Category Archives: Left Bank

Au Revoir to Paris’s Best Cassoulet Restaurant

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One of my favorite cold-weather comfort-food meals in Paris is cassoulet. A few years ago, I stumbled across the very best cassoulet I’ve ever tasted, at Au Bon Saint Pourcain — a tiny restaurant in the shadow of Saint Sulpice church. But fellow fans of the eatery began to notice in mid-2014 that the restaurant was temporarily closed, with signs in the window indicating “Ferme Pour Travaillez (Closed for Work).” After several months of seemingly no progress, patrons–locals and visitors alike–began to question when the renovations would be complete. And now we know the disappointing answer. Continue Reading →

Can’t Get to the Beach? Paris Brings It to You!

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The notion that everything in Paris closes up for the monthof August is slowly becoming more rumor than fact. The tightness of the global economy means that for more and more Parisians “staycations” are becoming the norm, and these City of Light residents definitely need places to eat, shop and relax. To help Parisians who can’t get to a fantastic beach-front resort, the city literally bring the beach to them. Called Paris Plages (translated as Paris Beaches), the annual initiative creates sand banks along two stretches of the Seine River in the heart of the city as well as a beach around the Bassin de la Villette canal in northeastern Paris’s 19th Arrondissement. A number of free events–plus an opportunity to take a mini beach vacation–draws millionss of visitors every summer. Continue Reading →

Where Can You Find the Best Duck Confit in Paris?

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Confit de canard at Chez Dumonet

A dish you’re likely to find on the menu of nearly every eatery in Paris is confit de canard, a leg of duck cured and preserved in salt and other spices, often garlic and thyme, and then cooked in its own fat. Although confit de canard is served throughout Paris, it is often badly prepared. So, when you find a Parisian cafe, bistro, brasserie or restaurant that does serve a perfect confit de canard, you not only make a mental note of it, but you also tell your family, friends and just about everyone else who will listen of your discovery. Here are two of my favorites: Tropic Cafe and Chez Dumonet. Continue Reading →

Macaron Mastery at Pierre Herme

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Paris is home base for a chain of out-of-this-world patisseries launched by arguably the world’s greatest pastry chef, Pierre Herme. The patissier is best known for his macarons, most of which have quite unusual flavor pairings, such as orange, carrot and cinnamon; foie gras and figs; sherry and golden raisins; white truffle and hazelnut; and olive oil and sea salt. Another signature Herme pastry is the 2000-feuille, a more decadent version of the French classic millefeuille or 1000-feuille—a rich dessert made up of layers of stacked puff pastry sheets separated by chocolate, almond cream and hazelnut cream filling. But truth be told, all of Herme’s desserts are delectable. Continue Reading →

Poilane: One of Paris’s Finest Boulangeries

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Asking a group of Parisians where to find the best bread in the city is like throwing a match onto a pile of dynamite. Let’s just say nearly everyone in the City of Light has a very strong opinion as to which boulangerie is the best. What most can agree on, however, is that one of the most well-known and iconic boulangeries in Paris is the shop in the Saint German des Pres neighborhood made world famous by the late bread maker Lionel Poilane—aptly and simply named Poilane. Continue Reading →

Spring Has Sprung at the Jardin des Plantes

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Jardin des Plantes 1

Springtime in Paris is simply glorious. All of the flowers in the city’s parks start to bloom, the trees start to blossom, those bone-chilling breezes off the Seine turn more pleasant than polar, and the Parisians who hunkered down for the winter suddenly seem incapable of staying inside one minute longer. A fantastic way to experience le printemps in the City of Light is by visiting one of Paris’s grand parks. For springtime sights, sounds and smells, I’m partial to the Jardin des Plantes, an enormous botanical garden in the Latin Quarter. Continue Reading →