Sure, I Love Paris, No Really I Do
Yeah, I’m still on the Pompidou. I love this place. Can you make out the yellow paint on its plaza? A giant wifi symbol. It’s strong enough to receive in the surrounding cafes. My favorite is Cafe Beaubourg, even if it is a little of a scene. It’s hard to pay 5 euro for a latte, though. If you’re staying away from the center arrondissements, cafes get much cheaper–2,30 to 2,80 euro for a latte. That makes a big difference if you get 4 coffees, a difference that almost amounts to lunch.
…but they’re not all that. I thought you’d be able to wander around and trip over good bistros in Paris, like you do in Italy. But I’ve been a little disappointed with the quality per euro. Salad and pate? A winner in most places for lunch. But dinner becomes a chore, assuming you don’t want to spend more than 100 USD. I guess it’s the same in New York, but I just expected more killer neighborhood bistros, with better produce. A mixed wild green salad is almost a menu requirement in the Northwest. It seems more like sasquatch in the Paris bistro. I was even served, gulp, iceberg lettuce in an otherwise very nice place.
Maybe I should have come to Paris for the first time before I’d spent so much time around food. I’m loving Paris mostly, mostly the superb sweets, pates, and ethnic food. But I’m trying to tell you what I really think, and I’m a spoiled brat. I live amongst three of the most exiciting cities for food (read: NOT restaurants, but ingredients) in North America. In France, I didn’t think I should have to spend wads of euros or herculean effort for a lovely meal, and I expected amazing produce. Maybe the plight of modernizing the city is effecting it? Maybe foods of convenience have altered French taste buds?
One thing most telling about the French:
It’s 2006 and they still haven’t combined the PASTRY and CAFE concepts yet on any regular basis. In the morning? Even the baguette with butter and jam isn’t as widely available as I expected. Most cafes just offer plain croissants… And yes, some of us wake up late and want a latte and croissant at 11:30. Suck and deal. Come on! The French gave us the continental breakfast, but they have i-n-n-o-v-a-t-e-d nothing since. Even the French-food-loving Japanese have leap-frogged the French on this concept and their own food.
Uh… pun intended I guess. Sorry, I’m really exhausted. It’s all Bush’s fault for tanking the dollar. Anyway… Here, let me show you my favorite statue so far. He’s beautiful…..
October 26th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
I’m telling you now, I’d go to Gascony WAY before Paris because of that price ratio. Paris is full of great eats, but mostly if you live there.
In the mornings, we would run across the street & buy a baguette, smear some decadently unpasteurized cheese on & call it good until lunch. Lunch is the real deal, but one of the best meals I had in Paris was a poulet roti bought off the street with macaroni & cheese we made (a melted gratin of all our leftovers from throughout France cooked in our toaster oven).
Charges for those first few flutes of champagne sent me reeling once I got home & read our credit card bill–forget the apperitif & drink wine at home!
Iceburg??? Where, how? At least the salades were a safe bet… Please advise!
October 26th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
I agree with both of you. When in Paris, stick to what the French do best: bread, cheese, wine, and meat spread. Finding anything affordable AND delicious for a restaurant took me weeks. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t “trip over” tons of good stuff. I had to crawl under, over, and through to find them.
October 27th, 2006 at 10:32 am
Ms. P - Yeah, I guess the reason I’ve been a little put off is because it was soooo easy to find good food in the Languedoc and South.
Ms. P and VRoom - A meat and cheese ploughman’s lunch was best, and I always looked for “roquette” (rocket) under the salad header. My advise to anyone going: splurging on lunch is much more satisfying. And there is some stunning Indian food to be had in Passage Brady, near the Republique.