Homage

In our day-to-day lives, Notre Dame de Paris didn't have much of a presence. But as the central monument of the entire country - did you know that all distances in France are measured from Notre Dame? - no visitor escaped being brought there. Consequently we've amassed quite a collection of shots of the place, and it's high time we posted a few.

Le Baratin

Waaaaaay back in January, on a tip from our Paris landlord, I brought my mom and Cathy to a neighborhood restaurant with a city-wide reputation: Le Baratin. According to various online reviews, many famous Parisian chefs come to Le Baratin when they feel like going out to eat. We went for lunch, and were pretty pleased with both the cost (17 euros for three courses) and the quality of the meal.

Filet of cabillaud (cod) on an artichoke heart salad

Tripe, veal foot, and chickpeas in a spicy stew

Ever since January, I've been telling Maggie that we have to get back to Le Baratin, and last week our good friends across the courtyard treated us to an excellent dinner there. I appreciated the larger selection than we had had at lunch (it turned out I'm not a fan of tripe) but that was the only real difference; the kinds of dishes offered and the quality were similarly top notch.

Le Baratin specializes in simple, hearty fare that combines traditional French products and delicacies with an Argentinian sensibility (Madame is Argentine, I think). On the menu the night we were there: entrées including braised, pulled beef tail (top left) and gorge de maquereau (mackerel throat, top right); plats including wild turbot over sautéed vegetables (middle left) and slow-cooked beef cheek (middle right); and desserts including strawberry soup (bottom left) and fondant au chocolat (super-moist chocolate cake, bottom right).

There are some internet-dwelling gourmands (foodies) who think Belleville is too far to go for good food, even when it's of the caliber served at Le Baratin. Tant pis pour eux (too bad for them), and so much the better for us, real-life-dwelling gourmands who live right around the corner!

Le Baratin

3, rue Jouye-Rouve, 20th arr.

Métro Belleville or Pyrénées

01 43 49 39 70

The Most Beautiful Library

In the past, I've complained about the way the Bibliothèque nationale de France has spread out its music-related holdings, and I think my complaint is justified. They keep recordings and tons of books at the main branch (Tolbiac), scores, archival documents, periodicals, and more books at the Département de la Musique (2 rue Louvois), medieval manuscripts and the theater collection at the original BN complex (Rue Richelieu), and certain books (for the life of my I don't know why) at the Pavilion de l'Arsenal, which isn't technically even a BN affiliate. This is lame. They should change this.

Out of the many library branches over which the BN's music(ology) collection is distributed, there is only one I truly do not mind visiting: the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra at the Palais Garnier.

By night, the Palais Garnier (aka Opéra Garnier aka Paris Opera) is home to performances of ballet and older opera repertoire. But by day, it's [trumpet fanfare] full of tourists checking out the unbelievable neo-Baroque ornamentation that covers every square inch of the place! Also there's the library, open 9-5. I get a lot of pleasure out of striding by big tourists groups on my way to the members-only library, and I try to pretend like I'm not impressed by the building. But inside, I'm way impressed.

When my mom and Cathy were in town, I took a day (or 8) off from research and we spent some time sauntering around the Palais Garnier as tourists. I get in for free with my BN ID, otherwise it's 9 euros (ouch!) to check out highlights of the building, such as the hall's Marc Chagall ceiling that depicts many of the canonical operas and ballets performed there (Firebird, Daphnis et Chloe, Pelleas et Melisande, Fidelio...).

Here's what the rest of the hall looks like:

Just in time for my research on Interwar France, there's an exhibit in the "musée" (museum) part of the building dedicated to the Ballets Russes (1909-1929), a ballet company headed by impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who along with composers like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Auric, and Milhaud created lots of now-famous works. Below you can see some of the original costumes for the proto-Surrealist ballet Parade (1917) with music by Satie, choreography by Massine, and costumes/scenery by Picasso.

In addition to this exhibit, when you visit the "Bibliothèque-Musée" part of the building you get to see some of the library's book storage, as well as lots of models of sets and backdrops. The library's reading room is at the end of this hallway/book storage area, on the left. You have to get buzzed in.

Unfortunately I haven't managed to sneak any pictures in the library itself, but believe me when I say that it's every bit as ornate as the rest of the building, with lots more natural light and (unfortunately) street noise. Still, you can't listen to music there, so I guess I have a complaint about the BN's Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra after all.

To finish up this blog-mediated tour of the Palais Garnier, here's a hazy glimpse of the building from the back. Tourist tip: the front of the Palais Garnier is visible from the entire length of the Avenue de l'Opéra, but to get this bird's-eye-view of the back, you have to go to Galeries Lafayette and take an interminable series of escalators up to the roof, where you'll have an unusual vantage point on the whole city. It's pretty neat up there.

Musée du Moyen Age

Today was Free Museum Sunday! We took advantage by going to two museums: Musée Gustave Moreau and Musée de la Vie Romantique. More on those later. Right now we want to travel back in time two months to the last Free Museum Sunday we indulged in, joined by my mom and Cathy at Paris's Museum of the Middle Ages.

As with many museums in Paris, the Musée du Moyen Age collection competes for attention with the building itself, which is a 16th-century former abbey built on top of the ruins of Roman baths dating back 2,000 years. That said, the collection is pretty good too - antiquities dug up on site, medieval woodwork and portraits, and the famous series of late-15th-century tapestries known as La Dame et la licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn).

We managed to make it to the museum for the last day of an exhibit on Asterix, the French cartoon character, and got to learn about the cartoonists' creative process. Asterix looked right at home in the middle of those Roman baths!

Elsewhere in the museum, we enjoyed the Flamboyant Gothic ceiling of the chapel (left), a room full of reliquaries (middle), and a 16th-century version of the Buddy Christ (right).

The Musée du Moyen Age is a cool place to go - especially on a hot day (thanks to those Roman baths) - but also any other time. Check it out!

Fauchon

Looking to save money in Paris by avoiding expensive restaurants and doing your own shopping? Don't go to Fauchon.

Fauchon is hands-down the most decadent gourmet supermarket in Paris, way more decadent than Le Bon Marché Épicerie. For example: with truffles (the mushroom kind) at 3400 euros per kilo, a 50-gram (1.76 oz.) sliver will still cost you 170 euros. Most everything else is similarly overpriced (although not usually so much per kilo). But the presentation is pretty impressive, at least in the boulangerie/patisserie/boucherie/charcuterie building, which is across the street from the restaurant/wine cellar/chocolaterie/épicerie building (which one of our friends referred to as "sterile").


And although we were too sticker-shocked to try one, their pâtisseries look pretty darn good - even amazing.


I'm not so much trying to tell you not to go to Fauchon - if you feel like splurging, or even if you just want to salivate over/complain about incredibly fancy and high-priced food, you should absolutely check it out. But if you're looking for high-quality, native French delicacies and "luxury" products like foie gras, rillettes, chocolates, and wine, go to any of the neighborhood shops you'll walk by on your way to and from the métro every day. Because out-of-control prices, even for the most delicious gourmet food, can leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Good Eats, Good Prices

We never got around to describing a few of the excellent meals we enjoyed while my mom and Cathy were in town in early January, but hey, better late than never!

L'Astier is a traditional bistrot near Métro Oberkampf in the 11th arrondissement. (Traditional means red-checkered décor and no-frills, über-French food.) We went on a tip from the ever-reliable Jesse's List and were not disappointed. Although all the food was of relatively high quality - at least, what you expect for a 32-euro, 4-course menu - the highlight was definitely the cheese plate.

This plate made the rounds between tables, just like a ceramic vat of smoked herring and large jars of mustard, depending on what you ordered. That's the bistro spirit rearing its noble head - big portions, sharing between tables, take as much as you like! and then pass it on. If we were to go back, we might just get an entrée and the cheese course, which would be good both for our finances and our sense of well-being. Mmm, cheese . . .

Fast Forward a month and a half to Katie and Darryl's visit, when we finally tried out a Belleville restaurant that we've had our eyes on for a few months now. La Bouche is not a bistrot, boasting a keen design sense, a hip graffiti logo, and gastronomically-creative food. For instance, we were offered (quite unexpectedly) two amuses-bouche, just like at Le Cinq. First was orange-zest-infused hummus with bread, and second was a lamb soup with a dash of paprika.

There's also the matter of La Bouche's 28-euro, 3-course menu design. Your choice for entrée included an Andouille-sausage soup and an endive tatin; both were served with a goat-cheese mousse (the white-ish dollop on the left in the soup, and to the right of the green-smothered tatin).

For the plat, both the salmon (Maggie's choice) and the veal (my choice) came with a passion fruit dressing and a side of bacon-enhanced mixed-vegetables.

For the dessert, both the coconut milk/white chocolate soup and pistachio crumble came with citrus fruit kabobs. Unfortunately none of us got the soup, but the restaurant gets extra credit just for the plating of the pistachio crumble.

For the chef, it seemed to be about coming up with constraints - how to connect two dishes with a common element - and reacting creatively. We were impressed. And it's not like they sacrificed taste or presentation for this slightly cerebral conceit. No, La Bouche is the real deal, and thanks to their thoughtfulness, skill, and excellent service, they won over four new devotees who couldn't have been happier with their meal.

L'Astier

44 Rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud
75011 Paris, France
01 43 57 16 35

La Bouche
1 Rue d'Eupatoria
75020 paris, France
09 53 56 24 14