PlanetEye

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  

Tucked away on a quiet side street in the 14th arrondissement, L'Entrepot (the warehouse) is the neighborhood's 'big-box' cultural center. The space opened in its current form in 2003 as a place for meeting and dialogue between various art forms and comprises a cinema, bar and restaurant.

The mission of the two-screen cinema is to provide an alternative to the dehumanizing multiplex, which it does through its offerings of contemporary art films, premiers and retrospectives. The 'Cinematribu' program puts the programming power back in the hands of the people - get together a group of thirty friends and select the movie to be shown from a list of 50 available titles. 

The diverse menu at the bar includes lectures, poetry readings, comedy improv and music. You can stop in the afternoon for the weekly Human Resources Debate, for example, or the inaugural lecture in the monthly 'Conso Equitable' series, "The Bitter Taste of Palm Oil' and then come back in the evening for the jazz or world music.   

The restaurant's focus on food which is seasonal, natural and authentic, is a welcome change from the neighborhood's traditional cafes and take out sushi places. The vibe from the bar carries over into the upper level of the restaurant without overwhelming conversations. The mood is more intimate in the lower level which looks out into the sculpture-filled back garden.  

On a recent Saturday evening, the bar area was packed for a concert by an African singer-songwriter while moviegoers streamed into the restaurant where a group of day-camp buddies relived past musical glory in the restaurant. Just another weekend in the warehouse.

 http://www.lentrepot.fr/

7/9 rue Francis de Pressense

tél. : 01 45 40 07 50
fax : 01 45 40 07 51 

Metro Pernety 

Yes, I know. You want to read about PARIS, not Finland. But consider the possibility that a little break will only help you appreciate Paris more. If you don't have the time or the money to fly somewhere fabulous this weekend, you can take an imaginary vacation to Finland this weekend via the Helsinki a Saint Sulpice market.

The market is part of the 100% Finland festival is organized by the Finnish Embassy in France and the French Embassy in Finland to highlight the "young, modern and innovative" in Finnish culture. It includes 250 events throughout France over a three month period.

The market at Saint Sulpice runs from 17 April to 24 April includes over thirty exhibitors featuring the best of Finnish design, fashion, food and literature. Add musical performances and two photography exhibit and you have all the key elements of a weekend trip: eating, culture and shopping.

The market's website presents a selection of some of the designers whose work will be available at the market. I have my eye on the cotton fabric screenprinted with urban street scenes by Katve de Fokus Fabrik. Other covetable items include slippers made from recycled carpet and printed with a picture of the Helsinki Cathedral (ladies'} or the Helsinki Tramway (mens') from Uusix Verstas, and the "City Boy" portable picnic grill from Selki-Asema.

Along with the restaurant and beer bar, highlights of Finnish cuisine on offer include dried berries, oat breads, reindeer and wild boar.

The muscial performances throughout the week span the wide, wide spectrum from a dance troupe that combines Finnish folk dance with Argentine Tango to a choral group presenting 'serenades a la finlandaise' with a performance of sacred Finnish music from the 15th century to the present. The most intriguing is an impossible to categorize group performing Finnish interpretations of the music of Serge Gainsbourg.

If you want to continue your mini-vacation after visiting the market, head to the Institut FInlandais which this weekend has a festival of short films in conjunction with Helsinki's Women's Film Festival.  

http://www.helsinkisaintsulpice.fi/

http://www.institut-finlandais.asso.fr/ 

Versailles is deservedly a required stop on the standard Paris tourist itinerary. It's difficult for anything to diminish the sheer magnificence of the house and gardens, but the hordes of visitors can make it feel like the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. If you're looking for a more authentic chateau experience, try Vaux-le-Vicomte. 

Vaux-le-Vicomte was built by the French financial secretary Nicolas Foquet in the 1660s. Foquet, known for his intelligence, wit, generosity and patronage of artists such as Moliere, was appointed to his post after the state treasury collapsed in 1653. Although he successfully raised the capital to support royal spending, he was eventually sentenced to life in prison by Louis XIV.

Vaux-le-Vicomte is 55 kilometers outside of Paris and is accessible by the RER line D to Melun, and then the "Chateaubus" shuttle which runs on weekends and holidays. While the approach to Versailles in lined with charter tour buses and souvenir shops, the road to Vaux is lined with plane trees which border rolling meadows. The chateau is interesting yet small enough to be manageable, but the real highlight of the visit is the gardens. Spread over three kilometers, the gardens were designed by French landscape designer Le Notre, known for his work at Versailles and numerous other big-name chateaux. Here, Le Notre plays with the laws of perspective and creates optical illusions using gradually-sloping terraced plots.

On Friday and Saturday evenings in the summer, the chateau and gardens stay open late and are illuminated with over 2000 candles. A champagne bar in the garden washes away any fire-safety concerns you may have about this arrangement.  

The chateau has a small and pricey cafe and there are no restaurants in the immediate vicinity.

All information for your visit can be found here:

http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/

Please don't be put off by the cheesiness of the website - the chateau itself is pure class.  

Now through the beginning of June, our love it or hate it, all things to all people modern art venue, the Centre Pompidou, has a retrospective of nearly 200 works from the 50 year career of French-born, Amerrican-based painter and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

Bourgeois was born in France in 1911. She has cited her childhood in France, where she spent her youth working in her mother's tapestry repair studio, as a source of inspiration throughout 50 year career. After a stint studying math at the Sorbonne, she moved to the US in 1938 with her American husband, the art critic Robert Goldwater. She began her career in New York, with her first solo show in 1947.

The Pompidou exhibit traces the chronological progression of Bourgeouis' work, while highlighting the theme of the house or home which appears throughout her career, from her paintings, drawings and prints representing 'Femmes-Maisons', or housewives, in the 1940s, to her nest and den sculptures of the 1960s and the cage-like cell sculptures of the 1990s. 

 Due to the popularity of this exhibit, the museum recommends visiting on the weekends after 5:30pm, or on Thursday evenings when the gallery is open to 11:00pm. And why not?  You can sneak upstairs to the posh Restuarant Georges when you've finished to think about art over a drink and a great view of Paris

 www.centrepompidou.fr