Weekend Eats

This past weekend a few of my Wisconsin friends studying in Barcelona came to Paris. With me as their tour guide, I felt immense pressure to deliver great food. For brunch on Friday morning I found a small place called Holybelly in the 10th arrondissement, about a 15 minute walk from me and very close to La Rebublique. Its an Australian style (whatever that means) breakfast place and it was fantastic. You were able to pick two sides with two eggs, fresh sourdough bread and butter. The side options did not disappoint... Marinated mushrooms, honey speckled goat cheese, hash browns (YAAS) etc.. and each meal came with their fresh drip coffee, all for only 16 euros!

The best part about the meal wasn't even the food though... We happened to sit next to three men dining at our picnic style table. They were in Paris for men's fashion week, and just by the way they were dressed and how they were eating you could tell these guys were not messing around. After we got to talking with them, they dished on their story: two were chefs, one from Connecticut and one from the Bronx, and the last, also from the Bronx was their creative director. They run a culinary collective called Ghetto Gastro and they're trying to put the Bronx on the map as a gastronomic/foodie heaven. Just to put their accolades in perspective, they cooked Thanksgiving dinner for Rick Owens and his friends IN PARIS... dishing out interesting and creative takes on traditional Southern food. This December they were interviewed by Complex magazine's food page "First We Feast" where they revealed that one of the chefs had WON Food Network's Chopped back in 2011. Here I was, sitting basically in the presence of 21st century food geniuses, and all I could say was that one of their meals looked "good." Sick. But anyway, if you're as interested in them as I am, check 'em out on instagram as "ghettogastro."

This encounter was just one of many great things to happen to myself and my three friends this weekend. Galantis, a popular electronic music duo were performing at a small venue in the 20th and tickets were CHEAP. It was great, made better by the intimacy that the venur provided where we stood only about 15 feet away from the performers. Then on Saturday we saw A$AP Rocky, a prominent rapper perform at a small club for only 30 euros, an insane and unimaginable feat that would never happen in the States...

Before our second weekend concert on Saturday night, we dined at a place my host mom recommended (and graciously made us a reservation for) about a five minute walk from my apartment, called L'Ardoise Gourmonde. It was my first "traditional" French meal. I choose the "formulaire" (a popular French style of dining where you choose an appetizer, main course and dessert for a fixed price). This one was great, two courses and a glass of wine for only 22 euros, and it had to have been the best meal I've enjoyed yet. Of course my friends, being that they were in Paris, HAD to order the escargot (snails). As most of you know, I am a lifelong vegetarian. But, I'm not sure which category snails would fit in... crustaceans? Meat? Fish? Either way I said f*** it and tried them. To be honest they really just tasted like garlic shrimp, but its all about the experience right?!?!

For my dinner I started with a petite tartine (you should all know what this is by now), smothered in chevre and roasted vegetables with truffle oil (nom). For my main course I ordered the risotto, and MAN I have never had risotto this good. Usually the actual rice in risotta gets lost in the soupy texture but this was very different. You could taste each grain of the rice, smothered in some type of heavenly cream sauce. It was all topped with a vegetable medly of zuccini, mushrooms and carrots, and finished with pesto and shaved parmesean. Unreal.