Chez Denis, With Kids

Chez Denis (5, rue des Prouvaires, Paris / 01 42 36 21 82) is a favorite bistro of mine. Besides the fact that we were both created in the same year, Chez Denis is a great place to get snails, organ meats, terrines of fish or meat, and one of the better steak tartare I have had. Its loud, smoky, and crowded. The waiters don't even secretly know English. You're on your own.

Eating there with kids was worth it, but a bit of a challenge, especially if you have finicky eaters. To start with they have two soft drinks, Coca Cola and Orangina. For you, they have excellent house wine and a decent list. The bread, not the best I have had in Paris, was a thick, dark, peasant style bread that was not enjoyed by any of the four children in our party. There was nothing at all to feed a child from the list of appetizers, although I did offer boys 1 and 2 all the snails they could eat (neither took me up on it). With some difficulty, we were able to convince the waiter (more out of language difficulties than because of "Frenchiness" as he seemed rather nice) to bring out one order of fries as an appetizer. We tried to get the kids a plain lettuce salad, but all they had was frisee. For you, the frisee comes with nice, greasy tasty croutons and an excellent vinegarette dressing. The terrines were excellent too.

The reason that my kids thought this place was great, and ultimately the reason I do too, is the steak. I am usually fan of American beef, and love steakhouses. But this place rocks. I had steak tartare myself, and if any of you people have any comments on the potential evils of raw eggs in raw hamburger please try to remember who is the gastroenterologist here. The enterocote and the onglette were both excellent. One piece of advice I have is to remember that in Paris, "medium" is medium rare, blue is effectively raw, and there is some name in between them which is more rare than rare usually is in the states and less blue than blue usually is.

Desserts were also great for the kids. They have an over sized ramekin of chocolate mousse which was a favorite of all four kids there. For adults, there are a variety of bistro style desserts which are fine.

One final thing to remember is that in addition to the posted menu, there is also a bar menu. Make sure to take a look on your way in. They will serve you parts of it at your table.

Where to Have Lunch Near The Musée d'Orsay

The lovely wife loves the Musée d'Orsay. And what’s not to like? Great impressionist art in an imposing 19th century train station make this museum a pleasure to be in and look at. Since it takes sustenance to climb the stairs and avoid the escalators its important to eat lunch before you go in the afternoon or have a ready place to go after spending the morning there. If you take two children this moves from being important to actually being a mission. This became apparent when the eatery suggested by our "Paris with Kids" guidebook turned out to be a fancy, poofy place not . So we walked around, hungry children threatening us at every turn. And fortunately we found Au Corrier de Lyon (17, Rue du Bac, Paris 75007: tel 01 42 61 12 98), located less than two blocks from the museum. The place is as French as you can get; the hostess seated us in the “no smoking section” of two tables with ashtrays at arms length away in case you change your mind. The menu is printed in English as well French, but we were the only non-Francophones in the place. And the food, in traditional café style was served quick and was great. I had the sautéed chicken with fries, the kids the faux-fillet with the same fries and the lovely wife a salad nicoise. All were excellent, and the service was great. I would come back, with or without children.

Best Baguette in Paris

Sorry not to have posted over the past few days, but there was so much to do in Paris that it was near impossible to take any time to write about any of the numerous food options to be had. One thing I will say, as this is the first time that I have traveled to Paris with Boy 1 and Boy 2, is that the types of places you would have avoided like the plague as a single traveler are rather good. This includes the cafes in the Tuileries, which have good coffee, decent wine, and acceptable food. One piece of advice is to avoid their “special” croque mousier, which was tasty but a bit goopy. The fries at the cafeteria at the Eiffel Tower are acceptable, and the sandwiches ok, except they really do use to much butter. When you are waiting hours to climb to the top of Notre Dame, the takeout sandwich place with the yellow sign across the street from the line has an excellent chicken sandwich. The crepes at the stand near the carousel in the Tulleries are freshly made and rather good after a brisk go-round.

One thing we did do was to go back to our old neighborhood in the 17th arrondissement. There, off the Place de Ternes, we went to a boulangerie/patessiere that had advertised itself as having won “the best baguette in Paris” award for 2006. The store, J.P. Cohier (270 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré), is easily reached after a quick look at the Arc De Triumph. The store is a typical bakery featuring bread, pastries and cold drinks. There are some stools and some outdoor seating. In addition to the baguette, we felt obliged to try some éclairs, a few croissants, some pain chocolate, and a maroon. All the pastries were excellent, and, true to the award, the baguette may have been the best I have ever eaten. A crunchy, yet bitable outside, an velvety, almost egg like inside, and a phenomenal bouquet. I would show you a picture, but the four of us ate the whole thing walking up Rue Wagram, so all you can see is the wrapper. I did find one English Website describing Mr. Cohier and his work. This site has some bread photos. The bread was so good that number one son asked if it could be flown in, and while I doubt it will be done, its certainly worth the brief walk from the Arc de Triumph to eat this amazing piece of bread.

La Fromagerie, or Fancy Cheese in England (from France)

Many years ago, in New York, I had my first Vacherin. At that time, the powers that be didn’t seem to be so nannylike, and, while , not a cakewalk, it was a lot easier to score a Vacherin than crack. Unfortunately, this appears to have changed over the past few years, and, because it is only available seasonally, I have not been able to get it. This changed on my first day in London. I went to La Fromagerie (2-4 Moxon Street London W1U 4EW & 30 Highbury Park London N5 2AA) with my friend from London.

La Fromagerie is like no cheese store I have seen in New York. It consists of a normal fancy food store, selling bread, oil, charcouterie, etc. in the bulk of store space. The cheese shop is located in a climate controlled glass box. Only six customers are permitted in the cheese area at a time, which helps avoid overcrowding and controls temperature. The staff is quite helpful although they seem to have their own agenda. When we asked for a Vacherin, we were asked when we were going to eat it. The staff member then “thumbed” at least 6 pieces of cheese before determining the one that was of suitable ripeness. Neither I nor my friend had ever experienced anyone in New York asking us when we would be eating our cheese to select for proper ripeness. Between us, we have shopped at every major cheese monger in the city. The salesman was also helpful with suggestions when we asked for a sheep milk cheese. I asked if there were any English cheeses we should try and he suggested aged Gouda from Holland. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. The Gouda was fine, and quite pretty compared to similar ones I have eaten in the States. However, I was a bit miffed as I did specifically try to get a British cheese and ended up with this. As I am now on the train to France, I can safely say that I will not be eating any British cheese in Britain. Such is life.


For those of you in New York who fall under the raw milk police, you can buy pasteurized Vacherin. This is made on the same mountain as the French Vacherin but is produced by the Swiss. I know that the FDA says it tastes the same, but having just had the real thing, I don’t believe it either.

PS: although you probably won't be going to this place soon, their website is actually rather good. Take a peek

I Can't Believe | Like This but...

One of the great things about having friends in a place you visit is that they have a kitchen. Last night we spent New Year's eve with our friends from London. Besides being New Year's eve, it was also our female friend from London's birthday. We had an excellent meal, with Texas style English brisket (more on this later), excellent cheese and great potatoes. The surprise of the night was "Ramapo Nacho Dip" modified by our friend somewhat. The surprise is that its really good, despite basically being from a day camp's photocopied "cookbook." The recipe is easy to make, and here it is:

INGREDIENTS

1 bag tortilla chips (thick chips are better)
8 ounces of cream cheese (called "Philadelphia" here in the UK)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar salsa
1 can of whole refried beans

EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED

8" pan (ceramic is better than metal)

INSTRUCTIONS

Spread cream cheese on the bottom of the pan. Spread the salsa and beans on top of the cream cheese. Add the cheddar on top and then the mozzarella on top of this. Bake in a 400 degree oven for seven minutes or until the cheese is melted. Eat.

Fish and Chips For Chumps

I should start off this post by pointing out that it likely wasn't the restaurant's fault. As we were walking in, 92 (they told us) member's of some marching band from the suburbs of Columbus Ohio walked out. Many of them were wearing aubergine satin jackets. Many of them looked like what Europeans envision American's looked like. They clearly had occupied every seat. Although I have sympathy on the restaurants staff for having to endure this, their failure to recover doomed our meal.

The place we ate is the Sea Shell of Lisson Grove (020 7220 9000). It is a favorite of our London friends and on walking in I could see why. The place is well lit and spacious. Things went downhill from there. The place was understaffed (perhaps they lost someone in the combat of the 92 Midwesterners?), and the waitress had problems keeping our order straight. When the food eventually came, it was nothing to right home about. We ordered Fried Calamari, which came as straight, greasy, chewy strips. Our London friend ordered a favorite of hers; avocado with baby shrimp (called prawns in the UK) and covered with Russian dressing. I found this to be surprisingly good despite my reservations about the whole concept and would get it again if I returned to the place. Our male London friend suggested the King Prawns (which are normal sized shrimp) in garlic paste, which was OK, although not as good as our friend thinks. We think the Ohio people at all of their bread, and when we asked for a plate (extra in this place) we received Kaiser rolls.

The Sea Shell sells multiple kinds of fish and chips, including cod, haddock, plaice and skate. It also sells a variety of broiled fish as well. Unfortunately, it does not sell any non-fish items as an entree. They have chicken on the take out menu, but we got the feeling the Ohio Band ate it all before we came. This meant that we had to get a chicken Cesar salad, greens on the side, to feed to boy #2. If you have a similar child, you may end up in a similar predicament. The fish and chips were without a doubt the highlight of the experience, although not the best I have had by any means. The fish were not fried in oil that was hot enough, and grease seeped in. The cod was also dry. The chips were good, although I suggest you ask for them "well done."

Dessert consisted of ice cream, an apple cake, which was good, and spotted dick, which has nothing to do with what I tend to see in the course of my professional life. Spotted dick is a steamed pudding with raisins. Despite its name, its actually sort of tasty.



The real problem with the place was, more than the limited selection and grease, was that the service was horrific. Food came in a haphazard fashion, and despite pleas from the parents, it was difficult to get even cold food served to them in a reasonable amount of time. I am not sure how long after we ordered it took us to get our fish, but it was pretty darn long. This despite the fact that its the type of place one would not goto without children.