Crepes in Paris

Finding the best crepes in Paris is like finding the best pizza in Rome.  So many places offer them, yet only a few stand out.

On my foodie adventure in Paris, one of the required "must-eats" was a crepe.  While we strolled a Christmas Market looking at all the foods and goodies offered, my expert and I realized we should start our first night out right: eat a Crepes Suzette. We saw this brightly lit vendor ready to create thin pancake deliciousness so we gave them a try.

 She expertly ladled the batter onto the griddle.

 A few circles and the crepe was properly spread out for even cooking.

 When it finished cooking, she moved it to the practice pile and added a little bit of sugar.

Then a little bit of Grand Marnier on the sugar.

 After a couple folds and a powdered sugar dusting on top, we were off with our order.

I must say.  It was absolutely TERRIBLE.  The picture at the top of the post suggests it might be good.  And it DID look good. But I am accustomed to Crepes Suzette being served flambee'd. Thankfully, no one tried to light it on fire while it was in my wife's hands!

I thought it was flambee'd for a reason. Perhaps burning off some of the alcohol is what makes the usually delicious crepe more mellow.  But this one, with its orange flavored alcohol at full power, was overwhelmed.  How sad.

The rest of our trip was dedicated to other foodie adventures so we didn't get a chance to experience any other creperies that were recommended by expert bloggers of the Paris food scene... except for one.

Enter: Breizh Cafe.

As always, we did our research to find one of the, if not the, best creperie in Paris.  And though we couldn't compare it to the other recommendations, our single experience easily stood out as our best meal in Paris.  And we ate pretty well during our three night trip! The staff was courteous and pleasant.  There was no hint of snootiness that I spoke french at the level of a 2-year-old.  Yes.  No. Thank you. More cider please.  You know, stuff a 2-year-old would say.

And the food itself, to die for.  Everything was clearly made with excellent ingredients.  How do you know?  Well, the kitchen is right there in the open next to the front door.  Can't miss it.  As you'll see later, I couldn't help but watch the chef in action.

 So what did we have?

 To start off, we had a bottle of hard cider instead of wine. Apparently in Brittany, France, where this cuisine presides, that is the most common beverage to accompany your crepe.  We prefer the dry kind of cider over the sweet kind, so they showed us the massive list and we chose the Sehedic.  Dry and ultra complex.  The yeast used for fermentation added some sort of unique flavor that reminded me of roquefort bleu cheese. Fascinating choice for the evening and complimented our foods well enough.

 Then came the fresh oysters.  Best I've ever had.  Easily.

Three each just wasn't enough.  Too bad oysters = $$$.

 Then, for the main entrees, Galettes.  Authentic galettes are made with buckwheat flour: darker and nuttier in flavor than normal wheat flour. This galette had egg, bacon, creme fraiche and emmenthaler cheese if I remember correctly.

This galette had egg, ham, gruyere cheese and caramelized onion.

And for dessert: Crepe Suzette - Breizh style!  Although this one had orange wedges on it, an amazing house made salted-butter caramel, AND it came out on fire.  The way it was meant to be made. Unfortunately, the picture didn't come out so well so please imagine it.

And for your entertainment, the management was kind enough to allow me to shoot a little kitchen entertainment.  Enjoy! As always, my apologies for the poor craftsmanship in videography as well as my inability to lower the volume!  Every video is loud loud loud!

When in Paris, or for that matter, their other locations in Tokyo or Cancale, visit Breizh Cafe for an unforgettable crepe experience.

Happy Valentines Day!

Photo Source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=987

Buon Giorno di San Valentino! Happy Valentines Day!

As I waited outside at the bus stop one particularly dark and cold Valentines Day Eve, a typical small car passed by as I looked down the street for my normal mode of transportation.  It was possibly a Fiat.  Maybe not.  It caught my attention because either a passenger of that car did something, or fate itself got a hold of me.  I noticed a colorful piece of paper trailing the wake of the vehicle's air stream and the first thing I thought was, "Did someone throw their trash at me?"

Luckily, it didn't seem as such because a closer look at the paper showed it was an advertisement for T-Bone Station, my neighborhood's newest American-style grill. What I found interesting was that they were offering a special Valentine's Day menu for 49 Euro per person.  It included an appetizer of hot wings, a salad, a steak and I believe I saw wine and dessert.  

Besides making me hungry, it got me thinking of what I am used to seeing on Valentine's Day in the U.S. and wondered if it was the same here in Italy.  So the big question is this: Is Valentine's Day in Rome similar to the U.S.?

The short answer: Yes!  But of course there will always be differences.

For example, many of the grocery stores are selling Baci - a foil-wrapped chocolate candy kind of like ferrero rocher.  Candy is always a commonplace.  But a main difference is there are no heart-shaped boxes of chocolates.  There are no chalky hearts made of sugar with words printed on them. And I haven't seen boxes of cards with the latest cartoon characters on them expressing their sweetest regards of friendship mixed with words of thwarting world domination.  Ben-10, eat your heart out.  Your candy heart, that is.

But even though Italy isn't making this day as commercialized as the United States enjoys, a great many restaurants of Rome seem to be on-board with the idea of bumping up prices and offering extra-romantic packages for tonight's dinner.  Like including Buffalo Wings on the special menu... extra HOT buffalo wings.  

And this is where I wish I could insert an animated emoticon of a smiley-face blushing.  I think that innuendo just made VASGO a PG-13 blog.

I've seen advertisements in passing at tons of restaurants that range from authentic Italian to Chinese to Japanese and more.  It's a night to show the person or people you love that you care about them and it's possible that restaurateurs are ready to exploit that.  I'm not big into the crazy expensive nights where the food is mediocre.

I choose to express myself differently. I think making a delicious Porcini Mushroom Risotto ought to show my lady how much I love her! We will enjoy the finest salt-cured meats Italy can produce (prosciutto di san danielle) and the finest mozzarella bufala.  And she will know that love is truly in the air, and in her stomach.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Before there was Versaille

As I alluded to on a previous post about Paris, it was important to my expert and I that our trip was full of sight-seeing and Christmas Markets.

The Palace of Versaille was naturally a top contender for a half day's trip due to its history and grandeur.  It's almost always on a tourist's list of things to see when they go to Paris.  And it WAS on our list, until we found out about the Castle of VAUX LE VICOMTE.

Vaux le Vicomte is about an hour's train ride south east of Paris followed by a 15 minute taxi ride to the grounds from the train station.  It is known as the inspiration for Versaille.  This is because the architect who designed and transformed what was once a royal hunting lodge into the infamous Palace of Versaille did so at Vaux le Vicomte prior.Well, he and two other architects designed both places.  But Louis le Vaux somehow managed to get his name tagged to this earlier estate, so we'll just focus on him. :)

We chose to visit here over Versaille for one particular reason: Vaux-le-Vicomte fete Noel.  Vaux le Vicomte celebrates Christmas.

And celebrate they did!  A multitude of rooms were dressed up for the holiday, each with their own brand and flavor of Christmas spirit.  The elegantly patterned shrubbery were laced with ornamental lights on the back grounds.  Children and adults alike enjoyed a carousel ride in the front grounds.  Nearby, people purchased hot spiced wine, vin chaud, perfect on a cold winter night.

For 4 Euro per child, you could rent a period costume for your kids.  These two were insanely cute as they received a free gift out of the treasure chest. 

Mushroom Santa Land was probably my favorite room.

Someone cleverly integrated Mushroom Santa Land with Owl bushes.

We felt like we were outdoors in a deep French forest in this room.

This is Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister at the time who had the Vaux le Vicomte built.  Unfortunately, the castle was more grand than the king's home at the time, and making a king look bad is not recommended. In 1661, the 22-year-old King Louis XIV attended the grandest of parties at Vaux le Vicomte and the party's magnificence was rivaled by only one or two celebrations in all of France's history.   Three weeks later, Nicolas Fouquet was arrested.  Influenced by other power-hungry advisers, the young king claimed he would not have been able to build such a castle and throw such a party without embezzling from the crown.   Fouquet was imprisoned for the rest of his life.  He died in a prison called Pignerol in 1680, 19 years later. Tragic.

Nice dining room!  

Once it became dark outside, the trees were lit  to make the castle even more beautiful.

The landscape in the back yard was gorgeous while accented with lights.

Versaille would have been a great experience but Vaux le Vicomte was way more memorable to us with the addition of the Christmas spirit.  The only thing we regret is not getting more time to explore the outside gardens considering the estate is quite vast.

We appreciated Vaux le Vicomte because it is not as popular on the "Paris Must-See List".  Would we go back  now that we've been there once?  Probably not.  But seeing what it's like, especially at Christmas time, made it completely worth it!  For those who know they will never get to go in person, here's a video I took in one of our favorite rooms. I apologize for my camera's poor quality!

Snow + Rome

Recently it snowed here in Rome!  Why the exclamation point?  Because this is a Mediterranean climate.  Snow is rather uncommon here.

However, my native friends here explained to me that even though it snows once a year, if that, it never sticks to the ground... not like it did last weekend.

In fact, my friend Luca went on to comment that the last time he remembered it snowed this much was when he was 14 years old... in 1985!

I was told the average amount of snow collected was about 15cm, or 6 inches.  45 minutes outside of Rome, I have another set of friends who lost their power and water for 2 full days.  This was due to them receiving 60cm or 24 inches of snow!  These volumes just don't occur consistently thus making the cities ill-prepared.

Nor were the umbrella pine trees.  A walk around the neighborhood revealed an astounding amount of huge tree limbs on the ground.  Obviously, they are not used to wet, heavy snow.  In fact, my expert told me about an unlucky car located on a main street near us that still sits on the side, crushed by a giant, fallen limb.

The good news is that the snow made everything beautiful.  And I am thankful for a local friend who went out early the morning after it snowed so she could show the world its beauty.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Roman Forum

This guy is dreaming if he thinks the buses are actually running.

So many people enjoying the snow while in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican City.

A couple of nuns in a snowball fight

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "Snow Angels"

All photos in this post are courtesy of Katie Wax.  Well done Katie!  You take outstanding photos!

The Paris Foodie Adventure

Traveling to Paris, France in December was like a dream.  As a foodie, it quickly became apparent that I might have finally reached the true city of gastronomic delights.  Rome is outstanding and has VERY good food, if you know where to look. Cities all over the United States have fabulous restaurants and markets that really appeal to my taste buds as well.  But none have come so close to perfection as Paris, Sweet Paris.

The bread, ooo la la.
The pastries, yes please.
The cream-based sauces that go on steak and french fries.

And then everything else.

Our trip to Paris had three main purposes:

1. See the touristy sights.
2. See the Christmas Markets.
3. Make the entire time a Foodie Adventure.

And of all the purposes, number three was held to heart the most. 

We did our research to find the best Paris Chocolatier.  The best Macaronier (I possibly just made up that word.  Doesn't matter. Macarons are amazing cookies).  The best Boulangerie (bread bakery). The best Fromagerie (cheese shop). The best Ice Cream.  All previously researched by professional food bloggers and chefs who live in Paris.  All carefully  cross referenced to make sure they received the highest opinions from multiple respected sources.

Trust us, we went to the right places.  And if you ever go to Paris and you are a foodie, these will be the places you will want to HEAVILY consider going to.

So here's where we went!  And DON'T FORGET: Click the pictures for a much better photo experience.

The Bread:  Poilane

Easily the best sourdough bread I have ever eaten.  And my previous favorite had been in San Francisco, CA.

The Cheese: Fromagerie Quatrehomme

We couldn't resist buying this double cream brie.  Or was it a triple? :)

As well as an outstanding roquefort.  Both went very well on our Poilane sourdough bread.

The Macarons: Pierre Herme

Think of one of those brownies that are half-cooked, still very fudgy in texture.  Well that's what these cookies are like.  The outside shell is extremely light but then you get to the ultra moist, ultra flavorful cookie and its creamy center. The four we tried were Caramel, Creme Brulee, Cassis, and Passionfruit.

The Ice Cream: Berthillon

Berthillon has a name as the best ice cream in Paris.  In fact, they are so popular, you cannot buy single servings at the original store.  Only pints or larger at that place.  Otherwise, they guide you to a restaurant nearby and tell you to buy it there.    The Strawberry was like the creamiest strawberry ice you could find.  The Caramel was AMAZING.

The Caramel and Chocolate: Jacques Genin

Jacques Genin mixed beauty with gourmet treats.  We tried the caramels and they were easily the best we have possibly had.  We bought some of truffles similar to the ones shown above for a friend and they raved about it. I wanted everything here.

The Breakfast Pastry: Vandermeersch

The Kouglof.  A buttery, sweet pastry filled with raisins and nuts.  The bottoms are slightly syrupy which makes it all the better.  Best breakfast ever.  And from what I hear, only made Thursday through Saturday.

The store we WISH we tried but never did: Cafe Pouchkine (The pictures explain why I regret not buying something)

Sorry if I made you hungry!