Enough Choucroute!!

After our Super Bowl dinner last night (which ended in mourning), in which we ate enough bratwurst, kielbasi, pierogies, and sauerkraut for both teams, I can only say "ça suffit!!". I don't want to see another plate of sauerkraut and sausage until the next Super Bowl! I've had my fill and now we can move on to more French-like dishes and leave Alsace behind. When we go to Au Pied du Cochon, I'll just have French onion soup like Penny. Will they allow us to order only onion soup? Maybe that and dessert? Where was that photo of the crème brûlée that looked so rich and creamy with a nice crackly top?

And, oh my goodness gracious, looking for that photo of the perfect crème brûlée, I came across Paris-Bistro.com that has a list of bistros by arrondissement. Here are the bistros for the 4th arrondissement in the St. Paul area. We are going to have to decide which is "our" neighborhood bistro.

Now all I have to do is pig out on pastries so I'm driven to say ça suffit and then we can bypass all the patisseries. Although I took some pastries from Moio's to Will and Jen's on Saturday night and we ate them all up without reaching that point. Of course, I had a good deal of help eating mine from the little munchkin. Hm. What kind of pastries will customs allow us to bring back? I know that Pierre Herme has macarons packaged to go but I don't think I want to pay 76 euros for 40 of them. Of course it is cheaper than the 4 euro individual price...

Franprix, Monoprix, Shopi and Paris Supermarkets

Penny said David Lebovitz had nothing positive to say about Franprix. And on his blog he says he "decided to stop going to my local Franprix and Monoprix because, well, I wanted to go somewhere where they treated customers like human beings."

So now he goes to his local Shopi supermarket (but they aren't on the list of Illy coffee sellers and there isn't one very close to Rue St Paul). But then, wouldn't you know it? I found out that Shopi is part of groupe Carrefour so Lebovitz is still shopping a conglomerate. He must have simply run into some kind clerks at his local store. Since Lebovitz lives (or lived) over by Boulevard Richard Lenoir, I'm assuming he goes to the rue Amelot Shopi. But I don't think I care too much for its looks. Too much like the old Giant Eagle in Oakland.


Now here's the Monoprix on rue St. Antoine. I must admit it looks more like a department store (which it is) than a supermarket but I'm hoping it has the food in the basement (like in Lausanne - or the City of Paris!).


Yelp had some reviews on this Monoprix:

"This establishment has saved me so much money and helped me live in Paris without being absolutely poor! They literally have everything from groceries to school supplies to clothes."
"Monoprix could definitely be the French counterpart to our very own Target in the States... they offer a little of everything."
"They stock this one generic brand of smoked salmon that costs 3 euros for like a pound and I used to have that as my day's food...Also, two words: coconut yogurt...Their wine selection is also stellar if you are into buying wines for less than 5 euros, and who isn't?"

And this for Fernando:

"They had cooking tools that were affordable, like a few micro-sized glass bowls I bought for souvenirs for my fellow food industry workers back home. It helped that they said, "Made in France" on the bottom. Plus, for 1 euro, you can't beat it. I also went and bought a few jars of Dijon mustard and while you may be thinking, "What the?" When Dijon is used so frequently in a lot of recipes, it costs a whopping $5 in the states, when I can buy it for 1 euro in Paris. So, I bought a few jars. It didn't help that they confiscated all but one at the Montreal airport, but managed to miss one jar I had at the bottom. Ha! Delicious contraband mustard tastes much better."

Now, why would they confiscate mustard? Unless it was in a carryon.

So you see we have a lot to look forward to, no matter what supermarket we choose. And to get to the Monoprix, we just have to walk to the right up rue St. Paul and make another right on rue St. Antoine and it is half a block down. Almost as good as in Lausanne when the Manor department store was across the street! Oh, and look. Up the rue st. Antoine is another little supermarche, the G20. But it is only open Monday-Saturday, 9am-8:30pm. No 24 hour supermarkets here!

Más Café

Is that "plus de café"?
In any case, let's go right to the source of those claims that French coffee stinks: David Lebovitz. He has a follow up about what he said in The Sweet Life on his blog: Where to Find a Good Cup of Coffee in Paris. He says to "ask for café serré, a “tight” coffee" (ristretto in Italian) and gives a list of places he recommends (mainly Italian), including an Italian Espressamente Illy concept store and café located next to the Opéra Garnier. In another post he says "living in France, I’ve gained a new appreciation for Illy café, which is all but impossible to ruin."

At the Illy website, you can search for locations to buy or drink Illy coffee and there are 118 places in Paris, including the Monoprix at 1 Rue De l'hôtel Saint Paul - 71 Rue Saint Antoine, right near our apartment. The Carrefoure Hypermarche also carries it but that is way out west next to the Boulevard Peripherique and way too far for me to want to go, even for Carrefoure - which is really a French Walmart and I shouldn't want to go there anyway.

And, oh good Lord, Illy even has an Illy iphone locator app.
And it's free!
I wonder if David Lebovitz knows that...

Oh my goodness. David Lebovitz ISN'T the only one who thinks Parisian coffee sucks. Here's an article by Oliver Strand in the New York Times Magazine blog: Ristretto | Why Is Coffee in Paris So Bad?. Strand really investigates it as a phenomenon beyond personal taste. So, read that (and its 3 pages of comments) and then we'll go pick up some Illy coffee at Monoprix, if we really can't stand the French taste. But I'm willing to give the stuff a try. As the master roaster and bean buyer for the French coffee giant Cafés Richard said: “The flavors are different. The experience is different. A bowl of café au lait isn’t trying to be a cappuccino.”

Maybe it's like whether you prefer a dark roast or a light roast, a robust African or Sumatran coffee or a mild Colombian coffee.

Paris by Mouth

I ran across the Paris by Mouth blog on the website of Alexander Lobrano (Hungry for Paris). It compiles postings about Paris from food writers/bloggers and cookbook authors, including Lobrano, Patricia Wells, Clotilde Dusoulier, and Dorie Greenspan, so they are all plenty qualified. If you go into Mouth Who on their website, it lists the contributors and also their "Top 3 Paris Tastes".

On Paris by Mouth you can search for restaurants by arrondissement and they will list the ones they have reviewed and give you basic information about the restaurant and then link you off to the reviews on their members' blogs. For instance, here is the listing for L’As du Fallafel, which is obligatory.

We'll have to keep an eye on Paris by Mouth so we'll know where the free wine-tastings are when we're in Paris. You can subscribe to their weekly digest of postings and, oh my, they have a guide to Paris bakeries with a google map! But they don't list any in our neighborhood! We'll have to explore and suggest some to them to review.