Road Tips

Blend - Paris

My colleague, Simon, had taken a vacation earlier in the summer to Paris with his wife.  One afternoon I was sitting in my office and I got a text message from him.  He texted, "When you come here for your training, if you want a VERY good burger, try 'Blend' - it's awesome!"  I talked to my colleague Ian about going there and while he didn't initially seem to be too whippy to go have a burger in Paris, Simon's exuberance about the place pretty much convinced him that we needed to give the place a try.  After getting into Paris via taxi from the airport, checking into our hotel and settling in, we set out to find Blend.  

After years of Frenchmen looking down their noses, decrying the burger as "American culinary scourge", they're beginning to become a staple in the French diet as they are in the U.S.   Since the culinary arts run deep in France, the quest to make the "perfect" burger has become a holy grail for many French chefs.  And Blend founder Victor Garnier is one of those who believed that he could make a burger that the French would favor.  

Garnier was an French foreign exchange student living in Malibu (What a great place to be an exchange student!) and he fell in love with American burgers.  The In-N-Out "Double Double" became an all-time favorite of his, but then he was exposed to gourmet burgers that featured blended meats.  He traveled across the U.S. trying a number of different burgers before going home to France.  

Garnier knew that there were gourmet burgers at high-end restaurants in Paris, but he wanted to bring a gourmet burger to the masses.  He came up with the concept for Blend and set out to develop a burger that was worthy of French culinary standards.  

He turned to artisan butcher  Yves-Marie le Bourdonnec, the owner of the famous butcher shop - or boucherie - Le Couteau d’Argent in the Paris suburb of Asnieres, to come up with the right blend of meat for his new venture.  Le Bourdonnec has long been a supplier of top grade beef to restaurants in Paris and his philosophy of the best type of burger is a lean mixture (no more than 5 to 8% fat versus muscled beef) and grinding the beef for nearly immediate consumption.  Using matured beef from both France and Ireland, Garnier and le Bourdonnec worked for a year to come up with the right blend that would be flavorful, but not so expensive that normal French people would have to dig deep in their pockets to enjoy.  The mixture of meat is sent to Blend each day and "minced" (ground) as needed in the kitchen.  

Pictured left - Yves-Marie le Bourdonnec and Victor Garnier.  Picture courtesy Philippe Servent Photography.  

Once Garnier conquered the correct blend for his burger meat, he turned to an American ex-patriot - Camille Malmquist - to help make the artisan buns and desserts that he envisioned in his restaurant.  Malmquist was a pastry chef from the Pacific Northwest who worked in restaurants in the U.S. until she moved to Paris in 2008.  In addition to working in restaurants in Paris, she is also a writer and has contributed to on-line web sites such as Secrets of Paris and Girls' Guide to Paris and she also has her own blog site - Croque Camille - but she hasn't had much action on that lately.  She also wrote recipes for buns and desserts in Victor Garnier's 2013 book Hamburger Gourmet.  A girl after my own heart, Malmquist is also a beer connoisseur and her quest is to seek out good beer in what is a burgeoning craft beer scene in Paris.  

Garnier then consulted with a French cabinet maker who ended up making the tables and butcher block stools with the Blend hamburger logo embedded in them.  With everything in place, Garnier opened Blend in 2012 and it was an immediate hit.  It was called by one reviewer as "The Best Hamburger in the Capital."  Due to popular demand, a second Blend location was opened in 2013 and a third location opened earlier this year.   

Our hotel was less than a 10 minute walk from the original Blend location.  Well, it would have been less than a 10 minute had my internal GPS been functioning.  I always get screwed up with directions when I go to Paris.  My sense of direction is completely out of kilter.  And because the streets don't always go North/South or East/West, I have trouble figuring out where I am.  (Downtown Minneapolis is the same way for me.)  What got me this time was going through the circle at Place des Victories.  We took the wrong street spoke off Place des Victories, not once, but twice.  Plus it was starting to rain.  Ian took a look at the map that was provided for us at the hotel and said that maybe we needed to go another direction.  Down a street, then a quick turn on Rue d'Argout and we found Blend.  (see map)

It was around 1 p.m. when we got there and, understandably, the place was packed.  Blend is not a big place to begin with.  It seats - maybe - 30 people if you cram everyone in. There were a number of people milling about in front of the place, but it turned out that many were waiting on orders to go.  We stood under a canopy out of the drizzling rain and took a look at an English menu one of the young ladies up front gave to Ian.  When a table came open about 10 minutes later, we went inside.

The menu isn't long at Blend - four different burgers, a grilled chicken sandwich and a veggie burger.  It was a pretty easy pick for both of us - we went with their signature Cheesy burger that is topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, zucchini pickles, fried onions, iceberg lettuce and housemade ketchup.  We both got an order of French fries with the housemade ketchup.  

The burgers came out and they were cut in half.  The bun was fluffy with lots of air pockets in the crown.  The cheese was oozing off the top of the burger.  It was a thick burger, I'm guessing probably the equivalent of a 1/3 of a pound.  And the taste was, well, it was exquisite.  It was different.  It wasn't like an American flat-grilled or char-grilled burger.  It almost tasted like it was steamed.  The blend of the meat was quite possibly the reason.  The grind was very fine and held together very well.  The total taste of the burger was excellent.  This was truly an outstanding burger.

The fries were sprinkled with fresh parsley and they were crispy on the outside and spongy on the inside.  They were fine along with the housemade ketchup that had a sweet vinegar taste to it.  But the star of the meal was the burger.  

Even Ian - who was initially disdainful of Simon's suggestion - said that he thought the burger at Blend was very good.  And it was.  This would be a great burger place if it was anywhere in the States.   Even weeks after we were in Paris, Ian and I are still extolling the virtues of the burger that we both had at Blend.  The French are definitely catching up with the Americans when it comes to good burgers. 

A la Chataigne - Paris

On our first full night in Paris, my colleague Ian - who is a wonderful planner when it comes to finding restaurants - made reservations for us at a little bistro by the name of A la Chataigne.  The restaurant features a number of Mediterranean-style dishes on the menu and it sounded interesting to Ian when he found it looking through La Forchette (The Fork) before we came to Paris.  By booking the meal through the web site, we were able to save 20% on the cost of the meal.  

Chef Yann Rebillard is the man behind A la Chataigne (which translates into "chestnut" in English) and many of his dishes are centered on rustic Corsican recipes.  Many of the dishes feature wild game or beef-based items.  

Now, Paris really screws up my internal GPS.  Streets don't necessarily run north and south, the Seine curves through the city and that affects street plots, and when it's cloudy and rainy - as it was that evening - I can't get a bearing on directions.  In what would have been a normal 20 minute walk from our hotel, Ian and I wandered about for over a half hour before stumbling upon A la Chataigne on Rue Miromesnil.  (see map)

Our reservations were for 7 p.m. - actually that's quite early to dine for most Parisians.  And because of that, we were the only ones in the small restaurant when we got there.  We pretty much had our pick of where we wanted to sit.  We took a small table along the wall.  

As we sat down, the lady who would be our server told us in broken English that their credit card machine was broken and that we'd have to pay in cash.  Ian said that he could go get a couple hundred Euros out of an ATM, but he needed to find out where the closest one was.  The lady told him that she knew of one a couple blocks away, so Ian set out on his quest for cash.

After returning with money, we got into the meat of the menu to check to see what they were offering that evening.  The first thing that I found on the menu was the beef carpaccio.  Only this carpaccio was a little different than what I've had in the States.  This carpaccio came with a honey balsamic drizzle and strands of an herbed mayonnaise sauce.  The taste of the combinations was wonderful.  Carpaccio on its own is pretty darned good, but the drizzle and the herbed mayo gave it a little more pizazz.

Ian ordered the charcuterie plate - a mix of housemade sausage chunks and thinly sliced ham and prosciutto.  Ian offered a couple bites of the ham and it was pretty salty, but very fresh in its taste.  

For my main entree that evening I thought about getting a steak, but then I saw something on the menu (by the way, they did have an English menu for the Anglos) that completely intrigued me - Ox cheeks.  Ox cheeks can be difficult to prepare because the meat is so lean that there's always the danger of overcooking it.  But these were slow-cooked Ox cheeks in a subtle sauce.  They pulled apart pretty easily and the taste was, well...  All right, I guess.  They seemed to be rather earthy in taste, not anything that I've ever experienced.  But I decided that I liked it enough, but not certain I'd order it again if I saw it on the menu.  I shared some with Ian - he's had Ox cheeks before - and he said that it was very good as far as Ox cheeks go.  

Ian got the veal chop - a massive one, at that.  He sort of chuckled when it was set in front of him and he just said, "Oh my!"  But he said the flavor and the tenderness of the veal was wonderful.  He shared a cut of meat with me and it was very good.  The veal chop had sort of a reduction sauce on it that had a bit of a spicy blend to it.  Even though I liked my Ox cheeks, I REALLY liked the veal chop. 

By the time we were finishing our meal, the place was beginning to fill up.  For a little restaurant in Paris, I was happy with my meal at A la Chataigne.  I got to open up my culinary horizon a little more, the service was very good and the atmosphere was cozy and homey.  I would have no problem giving A la Chataigne a high recommendation to try if you get to Paris.

Le SO - Paris

On my last full day in Paris earlier this year, I was still feeling a little queasy from my bout with what was either food poisoning or my body's rejection of a very good - and very rich - duck entree I'd had a couple days prior.  Our host from Devialet, Julien, specifically asked me what I'd like to have for lunch.  I had managed to down a croissant at breakfast along with some water, so I thought I could go for something a little more substantial, but not exotic.  I said, "You know, I think I need just a good ol' burger."  He knew exactly where to take us, a little bistro not far from the office by the name of Le SO.  

Le SO is one of those little Parisian bistros that isn't very big and features a small bar, sidewalk dining and a number of very uncomfortable chairs that are extremely too close to the floor to get in and out of.  We walked less than two minutes down Rue Montmatre to the corner of Rue Paul Lelong and to Le SO. (see map)

Le SO is named after the owners of the place - the initials of their first names are S and O - and features a menu of organically raised foods.  Their signature dish is their Le SO burgers which are all made with organic beef.  They also have organically raised chicken sandwiches, a veggie burger, and a handful of entrees including a steak salad, veal Milanese (a breaded veal cutlet), shrimp and quinoa, and an Argentinian organically-raised beef filet.  

Each of us went with the SO burger - organically raised beef topped with Comte cheese, fresh greens, sliced onions and served with a small splash of their homemade ketchup - which was more like a 1000 Island dressing - on the side.  They offered three or four different types of buns including a peppercorn bun.  I was intrigued by a peppercorn bun and I ordered that with my burger.  Well, actually, Julien ordered for me as the waiter didn't speak English.  But something got lost in translation as I got a sesame seed bun instead of the peppercorn bun.  We got a small bin of French fries to go along with our burgers.

Now, I ordered my burger cooked "medium".  There's a distinct difference in what the French call medium versus what we call medium in the U.S.  My burger was what I would categorize as rare.  And with a still somewhat queasy stomach, I was having a hard time downing the burger.  The taste of the meat was very good - don't get me wrong.  But I've had stomach problems with rare burgers in the past and coming off a previous stomach-issue episode, I didn't want to tempt fate a second time in Paris.  I had about half the burger before I decided that I couldn't - or wouldn't - eat any more than what I had.  

It's somewhat interesting that the burger revolution has hit in Paris, as well.  The organic beef is a huge key to the flavor of the burgers at Le SO.  It was a good burger, but was overly undercooked for my taste.  It may have been because both Julien and Ian had ordered their burgers as medium-rare and they cooked them all the same.  In any event, what could have - and should have - been a pretty good burger at Le SO was disappointing to me. 

Le Point Zero - Paris

Lunch in France is a little different than what we do in the U.S.  In France, lunch is a time to take step back from work, sit back and enjoy the food.  It's a 180-degree turn from how most American's spend their lunch time hurrying to get something to eat, then hurrying to finish their food, then hurrying back to work.  During our business trip to Paris to visit the folks at Devialet, we were treated to lunch on our first full day in Paris at a little bistro not far from the company's main office - Le Point Zero.  

In front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, there is a small brass compass star that signifies THE central point in Paris and the point where every distance is measured in the city.  Brothers Christophe and Laurent Guyader took the name of their little bistro from that landmark.  Along with chef Evangelos Guitry-Azam, they came up with a concept where the can go in any direction with the food they serve.  Le Point Zero is part bistro, part resto/bar, part "farm-to-fork" French auberge, part "fast food" (as much as a sit down restaurant can be fast food in Paris).  

It was less than a 3 minute walk from Devialet's main offices down a narrow side street to Le Point Zero. (see map).  The small bistro had a main dining room, but also featured a private dining area in the lower level as well as one on the second level of the building.  We took a seat along the wall of the restaurant.  Our server came over with a small chalk board that served as the menu that day.  Le Point Zero's menu changes periodically as they're searching for the freshest items depending upon the season.  

With our host Julien translating for us, the main entrees that day included a strip steak, a duck breast entree, a couple three seafood entrees, a salted pork knuckle dish, and a chicken breast entree with noodles.  They also had a burger on the menu - one that someone seated next to us got and it looked damned good.  But I was in France - in PARIS!  I wanted something exotic.  

I can't do seafood in France - I've gotten sick twice on seafood on previous trips.  And I try to stay away from lettuce and similar greens (sick on my very first trip nearly 12 years ago).  But the duck was calling my name.  Julien was explaining to me that it was actually strips of duck breast formed together in sort of a duck breast roll.  That sounded intriguing to me.

Julien knows that I like beer and he suggested a Paris microbrew that Le Point Zero served by the name of Gallia.  Gallia was a beer brewed in Paris as far back as the late 19th century.  About 50 years ago, the Paris brewing operation closed up.  I was told that for awhile after that most of the Gallia beer came from Romania.  It was still billed as "Paris' Beer" even though it was no longer brewed in the city.  Two young entrepreneurs felt it was time to bring Gallia back to Paris and they bought the Gallia name and opened their own brewery.  The Gallia I had - the Blonde - was actually pretty good.  

We all got gazpacho as a starter for our meal.  The deep orange color of the chilled soup came from the tomato base that was pureed with fresh vegetables.  Fresh chopped herbs were sprinkled on top of the gazpacho before it was served.  It was thick, zesty and very flavorful.  It may have been the best gazpacho I've ever had.  

My colleague Ian and our host Julien got the sirloin strip stak for lunch.  It came with a bed of peas and chopped potato cubelets.  A small pad of melted herbed butter came on top of the pan-grilled steak.  Both Ian and Julien said their steak was "good".   

Looking back, I wish I would have gotten the steak.  Or even the very good burger that I saw.  Oh, it wasn't that the duck was bad.  Quite the contrary - it was fabulous.  As Julien explained before I ordered, they took strips of duck breast and wound them together before it was broiled.  With a honey wine sauce and topped with fresh rosemary and thyme, the duck breast looked like it was a cinnamon roll.  Mashed potatoes and green beans with parsley were paired with the duck.  It was - oh! - so good.  But it was also - oh! - so rich!  

That night, I didn't feel well.  My stomach began to turn and I ended up getting sick - again.  This was my fifth trip to France - the fourth time that I had gotten sick.  But this one was the worst one.  I was up all night in the bathroom and had to miss the trip to the Devialet factory in Normandy the next day.  I don't know if it was a case of food poisoning or the other scenario a friend told me that my body probably couldn't handle rich foods - rich foods that it isn't used to consuming in the States.  All I know is that I ate something exotic to me and I got sick eating it.  I'm hoping it wasn't food poisoning or my body telling me that it needed to get rid of the food I had earlier in the day as quick as possible.  

While the food at Le Point Zero didn't agree with me too well, it was very darned good.  The duck breast roll was one of the most interesting things I've ever tasted.  It was a cool little lunch place in the heart of Paris and one that I wouldn't have a problem going back to - even though the duck probably made me ill.  I just wish I wouldn't have succumbed to temptation just to try the duck.  Oh well...

Bistrotters - Paris

We had finished our first full day in Paris and my colleague Ian took me to a place that he'd already made reservations at before we got to France.  Actually, our colleague Simon had made a reservation at the small bistro during a vacation in Paris earlier in the summer with his wife.  However, because he didn't have e-mail while he was on vacation, the restaurant had canceled his reservation because he didn't confirm the reservation 48 hours in advance per the restaurant's requirement.  He was understandably upset, but before Ian and I went to France, he told Ian that we "absolutely had to go to this place.  I need a full report!"  The name of the place was Bistrotters.

As I do on a number of occasions, Ian does thorough background research on some of the restaurants that he visits when travels.  He found that Bistrotters was angling for a coveted Michelin Guide - Paris star rating.  Owner Francois Gallice (pictured left) opened the small bistro in 2012 as a restaurant and a wine shop.  His thinking was that if you liked the wine you had with your meal, you can buy a bottle of it at a takeaway price as a memento or reminder of your evening at Bistrotters.  Chef Erwin Le Gahinet oversees the daily menu at Bistrotters which changes regularly to ensure the freshest ingredients and seasonal foods.  

Bistrotters is open from 12 to 2 p.m. for lunch and 7 to 10 p.m. for dinner Tuesday thru Saturday.  Ian was adamant that we needed to get there for our 7 p.m. reservation.  "They won't hold our table if we are even 10 minutes late," he told me as we climbed into a cab at our hotel around 6:30 p.m.  It took us about 20 minutes to get to Bistrotters located on Rue Decrès across the Seine from where we were staying.  (see map) When we got out of the cab we were somewhat surprised to see a number of people milling about in front of the place.  They, too, had 7 p.m. reservations (they try to do two seatings at night at Bistrotters) and were waiting for the doors to open.  Right at 7 p.m. the doors were unlocked at we went inside.

We were greeted by Francois Gallice and he checked us off his reservation list.  Tall and angular, Francois pretty much gave us our choice of tables.  (I was struck by his uncanny resemblance to one of my dealers back in Iowa.)  We settled for a small table on the upper level of the small restaurant.  The bottom dining area had seating for about 14 to 16 people.  The upper level sat around 10 more.  The small bar for the restaurant was on the left just past the front door of the bistro. 

The menu for the evening was on a chalkboard just above our table.  It was in French, but Francois also dropped off menus that were in both French and English.  His English was also very good with a distinctive French accent.  He gave us a recommendation for a light-bodied French red wine and we ended up taking him up on his suggestion of the Diane de Belgrave Haut-Medoc from the Chateau Belgrave winery in Bordeaux region of France.  It was very good.  

The menu that evening featured a couple of seafood dishes (I don't do seafood in France - been sick twice on seafood in France), a lamb entree, a steak entree and a pork entree.  I was sort of torn between getting the steak tenderloin filet and the crispy pork belly entree.  Ian was actually looking at the same thing.  We decided that I would get the steak and Ian would get the pork belly.  

The first thing that came out was a small cheese puff appetizer that was a nice introduction to the restaurant.  For appetizers, I ordered up some foie gras.  It came with a couple pieces of a toasted housemade French bread and some greens.  The foie gras was not the best I've had in France, but it was still very good.  

Ian had a small bowl of grilled fresh chorizo that he got as an appetizer.  I offered him a bite of foie gras, but I was surprised to learn that he doesn't eat foie gras.  He sort of shuddered and said, "Duck liver.  I've never warmed up to it."  When he offered me a taste of the chorizo, I declined.  I had a food poisoning episode with chorizo a few years ago and I've never warmed back up to it, either.   

My steak was a small filet dressed with some fresh grilled veggies and served with a peppercorn sauce.  I got it medium rare and medium rare in France is really rare.  As in REALLY rare.  (Medium in France would be what I call rare in the U.S.)  It had some fresh herbs on top and the taste was fine.  It was certainly not a Midwestern cut of tenderloin beef.

The pork belly was interesting.  The pork was layered with a crispy grilled outer shell.  It rested on a bed of cooked vegetables that were lying in sort of an au jus sauce.  Ian thought it was very good.  We exchanged cuts of our respective entrees and I have to say that the pork belly was, indeed, very good.  It was better than my steak, which was fine for what it was.  

Francois and another server tag-teamed taking care of the tables that evening.  After we finished, the other server came over to ask us if we wanted dessert.  We mulled over the choices and finally decided that we'd had enough.  It was a good meal as is.

While we felt the food was very good, the service was a little choppy at Bistrotters.  Ian remarked that they had a ways to go in the service end of thing if they were going to get a Michelin star designation.  But Francois was very friendly and outgoing.  He asked where we were from and he said he believed we were the only North Americans in the restaurant that evening.  For a little French bistro, I enjoyed the experience immensely.  They're working hard to please their clientele, so you have to give them that.  

Summer in Paris

I finally made it to Paris - albeit over two months later than I wanted to get there.  If you remember this post from a couple three months ago with the reasons why I wasn't in Paris at that time when I should have been, you'll remember that I was a very unhappy camper with United Airlines.  On this trip - thanks to the delays out of Quad Cities International Airport on my trip to the U.K. at the end of June - I made up my mind that I'd just book the flight to Paris directly out of O'Hare International in Chicago and drive in well in advance of the flight.  It worked out fine.  The only problem was that I had to get in the car after a 9 hour flight and drive back to the Quad Cities.  On the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.  I was tired, there was a lot of traffic and I wasn't feeling very well.  (More on that later on.)

The reason for the trip to Paris was a 3-day training session with one of our companies - Devialet.  We got in on the ground floor with this company when it became available in North America and we have endured some growing pains with them.  However, the company is hitting on all cylinders right now, they have some great products - very unique in the consumer audio industry - and they invited individual sales people from our staff over to get indoctrinated in their philosophies, tour the factory and learn the inside poop about the product and features.  I was supposed to go in mid-June with my colleague from Montreal, Francois.  But that didn't work out thanks to United.  So, I re-booked for a late August trip with my colleague, Ian.  Ian and I travel well together and he's rather worldly and - most importantly - a planner.  I let Ian figure out what we were going to do and where we were going to eat.  

After a nine hour overnight flight to Paris, I got into Charles De Gaulle Airport around 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.  About four or five international flights got in at the same time and there were only 4 customs windows open for about 800 to 1000 passengers.  It was excruciating waiting for the line to slowly work its way to the French border guards in their individual booths.   It was close to 45 minutes before I was able to go up to a window as the border guard silently stamped my passport without asking me a question.  Maddening. 

Thankfully, Ian had gotten into Paris about 90 minutes before I did and was waiting for me outside customs.  We found a cab outside the airport and took it into the city.  It was about a 40 minute ride from the airport to our hotel.

Our hotel on this trip was the Hotel Malte Opera in the heart of Paris.  it is located near the Louvre, as well as the Palais Garnier - the Paris opera house.  (Surprise!  Hence the "opera" in the hotel's name.)  It is also right across the street from the Opera branch of the National Library of France.  

The elegant lobby of the hotel was replete with a number of French antique-style chairs and contemporary tables.  It featured a breakfast area and a front lobby desk where they invited their guests to sit down and enjoy a coffee or a bottle of water (sparkling or still) while they checked in.  

The room I was given was what I would say are typical of what you'll find at most French hotels.  The rooms aren't big at all.  (Check out the 1 foot gap between the end of the bed and the wall.)  The bathroom was also very small and - as I've found with other French bathrooms - the shower/tub had no shower curtain or shower door.  I've half-jokingly said that my goal in life is to move to France and start up a shower curtain store.  I still can't figure out why they don't use shower curtains in many of the hotels I've stayed at in France.  Water gets everywhere and you'll need a towel specifically to clean up the wetness on the bathroom floor.

The bed, however, was comfortable and I spent a lot of time in it thanks to getting food poisoning (or having a bodily aversion to some food that was super rich).  I was down for a day and still didn't feel well on my last full day in Paris.  I missed a chance to go out to dinner with colleagues who were in town for a separate manufacturer trip because I couldn't risk going out of a 20 foot radius from my bathroom.   It was pretty upsetting to me because I understand a good time was had by all when I was lying in bed instead.  This was my fifth trip to France - my third trip to Paris - and I've had stomach problems on four of the five trips.  But none of the previous were as violent as what I went through on this visit.  

And because of my sickness, I got to watch a lot of television when I wasn't sleeping.  The television system at the hotel featured, of course, a number of French channels, but I also found CNN International, some BBC programming, as well as American programs broadcast with French subtitles.  There were also a number of German channels including a sports channel that showed soccer non-stop, and there were channels from Italy, Austria and Portugal.  Interestingly, there was no channel that emanated from Spain.  Maybe there's no such thing as good Spanish television.  

After getting checked into the hotel after we arrived in Paris on the first day and grabbing a quick lunch nearby, Ian and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Paris in what became a steady rain.  Ian's goal was to go to the Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides (the French military museum) across the Seine.  He has visited a number of museums in Paris, but had yet to go to this one.  Anything that had to do with military history was fine with me.  

First of all, I love Paris.  It may be my most favorite city in the world.  And I love to walk around in Paris.  But the place drives me crazy when I try to figure out where I am.  I like to think that I have this innate ability to get a directional reckoning wherever I go.  (My colleagues call me the "Human GPS", although I will say that I've lost some of that super power ever since I went out and bought a real GPS a few years ago.)  In Paris, the streets meander in different directions.  The Seine loops through the heart of the city instead of a straight line.  You can follow a street into a roundabout where streets spoke out in multiple directions.  Street names change just by crossing a street.  It's utterly maddening for me to try and figure out where I am in Paris.  Even maps don't necessarily help.  But the beauty of the city more than makes up for the confusion I suffer as I try to navigate.    

To get to the Musée de l'Armée, we had to walk through the courtyard of the Louvre museum complex.   Architect I. M. Pei's  Louvre Pyramid is the centerpiece of the courtyard.  The glass pyramid features 666 individual diamond-shaped glass panels and serves as the main entrance into the lobby of the Louvre.  The wait to get into the Louvre was more than two hours, but Ian - the seasoned world traveler that he is - took me to a hidden and little known entrance later on that had no wait to get into the Louvre.  Since it was near closing time when he showed it to me, it wasn't worth it to spend the money to go in.  Someday...

We made it to the Musée de l'Armée and spent the nearly $20 per person to go in.  I wanted to take a picture of the front of the place, but it was raining rather hard at the time so I figured that I'd be able to find a similar shot on the Internet.  Here's a picture of the front of Les Invalides from Ian when he was in Paris in the summer of 2013. 

After going through a couple areas that showed medieval armaments and battle armor worn by combatants, we decided to look for the part of the museum that specifically dealt with World War II.  We had to go through the World War I part of the museum to get there, but we finally found it.  We lingered for a long while in that area, looking at the French side of the World War II story.  Although many of the signs were in French, we were able to decipher much of what was on display.  

While we were going through the museum, there was a large area that dealt with the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany occupation.  As I was looking at some stuff, I noticed that Paris was liberated exactly 70 years ago from the day we were there - August 25.   The next day would be the 70th anniversary of the famous parade up the Champs-Élysées led by Charles De Gaulle.  (They had a ceremony that evening - in the rain - commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation not far from our hotel.)  Ian and I both thought it was rather neat that we were in Paris exactly 70 years from the day.    

We made our way into the rotunda area of Les Invalides known as the Dome des Invalides.  The Royal Chapel is part of the rotunda celebrating the reign of Louis XIV before it became a military pantheon during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte.  A number of French military commanders have been buried in Les Invalides which served as both a military hospital and a retired soldiers home into the early 20th century.  

The tomb of Napoleon is located in the center of the pantheon directly under the dome.  Some of Napoleon's relatives - including a brother and two sons - are buried in areas near the red quartzite tomb. To me, it was pretty interesting to see.  

The long day - complete with jet lag - was catching up with us.  We started to walk back to the hotel in a light rain, stopping off at a typical Paris sidewalk cafe along the left bank of the Seine to have a double espresso to keep us awake for dinner later on, and to get out of what was continuing to be a steady rain.  I'm still grateful to the guy who was selling cheap umbrellas in the courtyard of the Louvre for five euros.  

Other than getting sick - and the weather being less than desirable during our visit - I'm always grateful for a chance to get to Paris.  It is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  The architecture, the history, just the feel of the city is so stimulating to me.  Sure, there are the usual touristy things to do, but just walking around the city and soaking up the vibe is what I really like about Paris.  I found myself already missing the place as I was on my way to the airport to come back to the U.S.

Paris Walkabout

During my recent trip to France, we had an afternoon in Paris to walk around for a while.  Actually, the only places we went to that were of any consequence was the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank area of Paris. 

It's so difficult to get around to see all the sights in just three or four hours.  First of all, to do Paris right, you have to walk.  There's just too much you can miss if you taxi from point to point.  Secondly, you'll have to take at least three days to get around to every place.  The first time I went, we took a full day and walked and walked and walked - but we saw a lot of things.  But we didn't have time to REALLY explore. 

It was a cool Saturday afternoon in late April when my colleagues and I took a walkabout around a section of the city.  I took a lot of pictures and have put them in my Photo Album.  You can click on the pictures for the captions I've written. 

Restaurant L'Aiguiere - Paris

One of the finest dining experiences I've ever had in my life was our meal the last night we were in France recently.  My boss treated all the North American regional managers to a wonderful dinner at Restaurant L'Aiguiere in Paris. 

The restaurant is located on a sleepy side street near the Place de la Bastille (see map).  It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.

Restaurant L'Aiguiere is famous for not only their food, but for their world class collection of fine wine.  The name "L'Aiguiere" is French for "The Ewer" which is the decanter used to store wine at a table.  The owner, Patrick Masbatin, is a master sommelier and well-versed in the vast wine list the restaurant has.

Patrick Masbitin (left)

The restaurant has two levels - the upstairs has a couple of private rooms and a wonderful mezzanine overlooking the main floor.  It isn't very large, but will comforably seat 75 to 80 people.  They're open for lunch through the week and for dinner Monday thru Saturday nights. 

We were seated in a room on the first floor that easily accommodated our group of 10 (two of the guys in our group went down to Corsica to back pack and hike the mountainous island for a couple three days before coming back to North America). 

Monsieur Masbatin welcomed us and told us the building that Restaurant L'Aiguiere was in was the home of the Musketeers, Louis XIII's personal guards.  M. Masbatin said that it is entirely probable that d'Artagnon, the protagonist of Alexandre Dumas' epic novel The Three Musketeers, as well as Isaac de Portau (the real life Porthos), Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (the real life Athos), and Henri d'Aramitz (the real life Aramis) lived in the building.

I'd always thought that The Three Musketeers was a fictional story, but it turns out that Dumas' book is fiction largely based on fact. 

Anyway, that was kind of a neat beginning to our meal.  We started out with a sweet apertif before ordering our meals.  For the entree, I ordered the foie gras - one of which was a regular piece of duck liver and the other was mixed with salt flower (sea salt).  It was outstanding.  No matter what you animal rights activists may say, I did NOT have any guilt in the least when I ate the foie gras.   

The main course, I was torn between the veal osso-buco stuffed with foie gras and topped with a mushroom cream sauce; and the beef tournedos yella - beef tenderloins topped with a rich red wine sauce on top of a bed of vegetables.  I opted for the tournedos, but my boss, Daniel (who was seated next to me), went for the veal osso-buco. 

I just have to say that while my beef tournedos were absolutely fabulous, Daniel's veal osso-buco was out of this world.  In fact, we ended up just eating off of each other's plate.  We didn't give a shit.  When the food is that good, it's a free-for-all.  We had a lot of fun that night.   

And to end the evening, I had a bourbon based creme brulee with real vanilla.  Oh man!  I just love creme brulee and that was some of the best I'd ever had.  Man, was it great.

And the wine - we had a magnum bottle each of a great French cabernet - a 1999 Mazis-Chambertin Grand-Cru; and a very good French chardonnay - a 2000 Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru.  Even our guy from Winnipeg, who usually doesn't drink white wine, had a glass of the chardonnay and was blown away by the taste.

Before we left, M. Masbatin allowed some of us to take a quick peek of the wine cellar.  It was very impressive, not only because of the selection, but because it was a perfect 55 degrees and 60 percent humidity in the cellar. 

I don't even want to speculate what the final tab was, but I have to say that I was ever so grateful to my boss for the opportunity to eat in a place like Restaurant L'Aiguiere, to have the great food and great wine, and to experience something like that with my colleagues.  I hope that some day I can take Cindy to a place like that. 

Hotel Mercure Gare de Lyon - Paris

When we got to Paris for a Saturday afternoon and overnight before we flew home from France, we stayed at the Hotel Mercure Gare de Lyon, which is attached to the Gare de Lyon train station in SE Paris (see map).   This hotel was also listed as a 3 star hotel, but it was much nicer than the Hotel Mercure Saint-Etienne Parc L'Europe. 

Once again, the rooms were small compared to American hotel rooms.  The bed took up most of the space in the room and it was a queen size bed.

The bathroom didn't have a bidet like the one in Saint-Etienne - and not that I'd actually USE a bidet - but it was pretty good sized compared to the room itself.

Also, here's a good tip if you ever go to France - take along your own soap, shampoo and toilet paper.  The bathroom amenities at 3 star hotels in France aren't the best.  The shampoo is watered down and it takes a lot to work up a lather; the soap doesn't lather (or offer much deodorant protection, as well); and the toilet paper is a step above what you'll find in most port-a-potties at construction sites. 

The soap, shampoo and toilet paper at both Hotel Mercure's I stayed at were pretty much spot on with the above description.

My room was up pretty high and offered a glimpse of the Seine River, which was about a block away.  Here's a picture of a little boat house on the "Rive Gauche" (Left Bank) of the Seine.   

Also, when we were in Paris that afternoon and evening, there was a big soccer game taking place between Marseille and Paris - Saint Germain out at the Stade de France, the huge stadium on the northeast side of Paris.  It was for the French equivalent of the Super Bowl - The French Cup.

When we went out on a little walk for lunch and just to look around, we noticed a number of police in riot gear situated around our hotel.  One of the guys in our group thought it may have been because of the demonstrations by young French people against the government's labor policies a few weeks prior.  But there didn't seem to be anything going on as far as any type of a gathering. 

About 5:30 after we got back from our walk, I kept hearing some commotion out the window and noticed the police presence had jumped up considerably.  Suddenly, I heared a lot of rhythmic clapping and cheering.  I looked out the window and saw this: 

It turned out that it was the Marseille fans who were in a tightly controlled parade after they had gotten off a special train from Marseille to go to the game that evening. 

I was impressed by the show of force by police in keeping the demonstration in tow.  I'm sure they've had a ton of problems in the past with "hooliganism" directly tied to soccer fans.  Some of the soccer riots in Europe make the Watts riots of 1965 look like a backyard birthday party that erupted into a food fight.

More soccer fans from Marseille

The little parade that was pretty much peaceful other than the Marseilles fans chanting and clapping ended up at the Gare de Lyon and from there they went out to the stadium for the game.  By the way, Paris Saint-Germain beat Marseille 2-1 to win the French Cup later that evening. 

The Hotel Mercure Gare de Lyon had a nice restaurant in the place, as well as a little wine bar with a nice selection of scotch behind the bar.  A couple of us got together in the bar for a couple of drinks before dinner and even though the bar was pretty small, it was certainly comfortable.

Every person who worked in the hotel that I encountered spoke impeccable English.  That is the thing that is pretty common in Paris - a lot of people speak English so it's pretty easy to get around. 

And I've yet to encounter a French person who is surly and rude.  It's not to say they aren't out there - but we have 'em here in the States, too.  And I never really got any anti-American vibe when I was there, either.  Sure, the majority of the French people don't agree with the United States foreign policy, but they know that a lot of people in America don't agree with it, either. 

The Hotel Mercure Gare de Lyon is a wonderful place to stay.  It's not too centrally located (the only things that are close by is the Notre-Dame Cathedral and Paris' Latin Quarter), but you can take the Paris Metro system to virtually any of the great places to see in Paris. 

However, it will definitely take you more than an afternoon to do that...

Aux Anysetiers du Roy - Paris

We got into Paris from Saint-Etienne last Saturday around 1 p.m., checked into our hotel to freshen up, then took off on a little walk along the Seine River.  We found that we were probably more hungry than eager to sight see, so we found a little street that had a number of small restaurants up and down the way.

Many of the restaurants were packed (Parisians - actually all Europeans -  have a tendency to eat later than Americans), but we did find one little place that was able to handle our party of 10 - Aux Anysetiers du Roy on Rue St. Louis en I'lle in Paris' 4th arrondissement (district).  It's actually on the island of St. Louis in the Seine, just west of the Notre-Dame Cathedral.  See map here.

Aux Anysetiers du Roy is a tiny place.  It probably seats no more than 22 to 25 people.  In doing some research on the place, it turns out that the restaurant was one of the more "hip" places to hang out and have dinner in the 60's and 70's with celebrities.  Salvador Dali, Bridgette Bardot, Jerry Lewis and other celebs would grace the doors of Aux Anysetiers du Roy, primarily for their famous chocolate fondue. 

In fact, Aux Anysetiers du Roy has a number of crocks of chocolate and herbs that are sold all over the world. 

They sat us along the wall at Aux Anysetiers du Roy which afforded us a look into their very small kitchen.  It was just one chef, a woman, and one waiter working in the place.  The chef had no sous chef in the kitchen, it was just her.

The restaurant's specialty is grilled meat.  One of our guys went with the grilled veal and he said it was just outstanding.  I'd never had grilled veal before and he said it was moist and flavorful. 

I opted for the chef's special of the day - Beef Bourgogne (Beef Burgundy) - which is basically a beef stew that uses cubed pieces of beef in a rich wine based gravy with some vegetables.  I almost opted for the steak au poivre (sirloin steak in a black pepper infused sauce - the base of which they sell, as well), but I figured that after a week of eating rich foods I needed some comfort food - French style.   

We got a bottle of the 2002 Chateau Cartier Saint Emilion Grand Cru from the Bordeaux region after we ordered lunch.  Now, I don't know French wines at all, but even for a wine that probably needed a couple more years to go before we opened the bottle, it was outstanding with our lunch. 

The food was just outstanding.  This a picture of my plate after I'd eaten a couple of the pieces of beef.  Man, it was great.  The sauce had a robust taste of a good red wine, the potatoes were fried beforehand in a little olive oil.  There were mushrooms and carrots added.  It very much reminded me of my beef stew recipe. 

We didn't do any of their chocolate fondue, although had I known the historical significance and how famous the place was for their chocolate fondue, I may have tried something.  But I ate so much friggin' chocolate on this trip.  I probably had more chocolate in a week than I've had in the past year.  I just don't eat that much chocolate. 

Our lunch gave us enough fuel to get us around on our little walkabout Paris.  It was the ultimate in comfort food.  It was definitely a "spot hitter". 

Harry's New York Bar - Paris

I had the pleasure of going to France for business in February of 2003 with my company, Audio Plus Services.  We stayed a couple nights in Paris and had a chance to walk around the city and see the sights.  We went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (although we didn't go in to see the Mona Lisa), the Arc de Triomphe, and Place de la Concorde.  We saw the artists and bohemians on the Left Bank, toured Notre Dame Cathedral, walked by the Opera House and Moulin Rouge, and we walked the length of the Champs d'Elysee - twice. 

But what I wanted to do more than anything was to go to Harry's New York Bar and get a Bloody Mary.  Now, the guys in our group kind of looked at me like, "Huh?"  But when I explained to them that Harry's invented the Bloody Mary in the 20's, they all followed suit. 

Actually, Harry's wasn't that far from the Opera House or our hotel.  It's not a huge place, but it's very ornate with a lot of dark wood paneling on the walls, covered with pictures and other offerings from over the years.  It's definitely got an English/American feel to the place as the staff and bartenders all spoke English - quite well, actually. 

We all had a Bloody Mary and it was a spot hitter.  It was a little expensive - 9.50 Euros, which, at the time, was about $9.00 US.  But what the hell.  I had two. 

We looked around the place and ended up going downstairs into their piano bar room.  One of the waiters let us go down, even though it wasn't open.  It wasn't very big, almost gave me a clausterphobic feel to it.  The waiter said that George Gershwin used to play the same piano they had in there when he was living in Paris years ago.  He said that people such as Elton John, Harry Connick, Jr., and Diana Krall had all been in the piano bar in recent months playing the piano.  Unfortunately, the lid was down and locked or I would have played chop sticks.

The walls of the piano bar were also adorned with some interesting French sketch art.  I kind of liked it, but some of the guys in the group were making noises about being bored, so we took off (always happens when you're in a group of people). 

I know that Harry's isn't a beer bar, and it probably isn't a destination, per se.  But I'm glad we went.