Monday, July 11, 2016

Post loss blues...food edition

Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger
When you're sad, food is comfort. The French do food well, too, so it was a great place to be hungry and sad at the same time. We were mentally and physically crushed from a long night, so we decided to go a little slower today but also to just enjoy as much food as possible. I googled a quick list of "must eats" while in Paris. Shared Appetite came up, a food blogger, so I took a peek at his list and cross referenced against some other lists and found he had a pretty decent list of things that seemed to be cosigned by other food bloggers, at least in the categories.

I'm going to do this day's post a little differently. I'm gonna go through the food stuff in this post and do a separate post with the cultural stuff, because this kind of food deserves mad respect.

The one thing that was consistently on several lists from several people was this falafel place.


L’AS DU FALLAFEL

The line was halfway down the block, despite there being three other falafel places in a block's walk, one directly across the street, with no line. It was kind of sad. 

There is a reason this place is hopping through. 

The falafel was perfect. Everything was layered into a warm, soft pita a little at a time so that every bite has a bit of everything in it. Red cabbage, pickled cucumbers, roasted eggplant, tomato, tahini sauce. Every bite was a step closer to heaven. I'm actually trying to figure out if I can have it again before we leave.



POZZETTO

Gelato is everywhere in Paris, so I needed suggestions. We could have stopped at any ole' place, but I had no basis of comparison, so I took the food blogger's word for it and went to this place, as it was only a short walk from the falafel. The kids and I all got chocolate on a cone, and Sky, being the guy he is, went with strawberry sorbet. It was like he didn't get the message we had gone for gelato, but his loss. I had to google to find out the difference between gelato and ice cream. And there is one, besides the name. Gelato just is Italian for ice cream, but the difference is the Italians use less cream and more milk, but they also churn it slower making it more dense. I would also say that the gelato version of chocolate is less sweet and more bitter, like cocoa.



ERIC KAYSER

Next, we hit up Eric Kayser, an artisan boulanger, in Paris. The blogger gave it rave reviews, so instead of making a mistake by going to a lesser baker, we found one that was open and knocked out several food items in one stop. 

Baguette

Bread here is a big deal. The baguettes at Eric Kayser, and the bread display in general, put a huge smile on my face.

 The baguette had a perfectly crisp crust and the inside bread was soft and chewy. Two of three kids found it "too hard" too eat, but I found it amazing. 

I had no idea that the recipe used for French baguettes were defined by French law. Can you imagine if the government in America dictated a recipe for apple pie? Thank you French for maintaining the integrity of your greatest bread. 


Croissant and Pan au Chocolat

I don't know much about these two pastries, other than I love them. Like deep down inside, I love them a lot. Maybe more than my husband. Maybe more than my children. Not more than the river. (I just said that because Elliot is over my shoulder and won't go to sleep.) They were good though. And I do love them. I've had really great ones from Sub Rosa, in Richmond. And I've had "eh" ones from Starbucks that do the job, but don't leave you happy. The version today though, were the most flakey, most buttery, most melt in your mouth delicious I have ever eaten. Ever. Make no mistake.



Macarons 

So, I'm embarassed to admit I've never had a macaron. I've seen them and I have heard people talk about how delicious they are, but they never looked appealing to me. I've never seen them and thought, "I wanna eat that." I mean, they are pretty, lined up by color. Just lovely. I've just never fed into the hype. But, I'm in France and apparently, macarons are a thing you do in France. I tried them. They weren't what I expected. I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. And while they were good. I still don't care. I would choose a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream over these given the choice. I don't have to like everything I try in France, do I?



Crepes

We had planned to get crepes today, but we were stuffed and sweeted out. Okay, they kids weren't, but I was. And I wanted to really enjoy my crepes, so I made them wait until tomorrow, to much dismay. 







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