"paris" news and stories

Cheeseburgers are popping up in the three-star restaurants of Paris. Quelle Horreur!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic: Sliders are invading New York!

iPhone's Urban Spoon program will tell you where to eat.

Which is the definitive Big Easy cocktail - the sazerac or the Ramos gin fizz? Eric Asimov ponders.

The Minimalist makes rosemary branches into barbecue skewers. The Minimalist is the MacGuyver of the kitchen, isn't he?

Make snail butter, without the snail.

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My obsession for those heavenly creamy, crispy, sweet French pastries, called macarons, began when I lived in Paris. I would go to the Ladurée, the pastry-shop and tearoom, almost every week to sit down like an old woman and drink tea and snack on a macaron. Ah, the wonderful gastronomic moments spent at Ladurée! It deserves its own blog post.

Recently, I discovered another incredible pastry-shop in Paris, Pierre Hermé, where you can try some interesting flavored macarons, such as caramel with fleur de sel and passion fruit with chocolate. The tiny store, located at No. 72 rue Bonaparte on the Left Bank, almost always has a quick moving line started out the door. As you enter this chic pastry boutique, your eyes are automatically drawn to the many gorgeous fruit cakes on your left. And then, as you get further into the store, all your senses are overwhelmed by the beauty -- the fresh aroma of baked sweets and the stunning displays of various cakes and macarons.

My experience at Pierre Hermé was like a glance into heaven. By the time it was my turn to order, I was speechless. I had spent the entire time in line absorbing the smells and the delicious goodies instead of figuring out which macarons I wanted to order. One of the shopkeepers gave me a menu of macarons. I studied it closely and finally bought a box of 16. Check out my favorite flavors and more after the jump.

I always crave the soft raw milk cheeses that are impossible to find in the U.S (impossible to find because U.S. law requires that all raw milk cheeses be aged at least 60 days, which renders them less soft ).

Last Sunday, on seven-hour layover in Paris, I strolled down to the famous market on rue Cler and stopped into La Fromagerie, the renowned cheese shop at No. 31. The creamy cakey goat's milk cheeses sitting on straw mats in the window attracted me right away. They were all diverse shapes and sizes: Little bell-shaped cheeses called Clochette, doughnut-looking cheeses called Couronne Lochoise, cork-shaped ones called Bonde de Gatine, and pyramid-shaped ones called Pouligny Saint Pierre. This incredible view through the glass window was the best food porn I have ever seen!

After spending about forty-five minutes tasting them and talking with the cheese experts at the shop, I purchased a goat's milk cheese called Cathare. Everything about this cheese -- from its appearance and taste to its production and history -- fascinates me. Check out my review after the jump.

It's not unusual to put vegetables, things we normally consider savory, into sweets. We have carrots in carrot cake, zucchini in zucchini bread and muffins, and obviously we have broccoli in broccoli cake.

Wait. What?

I have to say, it has never occurred to me to ever make or eat broccoli cake. However, blog Chic City Rats came across this broccoli cake, perfectly sliced to show off the florets inside, at Rose Bakery in the Parisian rue des Martyrs. Unfortunately, there is no additional information about the cake itself, but just the idea might get our culinary creative juices flowing.