Wine. Travel. Food.
Joanne and I just returned from a two-week visit to Paris with three of our grandkids – ages 9, 10 and 14.
And you ask, “What on earth do you do with kids in Paris? Is there a family-friendly version of the Folies Bergère?”
To be honest, I was a little concerned about that, too. But guess what? WE CRACKED THE CODE.
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Back in the day, before Pete and I started what was to become Parasole, we both had jobs that required a great deal of travel – Pete was a marketer for Pillsbury, with key accounts on the West Coast. I was a commercial interior designer with most of my clients in New York City.
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Have you ever felt that you didn’t “live up to” a restaurant?
I know I’ve felt that way. Maybe because I don’t speak French or don’t own a Brioni suit. I don’t tie my sweater around my neck by the sleeves like a member of the Armani crowd, with my sunglasses perched atop the hair I used to have. Or maybe my Midwest area code gave me away when I made my reservation.
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A few years back Bon Appetit magazine published its list of America’s Top 10 restaurants, and The Optimist Fish Camp and Oyster Bar in Atlanta came in at number seven. The name apparently refers to a kids’ sailing dinghy (first time I’d heard that).
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I first became aware of Francis Mallmann a few years back when Joanne and I visited Mendoza, in the heart of Argentina’s winemaking region. Our concierge strongly recommended his restaurant and praised his cooking technique, apparently inspired by the Argentine Gauchos, so we gave it a try. Read more
Joanne and I took a road trip last week through the South. One stop was Louisville, Kentucky and its Grande Dame hotel, The Brown – home to the Mint Julep, all kinds of bourbon and one of the world’s great sandwiches (more on that in a moment).
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The late entertainer Jimmy Durante once said… “Everybody wants to get into the act!”
And indeed… EVERYBODY is into the act these days… I’m talking about Chicken & Waffles.
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Last year, Men’s Journal magazine published a piece on “The Ten Best Steakhouses in the world.” Not the ten best in the U.S., the ten best ANYWHERE.
I was pleased and proud to see Manny’s on the list, and to discover that I’d eaten at six of them.
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It’s probably the most iconic brasserie in Paris, and certainly one of the most beautiful – commonly referred to as an “Art Deco jewel.” But the great thing about La Coupole is how proudly it wears the mantel of history, nearly a century after it first opened its doors.
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I was saddened to read a piece in today’s “FOOD” section of the NEW YORK TIMES titled “In Paris, Expensive Tables Sit Empty”