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 is considered a profession.
- There’s no tipping waitstaff in France. They’re paid a flat salary, which is usually a living wage.
- There are fewer waitstaff in French restaurants and cafés, so they’re in perpetual motion on busy evenings.
- Don’t expect the “Hi, I’m Heather and I’ll be your server tonight” treatment. Because of the last two bullet points, they don’t have time to chitchat. However, if you want detailed information on the menu items or wine list, the waitstaff in France will be able to answer your questions.
Here are a couple recommendations to keep you in good stead with French restaurant staff:
- Some waitstaff in France can speak English; however, it helps to start off with some French.
- Don’t call a waiter “garçon.” The translation is boy, and is an insult in any language. If your server is male, call him “monsieur.” If you want to get a waiter’s or waitress’s attention, make eye contact or subtly wave your hand.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/17/restaurants-in-the-us-versus-france/
The last time we were in Paris was May 2015, before the mass shootings at the Balacan nightclub and at cafés in the city. It was also before the Bastille Day truck assault in Nice and the attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016. As a result, security is heightened throughout France. We’ve seen multiple layers of security in all of the cities on our trip this year, from private security officers to local police to soldiers armed with assault weapons. While this development may offer a visual veneer of safety to residents and visitors, I wonder if it’s a “fighting the last war” phenomenon. These strategies may force committed terrorists into using other tactics. For example, the barricading of sidewalks and bike trails against vehicles after Nice and New York didn’t prevent the attempted subway suicide bomber near Times Square earlier this month.
Yesterday we walked over to the Eiffel Tower. The grounds were a soggy mess. It looked as if a Christmas market was being constructed. I assumed one would be up and running by now. The Tower itself was ringed by security fences to the point that pedestrians had limited access to the streets and bridge to the north. (Julian took a shot of the top of the tower from a nearby neighborhood, but the whole Tower was not photogenic because of the fencing.) The ubiquitous selfie stick and souvenir sales people were confined to narrow strips of sidewalk, so you risked stepping on their goods as you walked past. If this is what the new reality is at low season, the summer crowds must exacerbate the mess several fold.
The Eiffel Tower in 2015.
While I am grateful for some of the enhanced security measures, there is a delicate balance between abundance of caution and abridgment of access. The Eiffel Tower is an engineering marvel. On previous trips I loved to walk under the Tower and gaze up through the metal latticework. Unfortunately, the current climate has eliminated that view for me and many others.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/17/a-sad-reality/
This was in a window of the French department store Le Printemps.
The Cult of Cute Shoes were tucked snug in their beds,
While visions of stilettos danced in their heads.
IMG_2063
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/16/moment-of-zen-for-the-cult-of-cute-shoes/
So you think that, after long days of work at le bureau, Maman (or Papa) cooks up three-course meals for the family every night? Au contraire, mes amis! Maman heads to le traiteur or le supermarché to get fixings for dinner, just like Americans do.
Traiteurs are fixtures in Paris neighborhoods. You can purchase a main dish and sides for less than a restaurant meal. The food is high quality and very tasty. Although fast food is making inroads, the traiteurs seem to be more popular with the French. Some French supermarkets are trying to muscle in on the takeout meals, as in the US. Depending on the supermarket, the offerings can be as good as the traiteurs.
When we’ve rented apartments in Paris, we’ve made use of traiteurs. It keeps us from buying too many ingredients that we’d have to throw out at the end of our stay. We had excellent Greek and Middle Eastern traiteurs near our apartments on earlier trips. Tonight we got a rabbit stew with carrots and prunes and roasted potatoes. I picked up a fennel bulb and pan-roasted it before I microwaved the rabbit and potatoes. We were impressed.
Traiteurs in France offer locals and tourists alike good food at a reasonable price. They’re worth checking out if you ever visit a French city.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/15/the-little-secret-of-french-cuisine/
We’ve rented apartments in Paris three times. In addition, we’ve visited relatives and friends in the Netherlands and Switzerland over the years. There are features in some European homes that would be beneficial in North America:
- Heated towel racks that double as a radiant heat source for the bathroom.
- Separate the toilet from the rest of the bathroom. Most American homes have more than one bathroom these days, but this feature can be helpful in the morning rush.
- Electric shutters. Our rental apartment in Paris is just off a busy street. The shutters protect the people and property inside from prying eyes. They can also serve as good noise and light blocks for people who sleep at odd hours (night shift workers).
As always, there are two sides to this post.
- Most separate toilet rooms in France do not contain a sink. (Remember that I work in a hospital and my boss is an infectious disease doc; therefore, hand hygiene is automatic for me.)
- We hate European home washers and dryers. Their logic escapes us. The set in our current rental apartment is driving Julian nuts. We can do metric conversions for temperatures in our heads, but the time it takes to get one load of laundry washed and dried is almost enough to pay someone else do it for us.
- Most French kitchens don’t have an oven. If there is one, it’s small.
- The kitchens overall are small. You think everyone has a La Cornue range in their flat? Pas de chance. (Come to think of it, we’d be hard pressed to shoehorn one into Casa Sammamish unless we put it in the garage and left one of the cars in the driveway. In addition, a La Cornue costs about as much as a new car.) David Lebovitz tells many stories about trying to bake in a Paris kitchen in his book, The Sweet Life in Paris. He also has a new book about his exploits in Paris, L’Appart. Maybe I’ll pick it up when I get back home.
Much of the differences are what one is used to. Americans are used to huge houses and (at least recently) large kitchens with big ranges. Retrofitting an old building with modern fixtures in Europe is not an easy task. Many of these buildings predate electricity and indoor plumbing. Bottom line: Vive la différence.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/15/european-vs-american-homes/
Two years ago (see this post) we were hard-pressed to find much in the way of gluten-free foods in France. I saw a couple of French translations of Wheat Belly and other “diet books” in a bookstore, but little food for folks who had to be gluten-free due to intolerance or celiac disease. Things may be changing, however. Our hotel in Lyon segregated some gluten-free foods on a counter away from croissants and other items on the breakfast buffet. There were gluten-free sections in La Grande Epicerie de Paris and Galeries Lafayette. Both also had a wide selection of non-glutenous grains such as rice and quinoa. We also saw a restaurant off Rue Montmartre called Noglu, which is entirely gluten-free. There is hope for celiacs in France.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/14/gluten-free-in-france/
A masterpiece at only 250 Euros.
This artist must have been on some rather potent pharmaceuticals.
Another weird one.
We couldn’t resist taking these pictures of figurines in the window of a furniture store in Colmar.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/14/for-the-cute-shoes-clan/
We found these two window displays in Lyon. Enjoy!
The first one is of marmots.IMG_2035
The second is a geographically incorrect one of dancing penguins and a polar bear. (Sorry, the scientist in me sneaked out.) IMG_2036
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/14/two-moments-of-zen/
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 real deal, stay on the North American continent. Julian got a smoked salmon sandwich, while I got a pastrami sandwich. Another difference between Bagelstein’s and American Jewish delis: the meat portions are more reasonable, demonstrating the concept of assez.
We’re renting an apartment near the Rue Cler, not far from the Eiffel Tower. The last time we were in Paris, Rue Cler was clogged with American tourists carrying their blue Rick Steves travel guides. Given that it’s mid-December, we may have fewer fellow Americans in the neighborhood. We walked around the corner to a restaurant called Brasserie PTT for dinner in the rain. I had salad Auvergne with beef cheek pot roast, Julian had a black eyed pea and sardine salad with a duck dish. The dinners were quite reasonably priced by Paris standards. The Brasserie seemed to be a neighborhood joint. Julian was greeted by one of the regulars, a pudgy Pug named Henri.
More news to come.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/13/last-stop-paris/
What is it with the French and Marshmallow Fluff? Two years ago we saw this at the Galeries Lafayette food hall:
I’m not sure if the sign is supposed to be ironic or not.
Our hotel in Lyon overlooked a bagel restaurant. Along with the oversized bagel models, there was a large model jar of Marshmallow Fluff. We found a candy store called Lolly’s down the street from our hotel in Colmar. This shop specializes in American sweets. Among the gift boxes in the window was this one:
There’s no way I could have made this up.
Lucky Charms, Marshmallow Fluff, and cotton candy? Where’s that insulin syringe?
When we were in La Grand Epicerie de Paris today, we noticed a new flavor:
Caramel Marshmallow Fluff?
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/13/french-fluff-fixation/
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