Fall feel

With September right around the corner autumn is in the air.

Lapin à Gilles

View over the city from the terrace of former Montmartre cabaret the Lapin Agile.

(To Gilles, who lives next door. The cabaret was named for former owner André Gill)

Sun spots

The late afternoon sun cuts a dappled path through trees in the Palais-Royal gardens.

Vins du jour

 

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

Madeleine and tea

No, not Proust's "madeleine moment" but view from an elegant Russian café-pâtisserie-salon-de-thé overlooking the Church of the Madeleine.

Café Pouchkine

16 Place de la Madeleine 75008

 

Fashion for all

The French femme is renowned for staying active and chic even with age.

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Next month's newsletter

 Magret on the menu:
No matter how it's prepared... duck is my favorite fowl

Where to find it: 5 great addresses

 (click to enlarge)

Beached

Photograph in a métro station of Paris Plages, the city's annual pseudo riverside beach set up on quais around Île Saint-Louis.

Ends Sunday September 2, 2018

A corner table

Parisians prefer cafés on corners.

Ceviche & pink champagne

 

My very first address in Paris was on rue de Seine (a 6th-floor walk-up atelier belonging to a French comtesse that did wonders for my backside), a street and neighborhood to where I often return.

Above: celebrating Life with a beautiful friend and equally beautiful daughter -

 3 ceviches (tuna, salmon, cod); breads w/seaweed butter; our icy bottle of Laurent-Perrier Champagne Cuvée Rosé Brut

Huguette, Bistro de la Mer

81 rue de Seine 75006

Chairs pileup

  It's mid-August and a café gets ready to close for the rest of the month.

Gift list

A sign inside a boulangerie on my street yesterday.

Much to be thankful for.

Eat street

I used to live on narrow rue des Trois Frères on what locals call "the Abbesses side" of the butte, a street reputed for its diverse restaurants such as (recommended):

Le Potager du Père Thierry #16
Le Refuge des Fondus (wine / all drinks served in baby bottles) #17

Le Dan Bau (Vietnamese) #18

Le Jardin d'en Face #29
La Famille #41

Summer cafés

Less people in Paris means squares can be turned into terraces with tables and chairs.

Below: with room to spread this café takes up an entire square

Good starts

All over Paris the traditional French breakfast of coffee, or tea, and a tartine is being pushed aside for more substantial fare.

Above: 1) fruity chia bowl of grains, strawberries, blueberries and raspberry coulis 2) organic eggs, spinach French toast, crisp bacon 3) poached egg atop sweet potato purée, toasted hazelnuts, fresh herbs and button mushrooms 4) feta and shredded zucchini "quiches" with peaches and tomato

Thanks to:
Le Pain Quotidien
Hardware Societé
Frenchie To Go
Ten Belles

The dance

The original of this sculpture on the façade of Opéra Garnier is in the Orsay Museum.

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
La Danse (1868)

Three top chefs

Three great men.

Paul Bocuse, Anthony Bourdain, and today, Joël Robuchon.

R.I.P.

"Cooking is an act of love..."

Day trip: La Piscine #2

Along with a small group of French journalists I recently had the unique experience of a behind-the-scenes exclusive look at the ongoing expansion work of La Piscine Museum, site of a former municipal swimming pool in an Art Deco building on the outskirts of Lille.

Above: artisans at work reminiscent of Caillebotte's Les Raboteurs at the Orsay Museum


Below: boxes of artworks yet to be unpacked; display bases for sculptures; 19th and 20th-century art fills back-room ateliers during construction works

(click to enlarge)

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix
 Scheduled re-opening date: October 20, 2018


More in The Good Life France Magazine

Next month's newsletter
Day trip: Lille

[The museum restaurant / café is managed by Méert of Lille, famous luxury chocolate and pastry makers] 

Day trip: La Piscine #1

A ten-minute train ride from the city of Lille (2 hours from Paris), La Piscine - an early 20th century municipal swimming pool transformed into an astonishing art exhibition space - expands and readies for re-opening this October.

La Piscine Museum
23 rue de l'Espérance 59100 Roubaix

Monday: behind-the-scenes

Où est la clim?

Paris has noticeably cooled down but should la canicule return there are plenty of places where AC is in full force.

We almost needed coats at L'Avant Comptoir, an indulgent wine+tapas bar dear to my heart that I wrote up in The Good Life France Magazine.

Above: macaron of boudin noir

Below: caramelized pork belly; photos of choices hang from the ceiling

L'Avant Comptoir / Chef Yves Camdeborde

3 Carrefour de l'Odéon 75006

(no reservations; casual; eat standing at counter)


- This + 14 more ideas to beat the heat, in August newsletter -
Nouveautés

A Sunday market

For years, especially when we lived in the Marais, many a Sunday morning found me with basket in hand, poking around for fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables, salts, charcuteries and fresh fish -- then topping it off with a salidou-smothered crêpe -- at the vast marché Bastille, a cook's dream.

Quiet Paris

Shuttered shops, less traffic: many consider August the best time to be in Paris.


August newsletter

Nouveautés