I Prefer Paris

February Eye Need To Do's- Rufus Wainwright, Don Giovanni, and The History Boys

Rufus Wainwright: Dedicated to Judy Garland Concert
Rufus Wainwright comes to Paris to recreate the legendary Judy Garland Carnergie Hall concert that  he legendarily created last year in New York.
2007/2/20 at 8:00 PM
L'OLYMPIA
28, bd des Capucines
75009 Paris
Metro: Opera

Pad Thai at Au PetiThai
I’ve been searching for good Pad Thai since I moved here and finally found it.
Served with chicken or shrimp , it has the perfect blend of spice and sweetness.
The intrerior of this new restaurant is dark and intimate and the service is warm and attentive.
Au PetiThai
4 rue de roi de Sicile, 75004
Open for lunch & dinner, Mon.- Sat.
01 42 72 75 75
Metro: St. Paul

Don Giovanni at Opera Bastille
Michael Haneke reimagines the myth of Don Juan and transposes it to today’s business world.
Tickets- http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison0607/spectacle.asp?Id=1014
Opera Bastille
Metro: Bastille

The History Boys
If you missed The History Boys on Broadway or in London, see this excellent film version. This absorbing award winning drama about a British boys prep school has a terrific ensemble cast and the spell binding performance by Richard Griffiths as the lonely homosexual professor should not be missed.Written by Alan Bennett, and directed by Nicholas Hytner.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Special Offer for Eye Prefer Paris Tours: Until the end of February, I am offering a 25-euro discount on any tour booking. The regular price is 175 euros (for up to 4 people) and the price will be 150 euros. To receive the discount, please email by clicking the email tab on the left side above the Google ads and I will send you instructions.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Go Fish!

Fish La Boissonnerie, a former fish shop, is now a lively, homey left bank bistro that qualifies as a first in Paris I believe: It’s the only all non-smoking restaurant.

When I walked in there was no smoke and all the staff spoke English. I immediately liked it. The friendly, easy going, bartender offered me a glass of wine while I waited for my table. There was a good wine list , but the glass selection was overpriced and the 6.50 euro glass I had was barely filled half way. I didn’t have a reservation but only waited 10 minutes for a table. The low ceiling with rustic wood beams and metal table tops made the interior feel warm and cozy on this chilly winter night.

I chose the 3 course menu for 34.50 euros.I started with a delicious plate of large grilled shrimp with vanilla scented foam. The touch of vanilla gave the dish just enough of an interesting taste without overpowering it or make it taste strange. Next was filet de bar with an extra crispy crust served over a bed of spinach. Dessert was a yummy but over chilled cheesecake with a coarse graham cracker crust served with large plump raspberries.

The community tables almost forced you to talk to your neighboring diners, and I befriended two lovely women visiting from New Zealand, as we spoke about the joys of Paris.

After a satisfying meal, as I was leaving, I saw another Paris first, but probably not the last : a group of smokers huddled outside the restaurant puffing away. I say probably not the last because next year the no smoking ban in restaurants will start, but I think there will be rioting in the streets against the no smoking ban of the likes we have never seen before.

FISH LA BOISSONNERIE
69, rue de Seine,75006
Tel: 01 43 54 34 69
Closed Mondays
Lunch & Dinner
Metro: St. Germain de Pres

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Special Offer for Eye Prefer Paris Tours: Until the end of February, I am offering a 25-euro discount on any tour booking. The regular price is 175 euros (for up to 4 people) and the price will be 150 euros. To receive the discount, please email by clicking the email tab on the left side above the Google ads and I will send you instructions.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Raquel Welch: Drinks at the Plaza Athénée

Raquel Welch is a former client and friend of my partner Vincent. She is in Paris on a press junket as the cosmetic company Mac’s beauty icon of 2007.

Raquel invited us for a drink in the lobby of the Plaza Athenee last night at 6PM. We arrived in the lobby of this opulent and elegant hotel and were seated in the lounge area on plush chairs. As we waited we saw a fascinating array of people from well dressed 16th Arr. women in fur coats to model/mistress types wearing tight jeans and outrageous high heeled shoes to men in crisp tailored gabardine suits.

Raquel sauntered in, looking radiant and flashed her movie star million dollar smile. She looked sensational in snug fitting jeans, an espresso brown short leather jacket with big gold buttons, a low cut flattering white top, and fabulous copper metallic high heeled Gucci loafers. (I immediately asked where her shoes were from). Her light brown hair cascading below her shoulders, looking great, this over 65-year-old beauty looked truly and naturally gorgeous.

Raquel is very personable and funny and is a wonderful storyteller. She regaled us with stories about the whirlwind of activities and events she’s attended since she’s been here. She told us about the glamorous French Vogue party till which she stayed till 5AM. She met Nicolas Ghesquiere from Balenciaga and loved the collection but wondered how any one could fit in it. She then ran into Azzedine Alaia and spoke about how when he first had his atelier on the left bank, he would send over the clothes and she bought the whole collection of his slinky clothes. She then went on to say that she still has them in her closet but can’t fit into them anymore and takes them out every once in a while to admire them.

We sat for about an hour chatting while we were drinking wine and she was sipping pink grapefruit juice. She also spoke her press tour in New York and about the ritzy dinner benefit in honor of her at the Palace Hotel. She was nervous about being on The View but went on to say how nice and generous Rosie O’Donnell was, considering that Rosie is having a fight with almost everyone these days.

Raquel shared a funny anecdote about how the idea for using tiger stripe for the motif on the Mac packaging came about. She said that women were always coming up to her and saying how fierce she was. Thinking that tigers are associated with being fierce, she came up with the idea of using tiger stripes.

As we were sitting there, a few people came up and complimented her and said what fans they were. Tall, dark, and handsome Frederic Fekkai, the New York super star hairdresser, looking dashing in a suit, came by and double kissed Raquel and said that he is always in LA and that they must meet for dinner.

Although I have known her for almost 8 years and can chat with her like most of my friends, I am still star struck knowing that I just had drinks with Raquel Welch, one of the great beauties of our time and one of the last real Hollywood movie stars.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Special Offer for Eye Prefer Paris Tours: Until the end of February, I am offering a 25-euro discount on any tour booking. The regular price is 175 euros (for up to 4 people) and the price will be 150 euros. To receive the discount, please email by clicking the email tab on the left side above the Google ads and I will send you instructions.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Chocolate Cake for David Lebovitz

My friend David Lebovitz has a wonderful food blog that focuses mostly on desserts & chocolate. As a former chocolatier and chef myself, I identify with David’s passion for chocolate.

This month David was chosen to host an event called Sugar High Friday that originally started at Domestic Goddess blog. The event is an opportunity for people to bake their favorite dessert recipe or try a new one and post it. This month the theme was Chocolate by Brand, where you have to tell what brand of chocolate you used and why. It was a perfect excuse for me to make a chocolate cake recipe I’ve been dying to try from Suzy Palatin, a friend of Pierre and Frederick Hermé’s. It’s a deceptively easy recipe with simple ingredients, yet the result is a sublime not too rich chocolate sensation. I used Poulain Noir 76% de Cacao because the packaging said: dark, serious, no fooling around chocolate. If you make it, please let me know how it came out. Enjoy!

The Hermé’s serve the cake with whipped cream, or Vanilla Crème Anglaise. Sometimes they make the cake with raspberries, putting a thin layer of batter over the bottom of the pan, tossing over fresh raspberries, then covering the berries with batter.

8 3/4 ounces (250 grams) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Valrhona Guanaja, finely chopped –I used Poulain Noir 76% de Cacao
2 1/4 sticks (9 ounces; 250 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1-cup (200 grams) sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (70 grams) all-purpose flour

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius). Butter a 9-inch (24-cm) round cake pan that is at least 2 inches (5 cm) high, line the bottom with parchment paper, butter the paper, and dust the inside of the pan with flour; tap out the excess and set the pan aside.
2. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over - not touching - simmering water and heat until the chocolate is melted; or melt the chocolate in a microwave oven. Set the chocolate aside to cool; it should feel only just want to the touch when you mix it with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Pour the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently, until the butter is creamy and the sugar well blended into it. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low, pour in the cooled chocolate, and mix until it is incorporated. With the mixer still on low, add the flour and mix only until it disappears into the batter. Alternatively, you can fold in the last of the flour with a rubber spatula. You'll have a thick, smooth, satiny batter that look like an old-fashioned chocolate frosting.
4. Scrape the batter into the pan, smooth the top, and slide the pan into the oven. Bake for 26-29 minutes, or until cake rises slightly and the top has lost its sheen. The top may crack a bit and the cake may not look entirely set in the center; when you test a cake by inserting a slender knife into the center, the knife will come out slightly streaked with batter, which is what you want. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool.
5. When the cake has cooled, chill it in the refrigerator for an hour or two to make it easy to unmold. Turn the cake out, remove the parchment, and invert the cake onto a serving platter so it is right side up. Allow the cake to come to room temperature before slicing and serving.
Makes 8-10 servings
KEEPING: the cake can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or frozen for up to a month.

I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Special Offer for Eye Prefer Paris Tours: Until the end of February, I am offering a 25-euro discount on any tour booking. The regular price is 175 euros (for up to 4 people) and the price will be 150 euros. To receive the discount, please email by clicking the email tab on the left side above the Google ads and I will send you instructions.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

 

Big News: Eye Prefer Paris Tours

Dear Readers,
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour includes many of the places I have written about including small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.

I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.

Special Offer for Eye Prefer Paris Tours: Until the end of February, I am offering a 25-euro discount on any tour booking. The regular price is 175 euros (for up to 4 people) and the price will be 150 euros. To receive the discount, please email by clicking the email tab on the left side above the Google ads and I will send you instructions.

Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com

Don’t want to miss a single word of Eye Prefer Paris? Enter your email in the subscription box on the right sidebar and you will automatically receive my latest postings by email.

 

East Meets West: Venise et l'Orient Exhibit at The Arab Institute

I strolled over the Ile St. Louis today to the Arab Institute to see the Venise et l’Orient exhibit. I’ve been intrigued by the exotic and inviting poster that’s been on the metro and the streets of Paris in the last few months. I thought a Tuesday in mid January would be a good off day to go with no crowds. I was wrong: I walked into several large tour groups all clustering around one object at the same time while listening to those annoying head sets. On top of it, there were a few other groups with loud, effusive tour guides describing every last detail. I don’t know about you, but art is a visual sensation for me and I find any kind of noise mars and disturbs the visceral experience.

I didn’t let it get in the way and I charged past the huddled masses to view the exhibit in peace. The show is about the artistic and cultural exchanges of the Orient and Venice. It focuses on the fourteenth to seventeenth century with over 250 objects including ceramics, rugs, tapestries, paintings, and glasswork. I loved the rich oil portraits of the men in white turbans. Other highlights were 17th century round ornate sword shields made out of leather and wood embossed with gold, a bold and unusual bronze sculpture of called The Paupe de Bateau from 1238, and the intricate, gorgeous and rich tapestries. I was swept away by the romanticism of the period.

Afterwards I went up to the rooftop café and enjoyed a heaping steaming bowl of cous cous with meatballs, carrots, and turnips. It was a chilly, gray day and the cous cous warmed my cockles.

Venise et l'Orient Exhibit
L'Institut du Monde Arabe
Rue de Fosses Saint-Bernard, 75005
Metro: Cardinal Lemoine
Open 10AM- 6PM, Tuesday-Sunday
Admission: 10 euros
till Feb. 18

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Brussels: Chocolate, Frites, and Croquettes

The great thing about living in Paris is that in less than 2 hours you can be in a different country and culture. In New York an hour and fifteen-minute train ride would get you to Ronkonkama Long Island, but in Paris an hour and fifteen-minute train ride brings you Brussels.

Thalys rail had a special for 50 euros per person roundtrip to Brussels and I said why not. I booked a Friday morning departure with a Saturday evening return, having two days to see Brussels.

Before I go any further, I have to come clean: the main reason I went to Brussels was for the chocolate, frites, and the croquettes. I know I said in my last post that I was trying to eat healthier, lighter food but this was too tempting.

I arrived at about 10:15AM and met a recent email acquaintance, Torsten Peters, who lives in Brussels for a coffee at the train station. He was very kind to give me a thorough itinerary of what to see in my two days, with some very good recommendations. Torsten has an excellent site, www.iaudioguide.com that has free downloadable audio guides of Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels and other European cities.

The weather, although not too cold, was damp, dreary, and drizzling in variations of gray. Paris seems like a Caribbean paradise compared to Brussels.

Eager to see if Brussels had any good sales, the first stop was rue Dansaert, a rundown and seedy downtown street recently transformed to being the “it” street in Brussels for Belgian designer shops and hip restaurants. I stopped into De Man (the Man) a chic hat and accessory boutique with an amusing collection by talented designer Christophe Coopens. Next was the Martin Mangiela boutique and true to his vision of covering the world in white, the store was entirely painted white and outside the shop were too unknown objects (possibly cement tablets?) cloaked in white fabric. There were some other interesting shops including Stijl, with serious heavy hitter designers with serious price tags to match even at 40% off, so I walked away empty handed.

Martin Mangiela's World of White

Brussels Street Fashion

Lémoni Cafe

After clogging my arteries with foie gras, rich cheeses, and creamy desserts during the holidays, I decided to give them a break in the New Year and have some cleaner food.

Tucked on a small street behind the Place des Victoires, Lémoni Café (lémoni is Greek for lemon) serves inventive and delicious mostly vegetarian food. The cooking style is called Cretois and the premise is simple: fresh and dry vegetables cooked without butter or cream. Although the idea has been around for a while, it is fairly new to Paris restaurants. I went for lunch the other day and the cozy cafeteria-style restaurant was full of casually well-dressed art and fashion people who I assumed were after the same thing I was. There are 3 menus/formules:  takeout, basic and the lémoni. I chose the Lémoni for 12.15 euros that included a choice of I main dish, two sides, a drink, and dessert. I had a gratin of sweet potatoes and carrots, pureed been soup, and Indian style cold lentils and rice. The gratin was filling but not rich, the lentils cool and tangy, and the soup was flavorful but a little too watery. Dessert was a muffin/cake hybrid that tasted like a rich pound cake, but to my delight, didn’t contain any butter.

I met the owner Laurent Houssaye, who was warm and friendly. His food philosophy or the Lemoni attitude, proposes Mediterranean healthy food inspired by the beneficial effects of the Cretan diet.

I left Café Lémoni happy with the fact that I didn’t have to break the 6-figure calorie barrier or the bank to have a satisfying meal in Paris.  My arteries thanked me.

Café Lémoni
5 rue Herold, 75001
01 45 08 49 84
Open Monday- Friday, lunch only
Metro: Palais Royal, Les Halles, Bourse
www.lemonicafe.fr

Checkout the cool photos and informative advice about Paris Street style and what to wear in Paris on www.focusonstyle.com. The site is also a great resource for up to the minute fashion trends, makeovers, beauty tips and has extensive coverage of Paris runway shows.

Don’t want to miss a single word of Eye Prefer Paris? Enter your email in the subscription box on the right sidebar and you will automatically receive my latest postings by email.

A Shaded View: Diane Pernet Interview

If there ever was the quintessential soup to nuts fashion person, Diane Pernet is it. Her impressive resume includes being a top fashion designer in New York in the 80’s, fashion journalist and editor working for Vogue, Elle, and the former Joyce magazine, writing the popular blog a Shaded View on Fashion with over 3,500 visitors a day, and founder and co-curator of the You Wear It Well Festival,The First International Short Film Festival on Fashion, Style and Beauty. I’m sure you recognize her from sharing the front row with Anna and Suzy at the runway shows, and attending top parties and openings. She defies the clichéd fashionista label, by never changing her trademark uniform: piled high black hair with an attached black lace mantilla going down to her waist, bright red lipstick &pale white non-makeup makeup, black top & ankle length skirt, black platform shoes and her lady-like 50’s sunglasses, hence her “shaded view”. We sat down over tea last week and discussed her take on the fashion world.

You’ve worn a lot of fashion “hats”, being a designer, editor, photographer, journalist,filmmaker and more. Which, if one, has been the most satisfying?
Probably being a designer. You’re actually creating something as opposed to critiquing, but that said,also co-curating the film festival and making my short intimate lo-fi films. I love doing the site too. Being a true Libra, it’s difficult to make a choice.

If you were stuck on a desert island with only one fashion person or artist, who would it be?
Robb Young. He’s a writer/journalist and talent scout. He writes for the New York Times, The Herald Tribune, Financial Times and L’uomo Vogue. He is one of my dearest, closest friends.

If there is one person, living or dead you could have dinner with, who would it be?
John Cassevettes or Fassbinder. Again, being a Libra.

You’ve lived in Paris for over 16 years now. What are some of the differences you see in New York/U.S. fashion world and the European one?
Basically New York is about big business and always has been.European shows are more creative and fun. Paris in particular, has the best shows and everybody on the planet comes.You can miss Milan or London, but you can’t miss Paris. The reason that you cannot miss Paris is that everyone from all of the other countries show here in order to get the most visibility.

January Eye Need to Do’s: Sylvie Guillem, January Sales, and Tresors Engloutis d'Egypte (SunkenTreasures of Egypt)

Get ready, Get set, SHOP!
The official Paris sale starts Wednesday, January 10 through February 17, but more upscale boutiques already have their merchandise discreetly marked down. Shop early so you don’t miss all the bargains.

Paris Sales
January 10-February 17

Sylvie Guillem
Don’t miss this breathtaking performance of one of the greatest dancers of of our time. There are 2 solos with Sylvie and a pas de deux with Russell Maliphant who also choreographed all the pieces.

Sylvie Guillem
January 4-7, 8PM
Tickets 10-95 euros
Théatre de Champs Élysees
15 Ave Montaigne, 75008
Metro: Alma Marceau

Nutella Maki Roll at Sushibox
The sweetness of Nutella with the texture of the rice make this an odd but delicious dessert

Sushibox
40 rue de Turenne,75003
Tel. 01 42 74 56 15
Open Mon.-Sat. Lunch & Dinner, closed Friday nights
Metro: St. Paul

Tresors Engloutis d'Egypte (SunkenTreasures of Egypt)
After a successful run in Berlin this summer, Tresors Engloutis d'Egypte comes to Paris. The exhibit is a fascinating look at 500 art pieces and artifacts discovered by Franck Goddio’s underwater excavations off the coast of Egypt.

Tresors Engloutis d'Egypte
Grand Palais/National Galleries of the Large Palate 
3 avenue of the Eisenhower General - 75008 Paris
Open everyday from 10AM-8PM, Wed. till 10PM
Subway: Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau
12 euros
Till March 16

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