The Joie Review: May-June 2024
All the people, places and things in the notebook from two months in Paris.
The last few months have been packed with travels, work, Summer holiday prep, and way too many emotions between the end of my daughter’s time as an elementary school kid and politics. My mind is ready for a vacation where I try to unplug and read as many books as possible, but I have a few weeks of working from pretty locations before I can put up the automatic out-of-office responder. And sure you might be thinking isn’t this girl always on vacation, and yes I am. HA! I travel a lot but exploring brings me joy, so I try to integrate that into my life as much as possible. Sometimes that means packing up my work and writing from the Swiss Lavaux vineyards as I am.
I had great intentions to send this to you weeks ago, but some unplanned events got in the way. This Joie review might get stretched out since I am merging two past months. I will have to keep this short otherwise and try not to wait too long next time. Promise! I’m just gonna dive in and share a few people, places, and things in the hope you find something that will bring you joie.
Out on the town
My friend and literary agent was in town in May and as usual, I like to round up as many friends as possible to meet her because I think she is fabulous, but also love for all my friends to know one another. (Side comment: Ever since learning about the special relationship Judith Jones had with Julia Child, I always hoped to have a close hang-out and talk-endless-type of relationship with a literary agent or editor. I asked and the Universe delivered.) We took her to Delhi Bazaar, which I have been to several times and it didn’t disappoint. At this point, I might have tried almost everything on the menu since it’s a great place to share but I always have to at least order the Dahi Puri and the Biryani.
While she was in town we also gathered for a goûter chez Frank Barron, also known as @cakeboyparis on Instagram. He hosts private cake classes for clients, so it’s always lovely to get a personal invite and taste his delicious treats. Frank and I share an agent but also a love of beautiful objects for the table so I am also always drooling over his spreads and antique finds.
I oddly have many friends with birthdays in June so there were many dinner celebrations. (Also October is a big friend birthday month for me…what’s up with that?) For one of the birthdays I went to Trâm, a new spot in the 11th with French-Asian influences, that was flavorful and spicy with little dishes to share. I must figure out how to make those fish sauce chicken wings! For another friend’s 50th birthday, we took a disco bus around Paris for three hours, which I never imagined could be a fun activity. The bus stopped twice for everyone to get out for a short 15-20 minute break then we all piled on to dance to music from the onboard DJ. The stop in front of the Louvre pyramid at dusk was truly a treat because I’m rarely out and around a tourist monument at that hour. I also celebrated another birthday at ROOF, the rooftop bar with a very unoriginal name at the Hôtel Madame Rêve. I was utterly shocked by how spacious the roof is and equally shocked by the audacious prices for such tiny portions that I have to annoyingly admit were delicious. I love a rooftop but debating if I will return for fear of the outrageous prices.
In May and June, Paris struggled to get a few consistent days of sun but when a dear friend invited me to join her on another rooftop in the city, I grabbed a sweater and was off. This time it was at Printemps for an event hosted by Veuve Clicquot to launch the new RICH and RICH rosé champagnes as well as their ephemeral Sun Clubs across Europe. (Someone should write about how all these brands are really getting into the museum and bar/cafe space.) Naturally, the views were spectacular but also there’s something fun and naughty about being in a department store after dark. This after-hours trip introduced me to the second-hand area in Printemps that I was previously unaware of. I admit that I didn’t glance at any prices so that will be a surprise for my next visit or yours?
During fashion week, when my old New York friends drag me away from my usual haunts, I finally went to Fabula, the garden restaurant of Musée Carnavalet, one of my fave museums. What a space for a restaurant!! The menu is all cold dishes and small sharing plates, a combo that might not be interesting for some but with a garden setting like that…you’ll be alright.
A pleasant surprise was trying the fairly new Hanabi in the five-star Hotel Hana in the 2nd. I had never heard of it before and after some digging saw that it only opened earlier this year. Le Fooding, which I recently started using again thanks to David Lebovitz led me there because I only wanted to eat Asian food and it had to be in the 2nd to make it easy for my friend Amanda, who was working late. The creative duo Shirley Carrier and Mathieu Zouhairi of The Social Food conceptualized the restaurant with the French-Peruvian chef Roberto Sanchez (previously at the Bristol and Grand Véfour). It’s Japanese with tiny hints of French inspiration. The decor is a mix of Art Nouveau and Japanese minimalism by Laura Gonzalez, who is already the “go-to” for hot new restaurants in Paris. I feel like any time I am intrigued about decor in restaurants in Paris, it’s by Madame Gonzalez. I plan to return in the Fall to try their lunch prix-fixe (€35) because you know I love a lunch deal and want to check out the cute cocktail bar as well.
Eater’s new guide to Paris, which I contributed to, highlights Belleville as the hot new neighborhood. I live very close to Belleville and it seems I have been sleeping on lots of these new spots! And it’s not just Asian food, even though that’s my favorite cuisine so I wouldn’t mind. In early June, I went to Soces, which is French slang for “pals,” with some school mom soces. The place was packed and almost everyone was speaking English. If the weather was a bit nicer, we would have enjoyed a table on the small terrace but were perfectly fine inside. The menu focuses on seafood but you can find one meat dish every day. I truly wish I had done a better job of jotting down our dishes, but from my pics, I remember oysters with a lemony vinegar, a ceviche tuna dish with tomatoes, some potatoes, and a simple dessert of berries.
Another new spot in Paris, which has immediately been drawing big crowds is Le Cornichon in the 11th. This is a very exciting opening for me because it’s in a spot that has turned over owners at least 4 to 5 times since I have lived in the neighborhood and I hope this one sticks. The vibe is meant to imitate the local bar-restaurants you find in almost every French village and neighborhood. These spots are kinda dusty but I always visit them because I love them for how unfussy everything is and it always feels like a real peek into Parisian culture and the locals. They usually sell lottery tickets, postcards, and cigarettes and have vintage flipper arcade games. I usually refer to these as the local dude bars where you can find people drinking beer or wine at 10 am while scratching off some lotto tickets. You won’t find any natural wine or top shelf anything at these places.
Back to the new Le Cornichon where the owners Paul Henri and Bertrand Chaveau, who formerly worked with Jean-François Piège, have taken that local neighborhood cafe-bar vibe and given it a modern polish with neons and designer furniture. They are very welcoming and seem to already have a great relationship with a lot of locals, myself included, who you might find sitting there for lunch only to return for an apéro while my kids play on the flipper. Every day there is a special entree-plat-dessert menu for €19 or €22. The dishes à la carte are also simple French dishes and rather large portions from €12-€38. It’s very important not to be confused by Le Cornichon in the 14th because I hear people have been showing up for the wrong location. Also, Fridays and Saturdays are hot and popping with people spilling out onto the streets with drinks.
Carnet de Voyage
I am sure you have heard about the month of May in France and how it’s loaded with bank holidays. This can be frustrating when you need to get something done or you can embrace it and giggle or join in the French practice of faire le point. This literally translates to making the bridge. Let me quickly explain how this works. For example, if there is a bank holiday on Thursday, they aren’t going to return to work on Friday. They faire le pont, make a bridge, take Friday off, and turn it into a 4-day weekend. They might even leave Wednesday afternoon or evening and stretch it out. It’s pretty fun once you get into it, even if you have kids, and cringe when you count how many days they actually go to school in May. Yikes!
This year marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day so I bridged it up and left on a Wednesday for a nice long trip with friends to Normandy to visit some of the debarkment beaches.
We started planning very last minute and quickly realized those faire le ponters (not a proper term I know) planned early so the pickings were slim. However, we got super lucky a few days before we left and stumbled upon a new Airbnb listing. Since caring is sharing, I have listed it below in the notebook. I loved the open plan of the living room and our little backyard grass area for the children and playing petanque. It was also close to various war museums, the beaches and also was in the center of cute village center where we allowed the kids to walk to the grocery store alone.
In my promise to keep this note short, I have listed everything we visited below in the notebook. However, I want to add that I truly regret not doing a guided tour of the D-Day beaches and will return in two years when Baz is a bit older.
The Notebook
Delhi Bazaar
71 Rue Servan
75011 Paris
Website
Instagram
Trâm
130 Rue Saint-Maur
75011 Paris
Website
Instagram
Ever want to take friends around Paris for three fun hours dancing on a bus with a DJ? Try a disco bus to make lots of memories and laugh your buns off.
ROOF in Hótel Madame Rêve
48 Rue du Louvre
75001 Paris
Website
Instagram
Veuve Clicquot Sun Club
Locations and information here
Fabula in the Musée Carnavalet
*only open May - September
16 Rue des Francs Bourgeois
75004 Paris
Website
Instagram
Hanabi in Hotel Hana
1 Rue de Gramont
75002 Paris
Website
Instagram
Le Cornichon
2 Rue des Goncourt
75011 Paris
Website
Instagram
D-Day themed trip to Normandy
We stayed at this Airbnb
We visited Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and the American Cemetary.
Not D-Day related, but we went to the see the Bayeux Tapestry, that is a 70-meter long tapestry telling the story of William The Conquerer, and Château de Balleroy
Messy Nessy’s Cabinet
19 Rue de Bièvr
75005 Paris
Website
Instagram
On a personal note…
Eater’s Guide to Paris came out and I contributed to the list of the best boulangeries in Paris because as you know from my book, I learned the hard way that all baguettes are not created equally. I also curated a selection of souvenirs for food and tabletop lovers, which I know you will love. Who doesn’t love a souvenir…a good souvenir that you be found just anywhere. As a bonus, I gave some tips on how to pack them up and take them home.
Business of Home asked my thoughts on Substack for the design world and I had a few things to say which you can check out here.
Cherry Bombe included a lovely profile of me in their latest Paris issue just in time for Olympic madness. It’s a really great issue full of many wonderful women that I know and others I hope to meet soon. Get your copy here.
I will be in your inbox a bit more in the coming days because I have a Treasure Trove of new antiques and we have two more spots left in our Fall Provence retreat and the Instagram algo is doing an awful job of spreading the word. Also thinking about writing something for paid subscribers about how Sports saved my life and brought me joie since I have Olympic fever.