Wine Wednesday

 Red wine and beef go together like well, red wine and beef.

 

Lost in translation

 

 

A much-loved Montmartre café-bistrot has recently re-opened.

 

Au Rêve
89 rue Caulaincourt 75018

 

 

 

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Tis true that daily specials when recited in French by a haughty Parisian waiter sound so much better than in English. In a sketch about dining at a French restaurant in New York, comedy duo Key & Peele do a brilliant send-up of a French waiter describing each dish in intimidating thickly-accented gibberish, which leads to dire consequences.

This is not about those bizarre menu translations from French to English that Paris restaurants are notorious for, leaving bewildered customers trying not to laugh. This is about how a menu, melodic in French, can become banal as soon as it is reduced to English. Instantly, a dish can lose any allure it might have had and even come off as, well, unappetizing. Compare:

French:
- Suggestions du Jour -
Entrées: Salade des gésiers ou Velouté de pommes de terres-carottes et ses croûtons
Plat: Rumsteak de boeuf avec sa sauce poivre et gratin dauphinois individuels
Dessert: Crême brûlee
 
English:
- Suggestions of the Day -
Starters: Gizzard salad or Potato-carrot soup and croutons
Main: Rump steak with pepper sauce and individual potatoes au gratin
Dessert: Burnt cream

Burnt cream? Even so, in France one can rely on quality of ingredients and preparation to trump translations, and are sure to please. For an establishment to pass muster locals demand fresh, seasonal, traditional dishes made in the traditional way. Baguettes will be from a reliable boulangerie and cheeses from raw milk. Pasteurised cheese please? “Go to the supermarket!” And desserts, like everything else, will be faits maison (made in the kitchen) or outsourced to a quality pâtissier. GMOs don’t get a second thought (they're not allowed in the EU) and the only place lab-grown foods, and this includes fake meat, have at the table are as a topic of conversation.
 
Italy has just passed a law - the first in Europe and hopefully France is not far behind - prohibiting encroaching synthetic foods, upsetting NGOs that stand to make handsome profits from products untested for long-term health impacts, taste and quality. When it comes to food, these are the concerns that consume French consumers.

As long as our gizzard salads, rump steaks and burnt cream remain as untouched as possible, we really don’t care what they sound like in English. And neither should you. Bon appétit! - BPJ

Wine Wednesday

 Preparing the wine list for the day.

 

Wine Wednesday

 

Wines lined up at a wine restaurant where the food was guaranteed to be worth the detour (to the 11th arrondissement). And it was.

- Tomorrow: a grand cru -

 

Paris by the sea #5

The end of the île.

 

Above: a stone pier ends in the sea; marmites of ultra fresh moules and prawn cocktails; view from our table

Below: interconnected courtyards of hotel; last breakfast before heading home

Paris by the sea #3

 

In the evening we'd join locals at a popular meeting spot where apéros are brought out on wooden planks specially made to grip the sea wall.

 

Above: pichet of icy rosé w/panoramic view

 

Below: seafood rillettes starter with more rosé at the wall; after, steamed prawns w/frites maison on the terrace; rent-a-bikes at La Flotte

 

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Next week: more Île de Ré

Soirée dînatoire

These photos, from the sensational apéro dînatoire held at Le Cordon Bleu École de Cuisine to showcase student skills, represent only a portion of the evening's offerings.

 As champagne and wine flowed tray after mouth-watering tray materialized from busy kitchens. Chefs helmed tables carving, grilling and plating an astounding array of beautiful hors-d'oeuvres and delectable small plates.

Above: layered verrines of lobster cream atop a gazpacho base; seared foie gras garnished w/popcorn (!); succulent roasted lamb w/couscous

 Below: gourmet terrines being turned into canapés on artisanale country loaves; poached "eggs in nests" w/their crispy mouillettes; petit fours.... 

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With thanks and congratulations to the remarkable team and students of Le Cordon Bleu, Paris

Wine time

Paris wine restaurants and wine bars: why are they so special?

March newsletter

For every cheese

... there is a wine. 

 

Above: small plates of AOC / AOP cheeses are meticulously paired w/quality wines at a tiny wine bar behind the Montmartre cemetery

Below: selection of charcuteries from France and Spain

  
What we had:

- Cheese: aged cheddar, honey onion chutney, toasted pine nuts

Wine: Thokozani Shiraz Mourvédre Viognier 2018 - shown 

- Cheese: brébis from the Aveyron, fresh peach, chives, poppy seeds

Wine: Catherine & Pierre Breton Epaulé Jeté Vouvray blanc AOC

- Cheese: Gorgonzola DOP, crushed hazelnuts, dried apricots

Wine: Coteaux du Layon Les Terriades Prestige

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Le Discret

3 rue Eugène Carrière 75018

Vins du jour

 

A café ardoise gets an update of the day's wines.

En famille

 

A Christmas Day Lunch

All over France, Christmas Day lunch is a quiet family affair. I love it all, from helping create the menu and set the table to the long conversations that extend into the evening.

On the menu: apéritifs w/gourmet nibbles in front of the fire. At table: foie gras fresh figs and sweet Sauternes wine starter; roasted confit de canard and wild mushrooms; mixed salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and orange; farm cheeses. Green apple sorbet verrines with vodka and fresh mint made a light prelude to the traditional yule log cake. And to finish up properly, espresso and tea followed by an assortment of digestifs. - BPJ

Above: a different wine for each course; a brother-in-law takes over in the farm-style kitchen; table set for 10