|
Condé Nast Traveler picks
 Paris for Gourmets
Is there a person on earth who doesn't associate France with great food? This country's reputation for culinary expertise and excellence stretches back almost a thousand years and shows absolutely no sign of dimming anytime soon. According to the Guide Michelin, there are 26 restaurants in France with three stars, and six of them are in Paris.
Most visitors will spend at least a few days in Paris, where they will be confronted with an almost bewildering variety of choices. At the absolute top end of the scale, if you ache for the grandest of haute cuisine, you can always head for starred kitchens such as Taillevent (15 rue Lamennais; 33-1-44-95-15-01; plats du jour, $64-$115), Le Grand Véfour (17 rue de Beaujolais; 33-1-42-96-56-27; prix fixe, $385), L'Arpège (84 rue de Varenne; 33-1-45-51-47-33; plats du jour, $72-$179), or Senderens (9 Place de la Madeleine; 1-42-65-22-90; plats du jour, $15-$49), where you will be assured of perfection … at a price. And that price is increasingly steep with the euro trumping the dollar. For those who prefer something slightly simpler, Paris has plenty of bistros, brasseries, and cozy restaurants that produce dishes which are robust and unpretentious, and whose roots lie in la cuisine bourgeoise, which can be translated as superb "home cooking." A few of the most popular include La Coupole (OFID 2888) (102 boul. du Montparnasse; 33-1-43-20-14-20; plats du jour, $19-$54), Brasserie Lipp (151 boul. St-Germain; 33-1-45-48-53-91; prix fixe, $35), Tante Louise (41 rue Boissy d'Anglas; 33-1-42-65-06-85; plats du jour, $37-$42), and Chez L'Ami Jean (27 rue Malar; 33-1-47-05-86-89; prix fixe, $39). Of course, one of the great glories of French food is that it has preserved such distinct regional differences. And one of the great joys of traveling in France is being able to experience local dishes in the places where each evolved. It is probably fair to say that when asked to name their favorite region of France, most people will come up with Provence and the Côte d'Azur. This is the region of sunflowers and lavender, and in culinary terms, it is olive oil and its close companions, garlic and tomatoes, which seem to infuse just about every dish. Look at a menu and anything described as à la Provençale will be cooked with these three ingredients. In coastal Provence, the food naturally veers toward all things fishy, culminating in the famous bouillabaisse, a fish stew that is a collection of ugly and delicious sea creatures, always served with a topping of aioli, a pungent garlicky mayonnaise. The southern French are so fond of aioli that every summer there are aioli festivals, where long trestle tables are set up outdoors in the villages, and steamed vegetables and fish are eaten with great dollops of it and plenty of local red wine. The other quintessential Provençale dish is ratatouille, in which the tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic are slowly stewed, along with some aubergines, zucchini, and red or yellow peppers. Desserts are not big in this part of France, where spectacular local fruit, such as Cavaillon melons, figs, peaches, and apricots, are instead eaten at the end of the meal. Some people claim that you can actually eat better in Lyons than anywhere else in France, including Paris. Regardless of whether or not this is true, Burgundy is certainly famous for its distinct cuisine. Refined and delicate it is not, but if you are a fan of good solid food along the lines of boeuf bourguignon and escargots soaked in garlic butter, then this is the place for you. Burgundy is, of course, along with Bordeaux, the region that produces France's most celebrated wines, the robust reds that find their way into much of the cooking. And where would French food be without Dijon mustard? Or the high-quality beef that comes from the local Charolais cattle? Lyons is famous for its sausages, such as boudin, which is usually cooked with apples. And here, a simple chicken is transformed into something rich and luxurious, as in the poularde demi-deuil (pullet in half mourning), so-named because sliced black truffles are poked under the breast skin before the bird is cooked. The third region best known for its food is Normandy. This northwest peninsula is rich pasture country, where, not so surprisingly, milk, butter, and cream are the culinary stars. Norman butter is exported throughout the world, and a Norman cook is extravagant in her use of the superb local dairy products. Normandy has a long coastline, so fish is also a big part of the diet. And a dish such as sole à la Normande, in which the fish is slowly baked in heavy cream, manages to combine both the surf and the turf of the region. Cheeses like Camembert and Pont-l'Evêque are world-famous, and apples are another important ingredient. An omelette à la Normande is actually a dessert in which eggs are wrapped around cooked apples and doused with heavy cream and Calvados. And what could be more Norman than that? Of course, if you don't actually have time to explore Europe's culinary paradise from Provence to Normandy, you'll be able to find restaurants in Paris that serve an almost perfect facsimile of the famous dishes which have put these regions on the food map of France. And, should you want the occasional break from French food, consider this: In the past, Parisians tended to scoff at "foreign" food, but in these days of global cuisine, you can find restaurants serving dishes—often brilliantly realized—from just about every country in the world. Truth in Travel is the guiding principle for all content published in Condé Nast Traveler. Other travel publications often accept free travel and accommodations. Condé Nast Traveler does not. It is independent of the travel industry. The magazine always pays its way, and, as far as possible, its correspondents travel anonymously. By doing so, they experience the world—both the good and the bad—as other travelers do, and their reports and recommendations are fair, impartial, and authoritative.
|
||
 |
