Let’s Talk French Food

Paris’s long established restaurants and bistros in high demand serve déjeuner (lunch) from noon to 2:30, or as Stan says, 14:30. and dinner is served beginning at 7:30 pm or afterward.  The French like to dine late. People can eat almost anytime in high tourist areas but the food is likely to be ordinary, and prices will be high. Hungry people can usually find a great pizza or a tasty baguette sandwich from smaller shops to hold them over until dinner or to share on a park bench or to eat as they walk back to work.

I read that there is one restaurant in Paris for every 48 people living here.  There are indeed, very, very many, but the 44 million people who come here as tourists each year are why so many are here are busy and in demand.  Fancy restaurants require reservations, favorite but more common ones do as well. For eexample, the two Bouillon restaurants, so popular among locals and tourists in the know, require reservations for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  Bouillon Piagale and Bouillon Republic restaurants are popular because they feature value-priced, delectable, traditional French food.  Put that in your diary but don’t expect to be seated without a restaurant or a long, long wait in a line.

French food is fabulous.  First, nothing beats French pastries but for the main course and accompaniments, consider a few of France’s world famous, classic, and often copied plats like boeuf bourguignon, cordon bleu de poulet, steak tartare, entrecote, asparagus, pome frites, salade lyonnaise, moutarde francaise that often accompanies meat dishes, quiche au saumon et epinards, or maybe even at slice of pate en croute.  And oh, one cannot forget the sauces!!    

Now let’s talk about those French pastries. A boulangerie can be found on almost every city block. They stock delicacies baked on site, so fresh, they are usually served warm. Choose from croissants, croissants au caramel, or croissants au chocolate. Or a brioche, not overly sweet but dotted with raisins or bits of chocolate. A daily baguette is a staple in every French household. Crave something sweet? How about a plate of crepes, a creme brulee, a pink macaron or two, or maybe a rich Napoleon or eclair au chocolate, or what about a cinnamon bun dusted with crushed red candy? Each is unworldly good and the shop will heat your selection. Why not?

Lord!

Stan and I have an international palate and are trying everything.  We’ve had spaghetti, pizza, pho, steak tartar, boeuf bourguinon, salmon, poulette, escargots, entrecote, lamb chops, oysters, and quite a bit more. Desserts? We’ve not been able to resist trying a Napolian, a brownie that’s not an ordinary brownie but something I or anyone I know could ever bake at home, or how about a lemon merengue or fresh berry tart??? All this sounds like a lot of indulgence. Keep in mind we have been here about a month, so give us a break. Most often, we share a plate; it’s enough for a meal, and sharing, we hope, helps keep us from entering another hated growing streak.

Here’s a nugget: We find it interesting that restaurants are required to display a list of the meats being served that day and the country from where it was sourced.

To be sure we have not learned enough about French cheeses. While they are thought to reign among the world’s best, but Stan and I know so little about their cheese. We know we like bleu cheese, especially stuffed in an olive soaked in vodka and we know we like Gruyere melted on crusty bread atop a crock of French onion soup. And I know I like brie, but Stan does not.

Handcrafted French cheeses are expensive, to say the least. Cheese, they say is like wine . . . the flavors can be described in a myriad of ways like fruity. acid, nutty, savoury, buttery, salty, sweet, and so forth. So if we decided to take a chance, and simply pointed at one that looked interesting and found that that 50 Euro a kilo cheese tasted stinky, how disappointed we would be. What if we happened to choose one that is best only when cut properly? What if our reaction to the first bite is like our first taste of caviar? Many things that can go wrong. In the next few days, our last few days in Paris, though, we commit ourselves to tasting and learning bout French cheeses and will pass along our findings. Let’s learn!!

Fabulous, yes, in the right restaurant, French food is wonderful, even the prix fixe menu can offer something very special.  Overall, however, while French food is famous, delicious, and beautifully served, excepting the amazing breads and pastries, the food in Paris might quite possibly be overrated.   That sounds unfathomable surely. So far though, we have had no dish that might be considered super-exceptional.  Perhaps, when in Paris, one’s expectations tend to be more than just high.  To be fair, we should make allowances for that.  I have a feeling, though, that the best French food will be found in smaller towns outside the busy city, where the petite pois, parsnips, courgettes, and asparagus have just been picked. French country mères and grand-mères will be in the kitchen, tasting the recipe and stirring the pot.

What about French wines?  They, oh they, my dears, are the best.