THE PARIS LETTER: Vivant Table

My mother is visiting us from California, and as she's a big time foodie, this always means we get a chance to eat at some great Paris restaurants. Normally, with the baby and the making reservations and the booking a babysitter, we just never get it together to go to the hot tables in town. But thanks to my mom, we were able to go to one of the hottest last night: Vivant Table in the 10th.

How hot was this restaurant? Well, first of all, it's one of those Paris restaurants that is only open Monday through Friday - I don't know how this is a viable business option in Paris, but many of the most interesting restos are able to close both weekend days and be just fine. Next, the only reservation we could get was  Tuesday night at 7PM. This is EXTREMELY early for a Parisian to be dining, since as I may have mentioned most weeknight dinners happen at 8:30 sharp, and weekends can go even later. It's not Spain, but still, 7PM is a time most people are either still in the office, or just picking the kids up, or maybe sitting down at a cafe for an apero - but not having a four course meal.

Next, nearly everyone else in this small bistro was busy taking expert photographs of their food, with flash. They were all food bloggers! And though I am technically blogging about food now, I was too embarrassed to whip out my iPhone and photograph my meal. Which I probably shouldn't be, but seriously, the guy behind me was making spots appear in my side vision as he tried to capture his pork chop on film.

So instead, I will try to describe what we had WITHOUT expert photos, which I know is a liability, but go with me on this.

THE PARIS LETTER: Sunday Afternoon Snack

Oh, Paris letter, how have I been writing you for so long without mentioning one of my favorite subjects, CHEESE? 

Those of you who have been following this letter for the last year know that in fact many of my culinary adventures in France have to do with finding NON-FRENCH food - I've looked for burritos and bagels, made traditional Thanksgiving dinner and served chocolate mole to dubious Parisians. What can I say? I like variety on my plate.  

However, there are a few areas where France just excels, period. One of these is bread. And the another is cheese. They are just consistently better here than in the US of A. Yes, we have some very good homegrown cheeses and you can get a great diversity of breads. But look at that picture, people! That's our Sunday afternoon snack! And we can get that kind of good-lookin' snack easily in our neighborhood, no trucking out to Murray's Cheese or Acme Bread. Yes, there's a huge variety when it comes to cheese and bread here, and you can get a super shitty baguette and some boring emmental just about anywhere here as well.

But again, I refer you to the picture above. Let's discuss....