Patricia Wells
Blogger Buzz: Lunching with Joel
May 22nd
Well, no, Joel Robuchon wasn’t there in person, but he is always there in spirit. An astonishingly delicious celebratory lunch today with Walter and friends Marcella and Randy. Best taste of the day was certainly the sea bream carpaccio, feathery petals of fish marinated in citrus juice, plenty of lime zest, perfectly seasoned with olive oil and salt. My mouth still feels fresh and alive, happily accented with a few sips of Comte Lafon’s stunning Macon.
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Blogger Buzz: Ah! Back to French Food
May 21st
OK, for sure, what I craved most in Asia were two of my three staples: bread and cheese. (We had the third in abundance, wine.) So this morning, after my visit to the Boulevard Raspail outdoor market for asparagus from Provence and langoustines from Brittany (tonight’s dinner), I headed to my very favorite cheese shop, Quatrehomme, just a few blocks away. As you enter the fromagerie, there is a little table, like an island, in the center of the shop, where they display all the Greatest Hits of the week. Marie Quatrehomme explained to me years ago that they always tried to display a new cheese, a classic cheese, and cheese that was not French.
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Blogger Buzz: Bonjour Paris
May 17th
Walter and I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport today at 6 am from Danang, Vietnam then Saigon, then Bangkok, then Paris. A long but pleasantly uneventful flight. A taxi home, a shower, a few cups of My Espresso Coffee, unpack, then we did what we always do when we return home to Paris: A ritual lunch at a cafe just a few blocks from our apartment, Bar de La Croix Rouge.
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Patricia Wells
May 3rd
Patricia Wells is an internationally recognized cookbook author, restaurant critic and teacher who divides her time between Paris and Provence. Her book Patricia Wells at Home in Provence (1996) won the James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook. She served as restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune from 1980-2007 and for L’Express from 1988–1991. She remains the only American food writer to have been a restaurant critic for a major French publication. Her popular cooking classes in both Paris and Provence are usually booked more than a year in advance.
Website
Books
About Food in Paris
- The Paris Cookbook
- Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, 4th edition
- We’ve Always Had Paris…and Provence: A Scrapbook of Our Life in France
- L’Atelier of Joel Robuchon: The Artistry of a Master Chef and His Proteges
- Simply French: Patricia Wells presents the cuisine of Joel Robuchon
- Bistro Cooking
About Food in Provence and elsewhere
Blogger Buzz: Les Botanistes – New Kid on the Block
May 1st
It is always a pleasure to be reuinted with old acquantainces and I had a wonderful surprise the other night when Walter and I walked into the month-old Les Botanistes on rue Chomel, down from the Bon Marche department store in Paris’s 7th arrondissement. Restaurateur Jean-Baptiste Gay met us warmly at the door to his Art Deco bistro, and the good times began! It’s been 10 years to the day since I wrote about his former bistro, Jean-Baptise, then in the 17th arrondissement. We loved the place and are also in love with Les Botanistes, formerly known as Le Gorille Blanc and before that La Cigale.
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Blogger Buzz: Au revoir, les Huitres!
Apr 29th
I LOVE the beginning of a season and HATE when it ends. That’s the story with oysters, best of course in months with an “R” and so here we are almost the last day of April, the last “R” month until September. So on Sunday we feasted on plump, huitres Tsarskaya from the oyster beds off Cancale. Huge, meaty, slightly briny, a slight hint of hazelnuts, they were “created” in 2004, following a lovely history. In the 19th century, oysters from Cancale were delivered to the czars in Russia. For more than 30 years, we made Le Dome our Sunday lunch restaurant , always loving the ambience of the terrace, the friendly maitre d, Jacques and Stephane.
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Blogger Buzz: Best Pizza in Paris?
Apr 29th
Despite the restaurant’s dreadful name — Pizza Chic — I vote their Pizza Aurora the best in town. Simple is best: thick, fresh tomato sauce, soft pillows of rich mozzarella, a touch of basil set on a full-flavored crust and baked to perfection in a wood oven. Critics are all over this place complaining of the outlandish prices. But I don’t mind paying 19 euros for a delicious dinner in the center of Paris.
Another great choice for brick oven pizzas is the new offering at Cosi, the fabulous sandwich shop on Rue de Seine, where you’ll find some of the very best bread in town, irresistible foccacia style loaves hot from the oven.
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Blogger Buzz: Panoramic Color on Paris Plates
Apr 24th
For the last several months I have begun many a Paris restaurant meal — from grand three stars to local bistros — with a crunchy, colorful, vegetable salad that includes ethereally thin slices of heirloom yellow and orange carrots, multihued red and white beets, and a toned-down dressing that allowed the vegetables to shine. Last night at one of my favorite little places –Le Bistrot Paul Bert in the 11th — I adored the addition of thinly sliced raw green asparagus. I’ve always prefered to braise my asparagus, but the earthy flavors of these raw veggies changed my mind!
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Blogger Buzz: Sacre bleu!!! Ralph Burgers and California Chardonnay on Boulevard Saint Germain
Apr 22nd
It took four years for Ralph Lauren to renovate the magnificent townhouse on Paris’s Boulevard Saint Germain and the current fanfare is close to hysterical. The dreamy, fairy tale of a clothing and lifestyle store opened April 15th and the garden restaurant Ralph’s — pure Lauren in cool blues and white — is set to open Monday, April 26th. I had a preview last night and I must say, Welcome to the Neighborhood! The classic American menu includes the best hamburger I’ve ever tasted, a thyme-infused clam chowder that would make any cook proud, a robust crab cake enveloped in a feathery batter, and a dense, layered chocolate cake worthy of the finest pastry chef.
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Blogger Buzz: Lunch at Le Meurice
Mar 11th
Almost too beautiful to eat: This spectacular starter at a recent lunch at the Meurice with friend Dorie Greenspan at the Meurice in Paris stunned us both. The flavors of this seafood plate matched the sparkle of the dish; Raw baby shrimp, kuzu jelly, deep-fried shiso leaves, baby turnips topped with beurre blanc. Transported us from the Rue de Rivoli to the shores of Brittany!
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Blogger Buzz: Asparagus Season Has Begun!
Mar 9th
One of my favorite times of the year is early March, when seasons collide as the last-of-season fresh black Provençal truffles are on their way out, and first-of-season green asparagus from Provence tiptoe into markets. The truffles and asparagus come from the same soil, preferably sandy and friable so the truffles unearthed are round as golf balls and the asparagus take on that clean, crisp flavor of late winter-early spring. I like to simply braise the asparagus in a touch of olive oil with a few drops of water, puncuated by the flavors of fresh rosemary and fresh bay leaves, and if you have one, shavings of fresh black truffles. Open a bottle of white Châteauneuf -du-Pape and you are in heaven!
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Blogger Buzz: Julia’s Stove
Mar 9th
In 1992 when Julia Child visited us for Thanksgiving, she was on her way to close up her Provençal home near Grasse. For years she had spoken of her venerable La Cornue stove, one she purchased when she and Paul were settling in their cottage in the 1960′s. I knew that she was leaving almost everything behind and to my mind, having Julia’s stove would be like having Freud’s couch! I asked her that evening if I could buy the stove, and without hesitation she shook her head. “No,” she said, somewhat dolefully. ”It’s staying with the house.” But the next morning, she came down to breakfast and announced, “You can have my stove as long as you replace it with a new one.”
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