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A Vegetarian in Paris… Crepes

Something I knew was on my TO EAT list when I arrived in Paris was CREPES!!!!

I love crepes… I eat a spinach, cheese and walnuts crepe almost every Saturday when I attend my French classes at L’Alliance Francaise. But I love them all… savory (salé) or sweet (sucré)… going to Paris and not eating crepes is like going to NYC and not eating a slice of pizza… right?

Just like in NYC there are hot dog stands in almost every corner… the same applies to crepe stands in Paris. Even cafes or bistros have a small window facing the street where they can fix crepes to any hungry person passing by.

With only a week in Paris, there were not as many opportunities as one would like to taste all the flavor varieties available… but let’s go chronologically…

My first crepe of this Paris trip was in Montmatre… I had the munchies after climbing all those stairs from the Metro station up to Sacre Coeur. I also wanted to eat away my sorrows after finding a spectacular painting I loved, but too expensive for my budget… so how better to compensate than eating crepe and cheese together??

Sacre Coeur montmatre

I ordered a crêpe au fromage with gruyère cheese. The thing… the cheese was not inside the crepe, but on top. It was more like a crêpe gratin… the crepe was soft and the cheese was salty. Super nice start to my crepe adventure…

Crepe Fromage 1

When we went to Versailles, we wanted to have lunch where the locals eat. We wanted to walk away from the Palace and the rest of all the tourists and were pleasantly surprised to find a maze of streets filled with small cafes, stores and creperies for us to choose from… We selected a creperie with a special offering 1 crepe salé + 1 crepe sucré and a beverage for a fixed price… And look at the menu of options for the crepes!!!! There were at least 50+ varieties of savory and 50+ varieties of sweet options to choose from. Granted, not all the choices were vegetarian, but still impressive, don’t you think?

creperie versailles

I loved the savory crepes, also called gallettes, which were made with Sarracene wheat or buckwheat instead of regular wheat flour. I ordered mine filled with spinach, potatoes and cheese. Annie Mariel did not steer too far away and ordered a potatoes and cheese crepe. They were delicious…

Crepe epinard 1

For dessert, I ordered my new favorite flavor for desserts – caramel beurre salé with vanilla ice cream. Annie Mariel, true to her passions, ordered a crepe topped with chocolate syrup topped with café glace. My toffee was inside the crepe, the chocolate in turn was on top of the crepe… apparently there is no consistency of where the crepe accompaniment will be placed. But what you can be sure of is the accompaniment will help bring that thin crepe to a whole new place…

crepe caramel beurre salee

crepe au chocolat

And so far, I’ve had crepes sitting down in restaurants… granted, the tables I ate them were in sidewalks, but still I was sitting down and ate them with a fork and knife. But how about trying out one of those street-side crepes??? While walking down the street on Avenue St. Germaine we decided to stop by Les Deux Maggots… but my mind was on the creperie across the street right in front of the St. Germaine de Près church… I had to order the classic Nutella, which is very much Italian, but perfect to eat inside a French crêpe… it was so cool to see the crêpe being made right in front of me. Super thin and perfectly golden after just a few minutes… they give it to you wrapped in paper ready to take a bite right then a there…

crepes a la rue 3 crepes a la rue 1

crepes a la rue 2 crepes nutella

Next time you visit Paris, be sure to try your favorite flavors of the ubiquitous crepe… I am sure you’ll fall in love with them as much as the city itself.

Tags: crepes, paris

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

A Vegetarian in Paris… Musts from the Internet

19 Oct

Last month I spent a whole week in Paris… because I haven’t been in Paris since I was 16, I wanted to do all the touristy things 1^st time visitors do – Tour Eiffel, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe, the Seine River, Notre Dame, the Louvre Museum, Montmatre, Sacre Coeur, etc…

But in addition to the monuments musts, I also had a separate list – the FOODIE MUSTS. Reading on the Internet, I built a list of foodie must do’s I wanted to try. I only had a chance to do only a few things, but here are several of the highlights…

Berthillon Ice Creams

At Serious Eats, many contributors mentioned the ice creams for Berthillon were “to die for”. So the day we decided to walk over to Place Vendome, visit la Place de la Bastille, we made our way to Ile de St. Louis to try out these spectacular ice creams.

berthillion 2

After walking a great deal trying to find this ice cream parlor, we were bummed to find out they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays… so we had to do the next best thing – cross the street and have our ice cream at the café in front, where the advertised they serve the delicious ice creams from Berthillon.

berthillion 1 berthillion 4

All the reviews said the best was bitter chocolate, so I ordered chocolate and a new flavor recommended by the server, caramel beurre salé. It’s true what they say… these ice creams are superb!!! The chocolate is not super sweet and the caramel beurre salé tastes like a salted toffee, my favorite flavor. Annie Mariel followed recommendations as well and ordered chocolate and pistachio. The pistachio flavor tasted like real nuts and did not have that artificial green color most US pistachio ice cream have.

caramel beurre salle et chocolat

pistachio et chocolat

After having our first taste of these Berthillon ice creams, we would order a few flavors every time we saw them listed on any menu… so when visiting Notre Dame, we also had a chance to try the nougat and coffee flavors. Outstanding as well…

notre dame nougat et cafe

When you visit Paris, forget about your waistline for a few minutes and try out these spectacular ice creams. Hey, when you’re on vacation, you can break the rules once in a while, no?

POÎLANE BREAD

Ever since I got Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook a few years back, I’ve been planning to visit this bakery. She says it has the best bread in Paris and that’s a lot… because bread in Paris is the best in the world. Just ask my little niece Mariana, who visited Paris about 3 years ago when she was only 4 and right before my trip to Paris she told me: “Titi Madelyn, the bread in Paris is soooooooooooooo good!!!!” She still remembers… and she was only 4. She has the food-loving gene, I know…

I did not get to visit the famous bakery on the same street that Giada DeLaurentiis lived when she attended culinary school, but during my first meal in Paris, we had tartines made from whole-grain Poîlane bread. Again, all bread in Paris is good. But I will have to do a specific taste-test to be absolutely sure the Poîlane bread is head and shoulders above the rest. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

Tartine Madeleine

L’AS DU FALAFEL

The Marais is located between the 3^rd and 4th arrondissements… and it’s kind of “the West Village” of Paris. It’s filled with small pedestrian streets with plenty of shopping and restaurants to last you a whole month in Paris. It’s also part of the Jewish district… so it’s the place to go for some Middle Eastern food. And I sure needed a break from the bread, cheese and potato diet I had been carrying for the last few days.

I’ve read about L’As du Falafel in many internet discussions and about the huge lines formed right in front of this stand. Even the Director of the Alliance Française in PR knew about this place… he knew the street address by heart. That’s how well-known this place is for the locals and foodie tourists alike.

We searched for this street in every map we had… I had to consult my newly bought map by arrondisement to actually find it. We walked past a mob of people to find L’As du Falafel CLOSED. For the second time, I arrived to an internet recommendation to find the place closed. It happened to be Saturday and some Jewish people observe the Sabbath, and the owners of this stand apparently do too.

l'as du falafel 1

Then, on our way back to a main avenue, we noticed again the mob of people on the street. I read the name of the place, Chez Marianne, and thought nothing of it. What could be happening here that people are standing in line for??? Well, apparently when L’As du Falafel is closed, people stand in line at Chez Marianne for their falafel fix. We were not sure how to order, so we found a little table right next to the pick-up window to observe how the locals were doing it.

Chez Marianne chez marianne 2

After much deliberation and salivation, we decided to order a plate of 5 components that we then used to stuff some pitas and create some falafel sandwiches. Our order included falafels, tabbuleh, eggplants cooked with tomatoes, eggplant dip, a salad and pickles. With a squirt of lemon juice on top, the falafel sandwich was exquisite. The falafels were crispy and light… nothing greasy. Just what my appetite needed… no cheese for just one meal. Can you believe I just said that???

Chez MArianne - falafels

falafel sandwich

LA DURÉE PASTRY SHOP

Pastries in Paris are as beautiful as any other masterpiece at the Museé du Louvre or Museé d’Orsay. And one of these pastry museums is La Durée. We just found it serendipitously while walking towards La Madeleine church. I saw the name on the store and immediately said: “We need to go in there”.

Laduree - dehors

La Durée is famous for their pastries, but most of all, for their macaroons. To me, macaroons are like coconut kisses (besitos de coco), but in Paris, macaroons are something different. They are these meringue-like sandwich cookies.

laduree - bag

laduree - macaroons

We had to stand in line for about 15-20 minutes to buy these macaroons. While in line I photographed some of the marvels they make there… check them out. Aren’t they gorgeous??

laduree 2 laduree 5 laduree 3 laduree 4

PIERRE HERMÉ

Walking from the Museé du Luxembourg towards Boulevard St. Germaine, we ran into my friend’s Jesiel favorite pastry shop, Pierre Hermé. She has actually decided she wants to move to Paris to be a pastry chef and sometime intern with Pierre’s famous crew. I was impressed by how people line outside the store to taste their masterpieces.

pierre herme

I was tired and craving a crepe, so we decided to pass on standing in line this time… but I will most definitely try to go in the next time I visit Paris.

Even though I got to experience all these foodie adventures, I still have some pending stuff I have waiting for my next trip…

Go to Poîlane Bakery to see the lamp made from bread
Le Grand Epicerie at le Bon Marché
Visit E. Dehillerin to see the best stocked kitchen gadget store in the world
Go to a street market in the MORNING so I can purchase all the components to a great picnic lunch
Sitting at an outside table at Café de Flore
Have dinner at a Joel Rebuchon restaurant
Go to the Le Creuset outlet store and drool for a few hours

Tags: france, paris

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

A Vegetarian in Paris… Mon premier repas à Paris

13 Oct

You already know I am in love with anything French. And it was only fitting that I would visit the capital of France to experience firsthand all that Paris has to offer. Last May, my friend Annie Mariel and I decided that we would go to Paris in September. June was too close, July too hot, August emptied of real Parisians… so September was the ideal time to go.

Drapeau Francais

I had not set foot in Paris since I was 16… we will not actively reveal how many years ago that is. Just know that it’s been a real while. They used the French franc then and the European Union did not exist.

So this trip was a re-acquaintance trip of sorts – getting to know Paris as an adult, testing my French language skills, and discovering all that French cuisine has to offer, to a vegetarian. Because something else is also different on this trip when compared to my previous one… I was not a vegetarian then. Not even dreamt about it. On that original trip, I remember quite well ordering steak frites, one of Paris’ staples. But I was confident I would manage…

I will divide my trip experiences in a few installments … because I noticed I took as many pictures of what I ate as pictures from the well-known Parisian monuments – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Mona Lisa, Place de la Concorde…

I hope you will enjoy Paris as much as I did, even if it’s vicariously thru my pictures and commentary… on y va!!!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The trip to Paris is quite long… 3 ½ hours from SJ to NYC and 7 hours from NYC to Paris. It’s a “sort-of” overnight trip because you arrive in Paris at 7AM Paris time, even though it’s actually 1AM for your mind and body. We were lucky to fly 1^st class from SJ to NYC, but not so lucky on the long leg of the trip… we ordered vegetarian meals for both of us, Annie Mariel and I, and this is what we got: Curried Chickpeas with White Rice – is this a flight to Paris or to India??? – some overcooked broccoli, a salad and cantaloupe. This reminded me of the airline food challenges in Top Chef a few seasons back. Pathetic to say the least… I was very much looking forward to some great Parisian food.

Ariline Food 1

We arrived in Paris at about 7:30AM. We got into the city at about 8:30AM. Our landlady was waiting on us in our Parisian apartment. We rented an apartment in the 2eme arrondissement because we wanted to live as the Parisians do. And besides, it’s much cheaper than a hotel if you’re staying more than a few days. We were a bit jetlagged and took a power nap to get our energy up…

We arrived on a Sunday morning and Sundays in Paris are very much like I remember things in PR about 30 years ago – no shops are open, everything is closed for the day. Only the Champs Elysées and the touristy areas are open. But we wanted to live as Parisians and that meant to walk to a touristy area if you want to eat in a café or restaurant on a Sunday.

We decided to walk around our neighborhood to get familiarized with it… we were located right in between the Opera/Madeleine area and the Louvre – all that within walking distance. Following my namesake, we decided to head towards Opera/La Madeleine and see where that would lead us.

Place de la Madeleine

We found a café aptly named Café Madeleine… hey, I had to eat there!!! I loved that most everything on the menu was accompanied by “frites et salade”, French fries and salad. Remember I told you, all fries in France and French fries… you need to order frites. I ordered a tartine which is an open faced sandwich on toasted whole-grain Poîlane bread (check!!). I ordered the one with cheese and tomato, sans the jambon. The server was not too happy, but I explained in my best French that I was vegetarian and I did not want the ham at all… he understood or was it he felt compelled to please me by my attempt of speaking French by the locals… I will never know.

Tartine Madeleine

The tartine looked and tasted delicious… way better than what we had had on the airplane a few hours back. The salad was simply dressed with vinaigrette, worthy of any French café.

And because we were on vacation, we had to end with ice cream… Annie Mariel loves chocolate and I had to oblige. It was delicious. And the wafers that came on the side were awesome too.

Glace au chocolat

This was light and a perfect introduction to our culinary/eating adventures in Paris… stay tuned for more on my French vegetarian adventure. A bientôt…

Tags: french

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, sandwiches, Travel

Mexico – Beautiful and Delicious – Part 3

17 Sep

This is part 3 on a series on the delicious Mexican cuisine I had while traveling in Guadalajara. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here.

Now, after having my friends Ana and Salvador guide me through the culinary delicacies of Guadalajara, I felt confident enough to break out on my own. I mean, I speak the language indeed, but there are many things to learn about the Mexican ingredients I am totally new to…

When you think about concession stands at a trade show, you really do not think about great tasty food. Well, not at ConfitExpo. One of the things I learned about was nopales. I had seen them in Mexican restaurant menus, but really never tried them.

One of the lunches I had while at the trade show was a Taquiza of Rajitas de Nopales y Maiz Tierno. Basically, 4 tacos with a concoction of nopales strips with sweet corn and pieces of cheese. The nopales/corn stew was a bit spicy, but nothing I could not handle. I am sure there were some jalapeños cooked in there too. You get these 4 tacos on a plate and then you direct yourself to the fixins bar to dress them with your choice of lettuce, tomato, onions, parsley, shredded cheese, lime wedges, salsas and cream. The Mexican cream is not as sour as our sour cream… very tasty and delicious.

Rajitas de Nopalitos

Salad Bar 2 Salad Bar 1

Taquiza 1 Taquiza - Closeup

Recibo Taquiza

These tacos were awesome!!! Creamy, a bit spicy, some sweetness from the corn… really nice. I wish my stomach was larger so I could have eaten some more. My only problem… it showed I was a tourist because the sauce from the tacos kept spilling out and I made a mess… the waiter helping in my section told me that I needed to visit Mexico more often to get a better hang of how to eat a taco properly. I was so embarrassed by the mess I made in my table!!! I used up almost all the napkins on the holder in front of me… I am sure I was a spectacle. But the tacos were so good, I did not care in the end.

I had to drink an agua fresca… they were made of lime/limón, Jamaica or rice horchata. I had tasted lime/limón before, but the Jamaica was new to me. It’s what’s called hibiscus flower. I had seen the flowers at a stand that morning and they look like dried, wilted rose petals for potpourri. I wished I had known I would like it so much, I would have photographed them. Well, for next time. Super refreshing – perfect to offset the slight spiciness of the tacos.

Aguas Frescas

Another afternoon I dared to venture by myself to the Mercado de San Juan de Dios to see if I could find some silver jewelry. But I can’t shop properly on an empty stomach, so I decided to go to the kioskos to eat something… here I visited the stand of this nice lady, Marisol, who prepared me another Chile Poblano Relleno de Queso. This time was another cheese I forgot to write down and this time I ate with a tomato sauce with nopales strips cooked in the sauce. She assured me the sauce did not have any chicken or beef broth and that she cleaned the poblanos very well so they were not spicy until you get close to the stem part. Of course, she mace the tortillas on the spot, to order. She was super interested in me being vegetarian, so she sat next to me and talk while we both ate her delicious food. I drank an horchata made with rice and cinnamon. All this cost me about $3USD – Amazing food, extremely delicious and dirt cheap.

Fonda MArisol

Chiles Rellenos 2 Salsa Tomate con NOpales

Chile Relleno con Nopales

Horchata Arroz Tortillas - Just Made

When I got back from my trip I was still craving Mexican food, but I do not dare try the food here in PR, because I know I will be disappointed if I eat it right away. It’ll never be as authentic as the food I had in Guadalajara. I can’t wait until my next trip there… if our business is successful, I may have to return in the near future. I am very much looking forward to tasting more and more authentic Mexican, and still vegetarian, fare… ¡¡DELICIOSO – VIVA MEXICO!!

Tags: chiles, horchata, mexico, tortillas

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

Mexico – Beautiful and Delicious – Part 2

10 Sep

More on my series of installments on the cuisine of Mexico, more specifically to Guadalajara, where I got to spend a few days now in August. You can read my first post here.

I was in Guadalajara on business and my friend and colleague Salvador López Solerssi was not only my trade show and store-check guide, but in many ways my culinary guide as well. I promised him I would include his full name so it would be easy for him to Google himself and find this post without the link…

Salvador was very taken with the fact I write this blog and was super eager to show me all the culinary delicacies Guadalajara has to offer…

We first went to lunch after having walked the trade show a few times over… I was starving!!!! Look at what we had for lunch: Queso Fundido, Guacamole and Chips, Fried Quesadillas and for dessert, Crepas with Cajeta. Everything was excellent, but this was the first time I’ve had Fried Quesadillas or Quesadillas Fritas, as stated in the menu… I had a sampler of these with one filled with strips of jalapeño peppers and cheese, another one with mushrooms and cheese and the last one filled with zucchini blossoms and cheese. Superb!!!! These come like little “pastelillos” of fried, but never greasy, tortilla and the cheese just oozes out of them when you cut them open. My mouth waters just writing about them.

Guacamole

Guacamole

Queso Fundido

Queso Fundido

Quedadillas Fritas

Quesadillas Fritas

Flor de Calabaza/Zucchini blossoms

Quesadillas - Flor Calabaza

Rajitas Jalapeños

Quesadilla Frita - Jalapenos

Crepas de Cajeta

Crepas con Cajeta - MX

I don’t have to tell that after that lunch, dinner was pretty much out of the question… I had to take a nap, just like the ones you take after Thanksgiving lunch/dinner. I was full, but happy as a toad.

Another Guadalajaran delicacy is a Torta Ahogada– a sandwich made with shredded pork or beef and dunked in a spicy tomato sauce. I guess this would be considered the Mexican version of a Reuben. The thing… we needed to find a place where we could order a vegetarian version because no one in the street would dare make me a vegetarian torta ahogada. So Salvador took me to a tourist trap… but a super fun one at that, with mariachis and everything. The only place in all Guadalajara I was received with hand sanitizer… typical, to please tourists’ panics.

We ordered a Torta Ahogada with panela cheese and sautéed mushrooms. Salvador prepared the sauce for me… it was tomato based, a bit of the spicy version and lime juice. You then take your sandwich, made in a special salty crusty bread, and you dunk it in the sauce and eat away. I really, really liked it. Maybe because I am a sandwich girl… but the stuff was very, very tasty. Not the stuff you want to order on a date… just so you gals know.

Torta Ahogada Veggie Salsa - Torta Ahogada

Dunking - Torta Ahogada 2

We also ordered Breaded Panela Cheese in a Green Sauce. It was presented in a molcajete, a stone version of a pilón or mortar and pestle. It was delicious too… imagine offering fried breaded cheese to me, the cheese lover. The sauce was a cilantro and tomatillo based broth. You cut a piece and eat it inside a tortilla. How else??

Panela Empanado

Then, one our way to do more store-checks, Salvador wanted to show me the typical breakfast of Guadalajara – Tacos al Vapor or Steamed Tacos. I saw that the hotel breakfast offered tortillas, refried beans and the like for breakfast… but, I stuck with the fresh fruits, cottage cheese and whole grain toasts, craving the more typical fare from home. But Salvador insisted I needed to try the local version of these tacos filled with mashed potato. They are sold in these street carts and you order as many tacos as you want… you then dress them with a tomato/onion salsa, some “pique” and eat away. They’re light and delicious. Not heavy at all. I ordered only one at first, but had to have another one, because they were so tasty. With a side of freshly squeezed orange juice – I wished the hotel breakfast was this tasty every morning…

Taco al Vapor

Carrito - Tacos Vapor

That’s Salvador, right there next to the tacos al vapor cart… enjoying his tacos. I want to thank him soooooooo much for embracing my search for great vegetarian Mexican food in Guadalajara. I am certain, than when I return, we will be enjoying more and more delicious food all over town… ¡¡BUEN PROVECHO!!