Streets with positive food fengshui
While other corners of Paris are well-known food deserts, some streets are blessed with a rich concentration of good eateries. I elect:
rue des Petites Ecuries/rue Richer, with:
Öslem, El Papi Chulo, Vivant, L'Orient d'Or, An Li, La Cuisine de chez moi, Bob de Tunis, Kiku, l'Office.
The bonus at the end of the street (on the rue Richer end) is the great chocholate and candy store A la Mère de Famille, which is making its own ice cream these days !
Dear fellow Mouths, what are some of the other great food fengshui pockets of Paris?
rue des Petites Ecuries/rue Richer, with:
Öslem, El Papi Chulo, Vivant, L'Orient d'Or, An Li, La Cuisine de chez moi, Bob de Tunis, Kiku, l'Office.
The bonus at the end of the street (on the rue Richer end) is the great chocholate and candy store A la Mère de Famille, which is making its own ice cream these days !
Dear fellow Mouths, what are some of the other great food fengshui pockets of Paris?
[Last edited Jul 16, 2011 09:30:43]
On the other end of the scale, the avenue Jean Jaurès up in my neck of the woods now boasts a McDonald's, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino's, AND Speed Rabbit Pizza. Jealous, anyone?
That's not fengshui. That's fastshui !
On the other end of the scale, the avenue Jean Jaurès up in my neck of the woods now boasts a McDonald's, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino's, AND Speed Rabbit Pizza. Jealous, anyone?What no Starbucks?
Is El Papi Chulo any good?
Just lunched there. I think I am going to "half-eliminate" it from the rue des Petites Ecuries fengshui lineup.
The tapas are not as good as I remember. - Probably my fault for going on the day before it closes. We all know that the Paris restaurants on the last day before August holiday have no ingredients left, and all the waitstaff are thinking of vegetating on a beach for weeks instead of concentrating on their job.
I'd rank El Papi Chulo this way: El Papi Chulo is less good than Au 36 Corneil, which is less good than Dans Les Landes, which is of course the gold standard for tapas in Paris.
I can't bear to eliminate it completely either, because it (1) has very good Sangria and Gazpacho, (2) is a great place to watch soccer when the Spanish national team is playing (but not when Barça is Réal, where, as a Barça fan, I am scared of being lynched by Réal fans there), (3) is a wonderful pre-concert counter tapas place if you are going on to a jazz gig across the street at New Morning. But don't go (to EPC) later in the evening, especially not during the set break, and not after the sets. As the evening wears on, all the concert goers drink a lot of beer and can't abide the limited number of restroom facilities in New Morning and all pour out and pee on various corner of the rue des Petites Ecuries, which temporarility changes its name to rue de l'Urine de Jazz.
However I have two candidates perhaps to add to the Petites Ecuries-Fb St Denis food fengshui:
- the Kiku traiteur, which has a very sympatico big long table for a communal table d'hôte lunch.
- Julhès on rue Fbg St Denis is ever expanding. After opening an Italian traiteur (always the first sign that a street is gentrifying), in the fall it is opening a lunch counter.
[Last edited Aug 05, 2011 13:02:46]
YUM!
(I'll post pix on JT's Paris)
[Last edited Aug 25, 2011 16:47:46]
Nancy never actually spelled out the rules underpinning the naming of a street as possessing fengshui (rules such as quantity, quality, etc). So I assume we're free to let loose.
Upthread I named
and today just around its corner I realized that the Rue de Montreuil was aburst with places from the corner two - en attendant l'or (we should be so lucky) and the Tartinerie Victoria et Carla on to Sushi Makoto and the Guinness-signed Illy-coffee'd but very French menu'd Patrick's and Au P'tit Panisse to the nouvelle Korean Midam and the Aumoniere de Bacchus and finally Tintilou.
Upthread I named
The Rue Paul Bert......with the Bistrot Paul Bert, L'Ecailler du Bistrot, La Cocotte, Unico, Crus et Découvertes, etc.?
and today just around its corner I realized that the Rue de Montreuil was aburst with places from the corner two - en attendant l'or (we should be so lucky) and the Tartinerie Victoria et Carla on to Sushi Makoto and the Guinness-signed Illy-coffee'd but very French menu'd Patrick's and Au P'tit Panisse to the nouvelle Korean Midam and the Aumoniere de Bacchus and finally Tintilou.
[Last edited Aug 25, 2011 16:48:25]
Nancy did define, briefly (but it doesn't need more), what good food fengshui is for a street:
"While other corners of Paris are well-known food deserts, some streets are blessed with a rich concentration of good eateries."
It can also be a place (square), a big street intersection and its surroundings. Market streets (like Mouffetard, Poncelet-Lévis, Daguerre, Buci...) don't qualify. Rue Paul-Bert is a good example of good food fengshui because of its concentration of good eateries for hard to explain reasons. The Faubourg Saint-Denis/Petites Ecuries/Château-d'Eau area also has great fengshui for many concurring reasons, etc.
"While other corners of Paris are well-known food deserts, some streets are blessed with a rich concentration of good eateries."
It can also be a place (square), a big street intersection and its surroundings. Market streets (like Mouffetard, Poncelet-Lévis, Daguerre, Buci...) don't qualify. Rue Paul-Bert is a good example of good food fengshui because of its concentration of good eateries for hard to explain reasons. The Faubourg Saint-Denis/Petites Ecuries/Château-d'Eau area also has great fengshui for many concurring reasons, etc.
[Last edited Aug 27, 2011 08:24:40]
No mention of Rue des Martyrs?
Also, the rue de Belleville is quite good, with Paris Store, Le Pacifique, Restaurant Raviolis, Chapeau Melon, Le Baratin, Boulangerie 140...
And how about J-P Timbaud in the 11th, especially where it intersects with Av. de la Republique?
Also, the rue de Belleville is quite good, with Paris Store, Le Pacifique, Restaurant Raviolis, Chapeau Melon, Le Baratin, Boulangerie 140...
And how about J-P Timbaud in the 11th, especially where it intersects with Av. de la Republique?
The rue des Petites Ecuries/rue Richer lineup may have some changes. L'Office seems to have closed its doors. If true, most regrettable.
However, one place that always has a riot-size crowd - open on week days only - is Ngoun Heng, a (Cambodian? Thai?) restaurant so tiny it really is just a window counter, on 1 rue des Petites Ecuries.
I have not eaten there, but Vieilleanglaise likes it and that's good enough for me.
Btw, the mouth fengshui of Rue Volta, on the small stretch between rue Réaumur and rue au Maire, is getting better all the time.
- N°7: Le Lac de L'ouest 家常菜馆. It was the first Chinese resto in Paris to make the very authentic dish water-boiled beef 水煮牛肉, which has since become a trend. Very spicy. The resto is also ridiculously crowded.
- N°7: The anonymous Banh Mi place run by the very nice Angela, next door to Le Lac de L'ouest.
http://www.foodspotting.com/reviews/15163
- n°3. Song Heng, very well written up by our Barbara Austin.
http://www.barbraaustin.com/2010/05/song-heng/
This address has two oddities. It is in a house touted as the oldest house of Paris. Historians agree it is one of the oldest… The other oddity is: don't, I repeat don't wander into the next-door barber shop by mistake. It looks right out of Wong Karwai's Chungking Express, where the barber ignores your screams and straps you down and shaves half your head before he asks if you want a haircut.
And around the corner, the small Wenzhou eateries are not bad at all, but it's best if you were the kind of diners with a very flesible concept of hygiene…
Lastly, an off-topic question for our Paris natives or those familiar with Paris street name history: Is rue au Maire a contrepèterie of Réaumur?
However, one place that always has a riot-size crowd - open on week days only - is Ngoun Heng, a (Cambodian? Thai?) restaurant so tiny it really is just a window counter, on 1 rue des Petites Ecuries.
I have not eaten there, but Vieilleanglaise likes it and that's good enough for me.
Btw, the mouth fengshui of Rue Volta, on the small stretch between rue Réaumur and rue au Maire, is getting better all the time.
- N°7: Le Lac de L'ouest 家常菜馆. It was the first Chinese resto in Paris to make the very authentic dish water-boiled beef 水煮牛肉, which has since become a trend. Very spicy. The resto is also ridiculously crowded.
- N°7: The anonymous Banh Mi place run by the very nice Angela, next door to Le Lac de L'ouest.
http://www.foodspotting.com/reviews/15163
- n°3. Song Heng, very well written up by our Barbara Austin.
http://www.barbraaustin.com/2010/05/song-heng/
This address has two oddities. It is in a house touted as the oldest house of Paris. Historians agree it is one of the oldest… The other oddity is: don't, I repeat don't wander into the next-door barber shop by mistake. It looks right out of Wong Karwai's Chungking Express, where the barber ignores your screams and straps you down and shaves half your head before he asks if you want a haircut.
And around the corner, the small Wenzhou eateries are not bad at all, but it's best if you were the kind of diners with a very flesible concept of hygiene…
Lastly, an off-topic question for our Paris natives or those familiar with Paris street name history: Is rue au Maire a contrepèterie of Réaumur?
[Last edited Oct 02, 2011 08:50:43]
I agree with Camille about the rue des Martyrs, especially if one rounds the corner and includes the rue des Abbesses (for bread) :)
Nancy's detail on the rue de Volta is making me very, very hungry.
Regarding l'Office - are you sure that it closed? We've tried calling to clarify and haven't gotten anywhere (yet) and need to update our Guide page for the place if it really has closed. Thanks for the tip and let us know if you're really sure.
Nancy's detail on the rue de Volta is making me very, very hungry.
Regarding l'Office - are you sure that it closed? We've tried calling to clarify and haven't gotten anywhere (yet) and need to update our Guide page for the place if it really has closed. Thanks for the tip and let us know if you're really sure.
I am not sure re its closure. I walked by and saw the place not just closed, but closed-closed, seemingly with extensive travaux inside. You are right. Could be an overhaul kind of renovation. Or clould be closing.
"No mention of Rue des Martyrs? "
That's actually my street. While I love all the bakeries, from Landemaine all the way to Gontran on rue Caulaincourt, including on the way Delmontel and the 3, 4 excellent bakeries on Abbesses, I find only one good eatery on rue des Martyrs - Terra Corsa. O and Carmine's pizzeria on soccer night. The others, the Yoom - Cul de poule ilk, all seem to cater to none-too-discerning dieting hipsters.
For butchers too (but I thought we were focusing on restaurants and not on food shops on this thread, otherwise all the market streets would be listed here), besides the Friday afternoon Anvres market, I hardly ever go to the butchers on rue des Martyrs, except the grumpy fellah at the Auvergne place on the west side of the street. I prefer to walk over to the 10th and am patronize the poultry king (the one with coucou de Rennes regularly) in the Marché St Quentin and the excellent butcher on rue Fbg St Denis between rue du Paradis and rue des Petites Ecuries, the only non-Turkish butcher there, on the east side of the street.
Or is this the-butchers-on-the-other-street-are-always-greener phenomenon?
On rue des Martyrs, I do like Les Papilles Gourmandes and Beillevaire very much, the latter for the cheeses and butter, the former for the quiches and Bordier butter.
That's actually my street. While I love all the bakeries, from Landemaine all the way to Gontran on rue Caulaincourt, including on the way Delmontel and the 3, 4 excellent bakeries on Abbesses, I find only one good eatery on rue des Martyrs - Terra Corsa. O and Carmine's pizzeria on soccer night. The others, the Yoom - Cul de poule ilk, all seem to cater to none-too-discerning dieting hipsters.
For butchers too (but I thought we were focusing on restaurants and not on food shops on this thread, otherwise all the market streets would be listed here), besides the Friday afternoon Anvres market, I hardly ever go to the butchers on rue des Martyrs, except the grumpy fellah at the Auvergne place on the west side of the street. I prefer to walk over to the 10th and am patronize the poultry king (the one with coucou de Rennes regularly) in the Marché St Quentin and the excellent butcher on rue Fbg St Denis between rue du Paradis and rue des Petites Ecuries, the only non-Turkish butcher there, on the east side of the street.
Or is this the-butchers-on-the-other-street-are-always-greener phenomenon?
On rue des Martyrs, I do like Les Papilles Gourmandes and Beillevaire very much, the latter for the cheeses and butter, the former for the quiches and Bordier butter.
[Last edited Oct 02, 2011 09:00:04]
Adding to the ethnographic and geomantic study of the most interesting rue des Martyrs, the rue de Navarin (just off the rue des Martyrs) has the Hôtel Amour, and believe it or not, the food is quite decent. With the added pleasure of having it ordered and served from doe-eyed and slightly clueless figureheads.
And my frequent encounters with a friend who is a serious challenger to Vieilleanglaise (he has a B&B on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis) are increasing my familiarity with the extraordinary food fengshui of the area: Istanbul Grill, not far from the Château-d'Eau intersection, serves grilled meats like everyone else, but the freshness and quality of the meat is remarkable. A recommended place.
And my frequent encounters with a friend who is a serious challenger to Vieilleanglaise (he has a B&B on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis) are increasing my familiarity with the extraordinary food fengshui of the area: Istanbul Grill, not far from the Château-d'Eau intersection, serves grilled meats like everyone else, but the freshness and quality of the meat is remarkable. A recommended place.
You're perfectly on-topic in the brunch thread, though :-)
Oops, that's where I had meant to post.
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