. Tam. The bread: an entire, fresh épi baguette.

Whether you start the day or finish it at the Ferry Plaza Market and Ferry Building merchants, you can’t go wrong. The market itself gets my “kudos for sustainability” for it’s support of local farmers and various other environmentally-friendly initiatives. The vendors, for example, only dispense bags that are compostable or recyclable- important since, as I learned, the City program doesn’t recycle just any old plastic bag!

All the market excitement almost made me wish we didn’t have dinner reservations that evening. I wanted to shop and cook, shop and cook- especially some of the stranger looking mushrooms. Fortunately, Green’s restaurant, and their mushrooms, was well worth the sacrifice.

Next post: favorite San Francisco restaurants…

Some exotic spice, no?  The one that giddily finds its way into Indian and Thai cookbooks; the one I’d always ignored.  Until my most recent cooking adventure, I’d always skipped that part of the recipe, replacing the unknown with the familiar.  I only ever thought freshly squeezed lime juice could be my accomplice in Pad Thai crime.  I knew this friendly fruit could easily replace the so-called “tamarind,” and at least I knew where it came from and what tang it’d give my noodles.

That’s where my story starts, actually- with my trip to the Paris-based Asian grocery store, Tang Frère (*see note below), to buy the ingredients for one of my all-time favorites: homemade Pad Thai. There I was buying bean sprouts, leafy greens, hot chili sauce, carrots, rice noodles, lime- you name it- all those ingredients I usually buy to make my dish.  Yes, there I was, minding my business, when I looked up and saw a stack of bright red boxes marked “sweet tamarind.” Wow, I thought.  It really exists.  And it’s here in France, in front of me.  And, wow, it’s a… fruit?  That ‘s funny, whatever it is, it’s in a… it’s in a pod- a strange little four-inch brown pod. In my moment of folly, I didn’t know anything from anything, except that “tamarind paste” must come from this “tamarind” fruit.  Decided: If I was going to make Pad Thai, I was going to make it “the real way.”  My very spontaneous idea was first to make tamarind paste.

As I learned, tamarind is a fruit that grows on a tamarind tree. The outside, indeed, is a curvy, bumpy pod which is filled with large seeds, a fibrous spine and, of course, pulp. Normally, tamarind is fairly acidic, getting sweeter as it ripens.  The ripe pulp can be eaten just like that or, after being made into a paste, can be used in cooking.  Tamarind contributes to the sweet/sour taste in a variety of recipes; popular in India, it’s one of the main ingredients in chutney, for example.

Cracking open my first pod and tasting the pulp, I was reminded of a date- a similar chewy, sticky texture and a similar dark red/brown color.  Thus, my problem: I thought tamarind was supposed to be acidic.  This was quite sweet.

I forged on and tried using a few different (intuitive) methods of making my tamarind paste. I tried soaking the peeled whole in boiling water, then picking through the seeds and fibers and crushing the pulp through a sieve.  But, it was too liquid, tasted like water and was too sweet.  Then I tried again, with less water, at room temperature.  (I know, there was no “constant” in my experiment- very bad).  This time, my paste was too thick and still too sweet.  I reminded myself I had bought “sweet tamarind” from Thailand and began to wonder if maybe there were other kinds. Then I realized I had no idea what tamarind paste was supposed to taste like or what the consistency should be.

In short, I ended up resorting back to my lime for that evening’s Pad Thai.  I’m not finished with this one, though!  Next task: find some sample tamarind paste (apparently, it’s sold either as a block that has to be prepared or ready-made in a jar).  Then, back to the tamarind pods (once I figure out if I can find some sour ones!), finger smooshing and sieving.

Anyone know more about tamarind and making the paste from scratch?

*Tang Frère is an Asian grocery store not to be missed.  It has two locations in Paris: 168, Avenue de Choisy (13^th arrondissement, China Town) and 41, Rue Labrouste (15^th arrondissement).  Although both will entice you with an array of not-so-common products, the China Town location is the largest and most well-known.  Fresh tofu, rice paper wrappers for spring rolls, wasabi…

I was planning on writing more about fish today, but have gotten a bit side-tracked thanks to the

This morning I set out to discover a new farmers’ market in a neighborhood that I don’t know very well, and… what a treat!

Located in the 16th arrondissement, this food market finds its home twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday mornings) on avenue du Président-Wilson, between rue Debrousse and place d’Iéna.  I discovered the market thanks to a great little book, Cuisiner comme un chef à Paris by Corinne Lacoste.  Armed with a few canvas shopping bags and 30 euros, I got off at metro stop Iéna, curious about what I might find.  At first sight, the market looked like any other, two lines of discolored white awnings paving the way down the center margin of the street.  Once I eyed the first stands, however, I knew this market was different than the others I’ve been to in Paris so far.  The fruits, veggies and various other delicacies all shouted quality and originality.  I always take it as a good sign when the bell peppers and tomatoes come in awkward shapes and unique hues.  Since it’s both the middle of the week and les grandes vacances (summer vacation) there weren’t too many customers; the atmosphere was calm and relaxed- not the usual Parisian market!  Nevertheless, a line of friendly, talkative vendors smiled behind each stand.  I wandered from booth to booth looking, gaping and asking questions.  I was enticed by both the sellers’ recommendations and the products themselves.

What did I end up with? While I was tempted by almost everything, there were a few things I just couldn’t pass up.  I was especially amused by the display of unusual colors and bought a bagful of purple potatoes- perfect for either a summer salad or finely-sliced chips, the vendor told me.

Since I’d started off on a purple theme (though I quickly deviated), I was pulled toward an enticing stand with a wide array of natural violet shades, from eggplants to choux-raves (kohlrabies, also known as turnip cabbages).  This was Joel Thiebault’s vegetable stand and quickly became one of my favorites.  How could I not enjoy buying a mini purple cauliflower and a bunch of happy-looking squash blossoms from the same maraîcher that supplies the well-known chef Pierre Gagnaire?  According to my little book, Thiebault’s produce is sought after by Gagnaire and other renowned Parisian chefs.  My squash blossoms (whose fragrance instantly took me back to my childhood in New Mexico) were carefully wrapped up in brown paper and handed to me like a bouquet of delicate flowers.  The young woman who was helping me also assisted me in choosing from an endless variety of mysterious-looking tomatoes. I ended up with three sorts: one green, one red and several tiny ones (red, yellow and greenish-red).  I promise to take better note of the names next time!

I always appreciate the chalk-board signs hanging above the products at open-air markets.  They give the name, price and where the product comes from.  Whenever possible I buy local, both for the environment and to support community farmers.  At this market it was no problem finding a wide array of French-grown produce.

Fresh brown eggs, organic peaches, chives, spicy Tunisian-style olives, small round Portuguese breads… Oh, I can’t forget the salt.

The last items I picked up were two bags of sel de Guérande.  This is natural sea salt that is harvested in the marshes of the Guérande peninsula in Southern Brittany.  It’s rather course and collected by hand using traditional methods.  Sel de Guérande is especially well-known for its high concentration of magnesium and low concentration of sodium.  The vendor, Lutetia, proposes a large variety of salt products.  I ended up with a package of salt mixed with different herbs, including basil, rosemary and sarriette (savory).  I was told it would be useful in cooking such things as fish and vegetable stocks, or for use in salads.  Last, a tiny package of sel à la cannelle (cinnamon) winked at me and jumped in my bag- I told it no, but it insisted!

In simple words, the Marché Président-Wilson is a place for rare-finds and high quality.  I’ve already dug into my yellow and red-green tomatoes- full of just-off-the-vine flavor and dripping with sweet juice.

Now for the big question: What am I going to do with the rest of my market treasures?  My head’s already swarming with ideas…

What would goat-cheese filled squash blossoms à la cannelle be like?