PlanetEye

This Saturday, May 17, is "La Nuit des Musees". Throughout France and in many other European cities, museums will stay open late (closing between 11pm and 1 am) and admission is completely free. Many museums have also planned special events such as concerts, lectures or movie screenings for this evening as well.  The big name museums like the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay are likely to be absolutely packed, so why not use this opportunity to check out one or two of Paris' smaller museums, like the Musee Camondo, featuring decorative arts and furniture in a hotel particulier near the Parc Monceau, or the Musee Guimet with its collection of Asian art. Personally, I hope to visit the lovely Musee Rodin and participate in one of the flashlight tours of the garden.

 http://nuitdesmusees.culture.fr/medias/pdf/idf.pdf

The Grand Palais, a contemporary of the Eiffel Tower, is an exhibition hall built for the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900. The immense space is 13,500 square meters (or approximately 400 times larger than my apartment) and could be said to resemble a giant Art Nouveau greenhouse. It's difficult to imagine how contemporary art could fit into this decided dated place, but each year the Monumenta program gives an artist the opportunity to present a single new work in this space. The program this year runs from now through June 15 and features "Promenade', by the American sculptor Richard Serra.

Serra is known for his large minimalist steel sculptures. For this exhibition, he has filled the hall with six upright steel panels, evenly spaced across the length of the hall. The panels rise from the floor at slight angles, so they are not perfectly aligned. I had an assignment in a college art class to make a piece of art that required the viewer to move.  There is beauty in the way Serra's plain panels interact with the elaborate architecture of the Grand Palais, but the real joy in this exhibit comes from walking among the panels. This is not sculpture that you stand back and admire from a distance - the experience is the art. 

The Monumenta program includes lectures and concerts (including one by Philip Glass) as well as Thursday night dance classes in the exhibition space. You can also see more of Serra's sculpture at the entrance to the Jardin de Tuileries and the LVMH headquarters.

 http://www.monumenta.com/2008/content/view/3/27/lang,en/

Paris is a great city for moviegoers. A quick glance through the movie listings of last week's Pariscope shows treats such as a Wes Anderson retrospective and a Martin Scorsese festival alongside the latest French, US and European releases. There's even an association, Forum des Images, supported by the city of Paris, which has among its goals fostering discussion and debate on films and the questions they pose in our daily lives.

One of the coolest offerings of the Forum des Images is the "Cine-Mardy' program. Once a month on a Tuesday, classic films are shown at the Max Linder Panorama theater at Grands Boulevard. On May 13, you can see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and prior showings include Psycho and Ben-Hur Make no mistake, though, this is not just an old film showing at a second-run theater. The event includes a master of ceremonies and the promotional materials promise "surprises' in addition to the feature presentation, and the Max Linder Panaroma is a showcase theaters. Opened in 1914 by burlesque actor Max Linder,  the theater, with its 1930s style architecture (marble floors, frescoed murals on the walls) seats 700 on three levels and boasts an 18 meter panoramic screen.

If you can't make it next week, the next screening is West Side Story in early June. Also, keep in mind that Cine-Mardy is just one of the interesting programs sponsored by the Forum des Images. See their website for other offerings, like your chance for an individual viewing of one of the films in the collection of over 6000 meant to be an audio-visual history of Paris.

 http://www.forumdesimages.fr/fr/cycle.php?ccl_id=313

http://www.maxlinder.com/ 

I had pretty much despaired of finding edible, let alone good, pizza in Paris. I'd accepted that there would just be a pizza-shaped hole in my life while I'm here, which could possibly be filled with other things, like croissants. But then my friend suggested meeting for dinner at Maria Luisa just behind the Canal St Martin in the 10th. I could tell from the smell as I walked into the wedge shaped room that my search was over. 

We waited about twenty minutes at the miniscule 'bar',  watching the friendly staff prepare pizzas in the electric oven and assessing the crowd - pretty cool, but not above relishing the thin-crusted Neapolitan style pies. We were finally seated under the heat lamps in the cozy terrace. There are other things on the menu besides the pizza, but honestly, why bother? You know why you're here.

I ordered a 'scamorza' with mozzarella, smoked mozzarella and zucchini, and my friend's pie had black olives, ham, and artichoke hearts.  For dessert, a basil and lime sorbet with fresh strawberries for me, and espresso over coffee ice cream for my friend. This feast, together with a carafe of wine, set us back about 50 euros total. 

Maria Luisa,

2 rue Marie et Louise,

75010 Paris, 

01 44 84 04 01. 

If you can't get what you want, you'd better want what you get. That's the situation at the restaurant Bistroy.....Les Papilles next to the Luxembourg Gardens, which serves just one menu each day. Except there's no chance that you would NOT want food that's this good.

Bistroy.....Les Papilles was opened in 2003 by pastry chef and professional rugby fan Bertrand Bluy. The long narrow room is painted in warm primary colors and decorated with framed sports news clippings. Wine bottles arranged by region and local gourmet products for sale line one wall, opposite the bar.  You select the wine to accompany your dinner from the bottles on the wall. 

When my friend and I arrived, without reservations, at 7:30 on a recent weeknight, the restaurant was empty and we were seated right away without a reservation. I had called for a reservation earlier in the day and was told that there was nothing available, but we decided to try anyway.

Once we were seated, M. Bluy came to our table and explained the day's menu, which was to be prepared by chef Ulric "Tom' Claude in the tiny kitchen. The quality of Chef Claude's cooking has clearly improved since his first attempts at age eight a banana-guava-cream cake that he made which was fed to the family dog.

If only that poor dog could seen his former owner now.  Our meal started with a green bean soup garnished with bacon, radishes and creme fraiche and served in an individual tureen. This was followed by grilled chicken with penne in a pistou cream sauce and sun-dried tomatoes, brought to the table in a small copper roasting pot from which we served ourselves. Only shame kept me from eating this sauce with a spoon like soup. After the cheese course came the most wonderful dessert - baked apple topped with mascarpone cheese, gingerbread croutons and toasted, salted peanuts and pistachios. And then, when we thought there was no food left in Paris that could possibly interest us, our waiter brought a tiny dish of candied walnuts dusted with cocoa.  

It may be difficult for some people to embrace the idea of the single menu (no choice!), but what this really means is that someone has already done the work for you - selected the freshest, seasonal ingredients and carefully considered how to use them to create a meal in which each course interacts with the others. All you have to do is show up. The single menu concept seems to also contribute to the relaxed but lively atmosphere. There's no stress for diners or waitstaff over menu selections. 

Les papilles is French for tastebuds. You and yours will be happy here.

http://www.lespapillesparis.fr/EN_presentation_bistroy.html