NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop, an extraordinary novel about self-discovery and new beginnings. Marianne is stuck in a loveless, unhappy marriage. After forty-one years, she has reached her limit, and one evening in Paris she decides to take action. Following a dramatic moment on the banks of the Seine, Marianne leaves her life behind and sets out for the coast of Brittany, also known as “the end of the world.” Here she meets a cast of colorful and unforgettable locals who surprise her with their warm welcome, and the natural ease they all seem to have, taking pleasure in life’s small moments. And, as the parts of herself she had long forgotten return to her in this new world, Marianne learns it’s never too late to begin the search for what life should have been all along. With all the buoyant charm that made The Little Paris Bookshop a beloved bestseller, The Little French Bistro is a tale of second chances and a delightful embrace of the joys of life in France.
Bistros transport us into the Paris of our collective memory, of our youthful imagination, of literary legend. Here are the haunts of Henry Miller, the hangouts for Hemingway and Fitzgerald, the watering spots for Richard Wright and James Baldwin. In Paris by Bistro, you enter the neighborhoods of the tiny narrow streets, pass the smoky clubs and steamy little restaurants. You learn the character of each district and encounter a Paris that you might think no longer existed. On the way to becoming better acquainted with the city, you'll find yourself in a cafe-chantant in Edith Piaf's neighborhood, where the often raucous entertainment is part of the modest price. You'll try a bistro where a former U.S. President is sometimes glimpsed among the diners. You'll sample the fare at an all-night restaurant that's an institution in Les Halles, and you may find yourself next to an official of the Cordon Bleu in his favorite bistro, a little-known gem in the 15th district. Book jacket.
This guide captures the true character and flavour of the most intimate and affordable eating places Paris has to offer, ranging from the traditional to the newly fashionable. 51 bistros are judged by the standard of food, wine and atmosphere.
Bistro is warm. Bistro is family. Bistro is simple, hearty, generous cuisine-robust soups and country omelets, wine-scented stews and bubbling gratins, and desserts from a grandmother's kitchen. Researched and written by Patricia Wells, author of The Food Lover's Guide to Paris and The Food Lover's Guide to France, together with over 220,000 copies in print, here is a celebration of the no-nonsense, inexpensive, soul-satisfying cuisine of the neighborhood restaurants of France. BISTRO COOKING contains over 200 scrumptious bistro recipes made lighter and quicker for the way we cook today. Warm Poached Sausage with Potato Salad. Benoit's Mussel Soup. Guy Savoy's Fall Leg of Lamb. Beef Stew with Wild Mushrooms and Orange, Chicken Basquaise, Pasta with Lemon, Ham, and Black Olives, L'Ami Louis' Potato Cake, Provencal Roast Tomatoes, Pears in Red Wine, and Golden Cream and Apple Tart. Throughout, lively notes and sidebars capture the world of bistro owners in the kitchen, les grands chefs, and more. Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Winner of the 1989 IACP Seagram Food and Beverage Award. Over 166,000 copies in print.
A gastronomic tour of the best bistros in Paris devotes one chapter to each of the five types of bistros--classic, upscale, provincial, night bistros, and new bistros--and includes one hundred recipes.
Now fully revised and updated, this popular guide and compendium of good eating captures the true character and flavor of the most intimate and affordable eating establishments Paris has to offer. Classified as either traditional or modern, these bistros and wine bars are located by arrondisement (neighborhood) and rated for their quality and reliability. The guide is organized into three parts. The first section contains individual listings that describe the unique characteristics of each bistro. It includes special dishes, wines, and places of interest in the vicinity. The second section offers a glossary of dishes and menu terms, and descriptions of ingredients and preparations frequently encountered, and a few suggestions on wine selection. The third section provides a cross-reference to locate a particular dish at the bistro that prepares it best. Bistros of Paris is an essential reference for the food-conscious traveler intent on discovering the unadorned pleasures of traditional French cuisine.
The French bistro provides an irresistible dining experience, combining fresh, traditional dishes with a friendly atmosphere. With its checkered tablecloths, chalkboard menus brandishing the plats du jour, emblematic wooden chairs, and an endless supply of crusty baguettes, the gastronomic bistro has firmly established itself as a culinary institution. Bertrand Auboyneau, the owner of Bistrot Paul Bert in Paris, offers a seasonal selection of sixty hearty recipes. Starters include rustic country pâté with cognac and wild mushroom confit or scallops cooked in their shells with a piquant twist. An extensive selection of main courses ranges from shoulder of lamb en cocotte to duck breast with cherries and roasted new potatoes. After a dazzling cheese platter, if you still have room for dessert, you can indulge in an assortment of delicious classics, such as Paul Bert’s signature Paris-Brest, praline cream in a crisp choux pastry ring, or Île flottante, an island of poached meringue floating in Tahitian vanilla créme anglaise. To accompany the recipes, revered food critic François Simon outlines the ten commandments that rule a true bistro, such as the importance of an inspirational owner and a highly experienced chef as well as impeccable waiters and the art of creating an authentic decor, dense with the wafting smells of good food and wine. Photographs feature both recipes and the lively spirit of a dozen Parisian bistros.
In this debut memoir, a James Beard Award–winning writer, whose childhood idea of fine dining was Howard Johnson’s, tells how he became one of Paris’s most influential food critics Until Alec Lobrano landed a job in the glamorous Paris office of Women’s Wear Daily, his main experience of French cuisine was the occasional supermarket éclair. An interview with the owner of a renowned cheese shop for his first article nearly proves a disaster because he speaks no French. As he goes on to cover celebrities and couturiers and improves his mastery of the language, he gradually learns what it means to be truly French. He attends a cocktail party with Yves St. Laurent and has dinner with Giorgio Armani. Over a superb lunch, it’s his landlady who ultimately provides him with a lasting touchstone for how to judge food: “you must understand the intentions of the cook.” At the city’s brasseries and bistros, he discovers real French cooking. Through a series of vivid encounters with culinary figures from Paul Bocuse to Julia Child to Ruth Reichl, Lobrano hones his palate and finds his voice. Soon the timid boy from Connecticut is at the epicenter of the Parisian dining revolution and the restaurant critic of one of the largest newspapers in the France. A mouthwatering testament to the healing power of food, My Place at the Table is a moving coming-of-age story of how a gay man emerges from a wounding childhood, discovers himself, and finds love. Published here for the first time is Lobrano’s “little black book,” an insider’s guide to his thirty all-time-favorite Paris restaurants.
If you’re passionate about eating well, you couldn’t ask for a better travel companion than Alexander Lobrano’s charming, friendly, and authoritative Hungry for Paris, the fully revised and updated guide to this renowned culinary scene. Having written about Paris for almost every major food and travel magazine since moving there in 1986, Lobrano shares his personal selection of the city’s best restaurants, from bistros featuring the hottest young chefs to the secret spots Parisians love. In lively prose that is not only informative but a pleasure to read, Lobrano reveals the ambience, clientele, history, and most delicious dishes of each establishment—alongside helpful maps and beautiful photographs that will surely whet your appetite for Paris. Praise for Hungry for Paris “Hungry for Paris is required reading and features [Alexander Lobrano’s] favorite 109 restaurants reviewed in a fun and witty way. . . . A native of Boston, Lobrano moved to Paris in 1986 and never looked back. He served as the European correspondent for Gourmet from 1999 until it closed in 2009 (also known as the greatest job ever that will never be a job again). . . . He also updates his website frequently with restaurant reviews, all letter graded.”—Food Republic “Written with . . . flair and . . . acerbity is the new, second edition of Alexander Lobrano’s Hungry for Paris, which includes rigorous reviews of what the author considers to be the city’s 109 best restaurants [and] a helpful list of famous Parisian restaurants to be avoided.”—The Wall Street Journal “A wonderful guide to eating in Paris.”—Alice Waters “Nobody else has such an intimate knowledge of what is going on in the Paris food world right this minute. Happily, Alexander Lobrano has written it all down in this wonderful book.”—Ruth Reichl “Delightful . . . the sort of guide you read before you go to Paris—to get in the mood and pick up a few tips, a little style.”—Los Angeles Times “No one is ‘on the ground’ in Paris more than Alec Lobrano. . . . This book will certainly make you hungry for Paris. But even if you aren’t in Paris, his tales of French dining will seduce you into feeling like you are here, sitting in your favorite bistro or sharing a carafe of wine with a witty friend at a neighborhood hotspot.”—David Lebovitz, author of The Sweet Life in Paris “Hungry for Paris is like a cozy bistro on a chilly day: It makes you feel welcome.”—The Washington Post “This book will make readers more than merely hungry for the culinary riches of Paris; it will make them ravenous for a dining companion with Monsieur Lobrano’s particular warmth, wry charm, and refreshingly pure joie de vivre.”—Julia Glass “[Lobrano is] a wonderful man and writer who might know more about Paris restaurants than any other person I’ve ever met.”—Elissa Altman, author of Poor Man’s Feast
Monsieur Perdu can prescribe the perfect book for a broken heart. But can he fix his own? Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened. After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself. Internationally bestselling and filled with warmth and adventure, The Little Paris Bookshop is a love letter to books, meant for anyone who believes in the power of stories to shape people's lives.
