French Food Porn

So here it is - food porn from our recent trip to France. We spent most of our time in Paris, mainly for the French Open, and practically ate our way through the city. That's what I call the perfect vacation. Many of the places we visited were sourced from David Lebovitz's list of favorite spots. He's also got a ton of other travel and food related advice if you're planning to make a trip to Paris in the future.

Another great Paris guide is the "Free and Frugal, Paris" app for iPhones. Tons of great suggestions for what to see, do, eat - and for cheap! One of the app's best feature is the option to sort activities by neighborhoods. So say you find yourself in the 18th arrondissement and you're dying for a bite to eat. Just open up the app and swipe through it's list of cheap eats in the 18th!

Before making it to Paris, we stopped in Nancy to visit Jason's friend Skylar who he knows from DLI. Sky and his wife Sharon were nice enough to let us stay with them for the weekend. We had a great time just hanging out in town, making dinner in their massive (by French standards) kitchen, smoking hookah out on the patio next to the fire pit and cuddling with their two pups, Machiato and Bailey. You know, living the typical, take-it-easy, French kind of life.

On Sunday we went down to the local boulangerie to pick up some bread and of course, macaroons! They had a delicious assortment of uniquely flavored macaroons and other sugary goodies. Oh, be still my heart!

Then it was off to Paris on the TGV high speed train for more amazing food to stuff in our faces.

My most memorable meal in Paris was at Chez Dumonet (117 rue Cherche-Midi). We originally went there for the duck confit, which David thought was the best in Paris. Honestly, the duck was just OK. But the boeuf bourguignon! OH MY GOD THE BOEUF BOURGUIGNON! Admittedly, this was my first time having boeuf bourgignon but holy crap it was the most amazing thing I ate the entire trip! Rich, tick, tender and bursting with flavor. Even Jason, who notoriously does not like any kind of stewed meats, had to admit it was amazing. And to top it off, it's served with a side of fresh tagliatelle pasta swimming in a bowl of thin cream. So good. Felt a little sinful eating something THIS good.


I have since sworn to remake this dish at home, even if it takes me years to find and tweak the perfect recipe. David, could you help a girl out here? Perhaps you could speak to the chef, chef to chef? Yeah? OK, thanks!

Then there were the crepes. Well, galettes & crepes, to be exact. At Creperie Josselin (67 rue Montparnasse & 59 rue Montparnasse [the petit version]) the galettes and crepes are made by real Bretons from the Brittany region of France. So in the traditional Breton way, you first eat a "galette complete" which has cheese, egg and ham wrapped in a buckwheat flour pancake. Galettes are made with buckwheat flour and filled with savory items. You eat that while drinking your warm apple cider (alcoholic, mind you). Then you order your crepe (sweet), which is made with regular white flour instead of buckwheat. Usual choices are a crepe of butter and sugar, a crepe filled with a fruit jam, or a crepe with melted chocolate. Not a banana in sight!

If you love to shop name brands and you've been to Paris, then I'm sure you've heard of the Galeries Lafayette. It's the Parisian version of a high end shopping mall. Expect, in the Parisian version, high end shopping mall means three separate buildings, one for Women (9 levels), one for Men (4 levels) and another entirely for Home Goods (5 levels). Yes, it is a sort of fashion Nirvana.

Foodies, fear not. On the second level of the Men's Store, there is a WHOLE FLOOR of gourmet foods! Lots of French specialties but also specialties from all over the world. The best of the best. I won't deny that we spent several hours and a wad of Euros here... A must for food fiends!

Japanese inspired macaroon desserts 

GIANT tub of Nutella!

The real Iberico ham

Au Levain d'Antan - the bakery that won the "Best Baguette in Paris" award for 2011. Yes my friends, every year there is a contest in Paris to determine which bakery and baker makes THE best baguette. The winner then has the great honor of supplying the French President and his staff with their daily bread for a whole year.

The smell of fresh baked bread is one of those things that instantly makes me salivate. And my favorite is, of course, the baguette. Growing up in a traditional Vietnamese home, the baguette is really the only kind of bread I ever ate. So perhaps there is a bit of nostalgia that goes along with the eating of it. But whatever the reasons, I just can not resist that crunchy, chewy crust and soft, airy innards.

Lunch back at our studio

And in typical French style, there is a formagerie down the street from the boulangerie. With baguette in tow, we went in to browse the selection of fresh, stinky, delicious cheese. We left with a wedge of Comte, which is a hard cheese that tastes almost like Parmesan, and a round of Saint-Felicien - which our friend Sharon had just introduced us to. I'm not a big cheese eater, and I really don't like soft cheeses that tend to get runny, but I LOVE the Saint-Felicien! If anyone knows where I can get some in the LA area, please contact me immediately! And that's all I have to say about that.

I may or may not have a slightly unhealty facination/addiction to all kinds of grotesque force meats. Most notably, pates and terrines. I don't know why. I just do. We had a late dinner at La Regalade Saint-Honore (123 rue Saint-Honore) and our waitress brought out a starter of the house made terrine and cornichons. I also devoured the entire terrine - seriously. If that was all there was to dinner, I would have been a happy camper. Jason was not a fan of the mineraly blood flavor of the terrine but I was all for it. More for me!

House made terrine

House made cornichons

Golly. Now I'm hungry and I miss France. Have to stop looking at these pictures!