The bistro (sometimes spelled bistrot) is a standard French restaurant term. According to Wikipedia (article in French), the bistro occupies a space in the restaurant hierarchy between brasserie and fine-dining restaurant in terms of food and price point. As you’ll see below, those definitions are quite fluid. The origin of the word may be Russian, …
Category: Restaurants
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/19/bistro-mode/
Dec 17
Restaurants in the US versus France
The average American will notice significant differences in restaurants in France (and Europe in general) compared to home. Here are a few: Waiting on customers is considered an interim position in the US. Students and starving artists of all types make up a high percentage of waitstaff. In Europe, especially in high-end restaurants, customer service …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/17/restaurants-in-the-us-versus-france/
Dec 13
Last Stop: Paris
We checked out of Colmar and grabbed the train to Paris. Before we left Colmar, we stopped at a French bagel chain restaurant called Bagelstein’s. Before my bagel-eating friends book tickets to France, let me warn you: These are not real bagels. These are bagel-shaped dinner rolls. They are not boiled. If you want the …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/13/last-stop-paris/
Dec 12
Next Stop, Colmar
Yesterday we took another train from Lyon to Colmar, in Alsace. Colmar is about 45 miles (70 km) south of Strasbourg. Colmar was spared some of the wartime damage that affected Strasbourg and other cities in the area. Since Alsace has been swapped between Germany and France for centuries, the cuisine is a hybrid that …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/12/next-stop-colmar/
Dec 12
Pho in Alsace
After two weeks on the road, my blood fish sauce level was getting extremely low. In addition, the heavy Lyonnais and Alsatian food was wearing on me. We’d seen a restaurant down the street from our hotel that served pho, Restaurant Chez Thuy. We went back there for lunch today. The menu was a mashup …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/12/pho-in-alsace/
Dec 10
La Fête, Last Day (for Us)
The crowds descended in earnest on Saturday. We went to the open-air market on the quai to scrounge up breakfast goodies for two days. We picked up some tangerines, yogurt, St. Marcellin cheese, and two briks, North African pastries stuffed with meat or tuna. Both were good. We did our main shopping of the Lyon …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/10/la-fete-last-day-for-us/
Dec 09
La Moule, Toujours La Moule
Mussels (or moules in French) are the least expensive bivalves around. We make them regularly, either with a standard French prep of white wine, garlic, and parsley, or with Chinese black bean sauce. Penn Cove, off Whidbey Island in Washington, grows the bulk of the tasty critters for West Coast consumption. One of the few …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/09/la-moule-toujours-la-moule/
Dec 06
Lyon Pre-Festival
As I mentioned earlier, we timed this trip to Lyon to coincide with La Fête des Lumières. It’s held every year around December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. As the story goes, her intercession prevented a 17th-century plague epidemic in the city. We figured that we’d have a better …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/06/lyon-pre-festival/
Jul 22
Oh, (R)Evolve
Julian and I walked up to the Main Street Block Party this evening. It was held to commemorate the first anniversary of the fire that destroyed two buildings on Main Street and would have decimated downtown if every fire department within a 15-mile radius hadn’t sent help. The biggest attraction was the beer garden put …
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/07/22/oh-revolve/
Jul 08
Seen at a Vancouver Restaurant
This restaurant was in Gastown, near the vegetarian restaurant we ate lunch at last Sunday.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/07/08/seen-at-a-vancouver-restaurant/
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