Fil O Fromage for the best cheese and wine pairings

Fil O Fromage is GREAT. If you love to feast on French and other European cheese with perfectly paired charcuterie, perhaps some fig, cherry or other complimentary confiture, and, a glass or two of well-matched wine, treat yourself at this adorable cheese and wine specialist in the 13th near Bibliotheque Nationale and Bercy Village.

Cherif Bourbit is the proprietaire of Fil O Fromage. He is an extraordinary affineur with a wide selection of perfectly aged European cheese on offer. He also is exceptionally knowledgeable about wine and features several small-scale producers and their wines, all chosen for felicitous pairings with those delectable cheese and charcuterie plates. Cherif is also one of those infectiously engaging Parisian artisans whose heart, soul and mind are totally focused on perfection in their chosen metier. This is one very special little place. The word is out, TopTable, a London publication focused on things-gourmet declared that Fil O Fromage is the best place in Paris to pair cheese and wine. La Fourchette picked Fil O Fromage as a Coup de Coeur. Its been one of my favorites for seven years!

Cheese lovers can enjoy one of 24 formidable "Assiettes Gourmandes Degustations" for 15.50 Euro. There are six 'thematic' platters that gather a selection of a certain type of cheese.. eg. goat or sheeps milk, or perhaps blue cheeses or even bries. There are six choices for "Les Europeennes" or selections of Spanish, Dutch, Swiss, English, even cheese from Luxembourg! And, of course, celebrating a nation with more types of cheese than days of the year, there are twelve "Les Regionales" gathering selections of cheese from regions of France. One of my favorites is the Corsican plat. Superb. All of the grands assiettes include salad, bread, and a also a selection of appropriately paired artisanal charcuterie. Cherif will happily suggest a glass or bottle of wine to accompany your feast. You can also buy any of the cheese, charcuterie and wines to take to your hotel, apartment, or to nearby Parc Bercy for the picnic of your dreams.

Fil O Fromage. www.filofromage.com Open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 to 8:30. Check the website for jazz evenings or other special events. 12 rue Neuve Tolbiac. Metro: Bibliotheque or Cour St. Emilion.

Paris Bistro Favorites Old and New from my October trip

During my Paris Off the Beaten Path tour in mid-October, we ate in three marvelous very 'true' Paris bistros. The new to me 'find' thanks to Alex Lobrano's "Hungry for Paris" was the delightful Hier et Aujourd Hui on rue de Sassure in the 17th out beyond Batignolles and the rue de Levis market street. This is one of those super little 'true' Paris bistros that makes you want to pick up, pack up and move to that quarter. A husband and wife team of chef and server offer delicious bistro classics (with intriguing contemporary touches), well chosen, fairly priced wines and friendly ambience in this sweet, off the beaten track bistro. My braised saddle of rabbit with a deeply flavored wine sauce and savory notes of preserved apricot was worth the longish walk! Lunch formules run 26 E for three courses with several choices for entree, plat and dessert. The chef also sells his Foie Gras and Pain d'Epices to take home. Take some home!

During our Canal St. Martin/Belleville day, we enjoyed a robust lunch at the very true Auberge Pyrennees Cevennes, 106 rue de la Folie Mericourt, in the 11th. Take a look at the attached video. This is not a dining spot to nibble a salad. The Lyonnaise style menu includes hearty and exceedingly well-made classics like Cassoulet, Saucisson Chaud et Pommes à la Creme, Pied du Cochon, steaks, confit de canard and such. There is a delicious salmon with sorrel sauce for fainter appetities. Add splendid profiteroles, Ile Flottante that just about floats out of its dish, and a perfect Tarte Tatin, some hearty red wine.... and you will be deeply content. Lunch formule (including the enormous Cassoulet in a copper braising pan as a main course choice) runs 28 Euro.

Bistro Paul Bert on the rue Paul Bert in the 12th also upheld its high standards for French bistro classics with excellent duck, roasted rack of suckling pig and a completely decadent Molleux aux Chocolat and a superb cheese board. Happily yet another of my favorite central Paris bistros, La Ferrandaise on rue de Vaugirad just off the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th remained superb as well with its good value 32 E dinner formule and nice choice of wines by the glass... good for a single diner. Dinner at La Ferrandaise was escargot on a bed of new potatoes from the Ile de Ré, braised confit of lamb, and, delectable roasted mirabelle plums in a cocotte accompanied by caramel-salé icecream. Their new seasonal menu has just been posted. Check their website.

Happy bistro-ing in Paris! Let me know about your favorites.

Some October PARIS images

Paris in October. Palais de Thés tea and macarons from Pierre Herme at the hip Hotel des Academies et des Arts, cakes at Arnaud Delmontel on rue de Martyrs, an impossibly blue clear day with late-season roses by Notre Dame, and images of impossibly chic women who surely eschew chocolate and patisserie.

For travelers to Paris the fall is a robust season with a full cultural calendar. Go see the Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese show at the Louvre or the smaller, but fascinating Rodin-Matisse show at the Rodin museum. The Grand Palais has a major Renoir exhibition. News for Orsay lovers: in 2010 large portions of the museum will close for renovation. Go now. And finally, make it a point to visit the extraordinary Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Trocadero. I'll be posting a full article on this remarkable place shortly. For now, the historic plaster casts of the great architecture features of chateaus and cathedrals, the frescoes and 'wall paintings' exhibits and the fascinating contemporary architecture presentations present a heady view of past informing present informing future. And thru the end of November there is a remarkable show of 14 leading architects who have been invited to rethink how Paris should 'grow' including master planning to improve the suburban areas, thinking about how to be a 'green' city, looking at what tangibles and intangibles make for a great urban space. Wonderful stuff. And killer views over to the Eiffel Tower too.

A Great New Spot for Eating, Drinking and Celebrating Tea

Thés Georges Cannon is a venerable French tea company, an importer and blender of fine teas with an impressive pedigree. Recently Cannon opened their first 'retail' Paris-presence in the Luxembourg quarter near Montparnasse and not far from the heart of St. Germain de Prés and it is a winner.

Sleek, contemporary and multi-faceted, this is a tea place where you can buy one of 250 premium pure or blended teas and tisanes, drink a wide array of tea in a cleanly designed salon, and, eat your tea too.... in entrees or patisserie that incorporate teas deliciously. (The creative force behind the food worked previously with Patrick Loustalot Barbes at the marvelously sympathique L'Artisan de Saveurs, now lamentably closed.) Cannon pushes the bounds of tea-salon-dom in some wonderful ways. Not only can you enjoy a classic tea shop and salon, buy, eat and drink you teas.... but you can also venture downstairs to a lovely spa area and enjoy a massage, or, book a traditional Japanese tea ceremony in a serene tea room solely for that purpose.

Cannon is on to something good here. Check it out! 12 rue Notre Dame des Champs. Open Tuesdays-Fridays from 9-7:30, Saturdays from 10:30 to 7:30 and Sundays from noon to 6. This would be a great spot for a Sunday 'brunch'. www.georgecannon.fr

A Sleepless Parisian Night of Art and Culture

October 3rd is once again the annual extravaganza of performance art, installation art, music and 'happenings' around Paris that stretches into the wee hours (think 5 or 6 a.m.!)

Let Nuits Blanches have been so successful in Paris that various cities now replicate this idea but you can't beat that ineffable blend of art, style and creativity in the city of all-night light.

The Nuits Blanche celebrations include lots that is happening in historic buildings and public squares in the event-dense Marais and Latin Quarter, around Chatelet and other central Paris locations. But this year as ever, the Nuits Blanche also sets forth to lure visitors and residents into more off the beaten path quarters and celebrate their creatively with verve.
This year, the area around Parc de Buttes Chaumont in the 19th and in the new multidisciplinary live-art venue le Centquatre off near the edge of Montmartre are major venues. The Mosquee de Paris and Notre Dame will be sites for musical and light sculpture events, and other historic buildings and churches are highlighted as evocative performance spaces.

65 plus contemporary artists and musicians are participating in various venues and galleries all throughout the Marais also open their doors to expand the festival and celebrate their shows.

And best of all everything is FREE! Detailed booklets are available at ratp stations and Paris city halls. Or, google www.paris.fr for a detailed schedule. Get in the spirit. Do as much or as little as your sleep deprived self will permit.

Paris: Center for Hip Design & Fall Design Events

On September 24 design lovers should head for the left bank for a show called Parcours du XXème Siécle. This is a combined effort of 40 galleries showing 20th and 21st century decorative and contemporary arts. The evening event features open-house galleries along rues de Lille, Verneuil, Saints-Peres, Université, and the Quai Voltaire. If you visit this cluster of galleries, (also many antique shops along these streets in the Carré Rive Gauche neighborhood) check out the collection of art and design books at Karl Lagerfeld's 7L bookshop on rue de Lille.

Across town, check out Patrick Jouin's stunning new 5,000 square foot design store called Silvera Wagram, 41 ave de Wagram in the 17th.

Join Sally to Explore Paris Off the Beaten Path in October

Interested in exploring three terrific 'off the beaten path' quarters in Paris? The dynamic area 'behind Bastille' along the rue Faubourg St. Antoine, around Place d'Aligre and the foodie nexxus, rue Paul Bert, will be the focus of Tuesday, October 13. Lunch at Bistro Paul Bert included.

On Wednesday, October 14, we will explore an entirely different quarter, the charming Batignolles 'village' area and two superb market streets, rue de Levis and rue de Martyrs. A delicious cap to the day will be a chocolate tasting at Natier, one of my favorite chocolate shops in Paris.

And then back to 'bo-bo' on Thursday, the 15. This day we'll explore the 'hot' Belleville and Canal St. Martin areas, home to a remarkable multi-cultural mix and increasingly, home to artistic young Parisians priced out of the Marais. Each day in $450 per person including metro tickets and lunch with wine, and, tastings if scheduled that day. Email me at sally@yourgreatdaysinparis.com if you would like to join us. Six persons max.