Culinary Classes -- "Paris on the Edge"

PARIS ON THE EDGE
with Allison Zinder
 COOKING CLASSES AND WALKING TOURS
Website:  http://parisontheedge.com/

I recently had a wonderful opportunity to attend Allison Zinder's cooking classes that she recently launched in Paris. Having lived in France since 1995, Allison has acquired a vast knowledge not only of its people, culture, and history, but also its cuisine. In 2007, she focused her love of teaching and began teaching culinary arts in a technical school in the 19eme.

We were in total 7-people. Some amateur cooks and 3 of us were trained chefs. So it was quite a diverse group in not only culinary skills, but also age and language. Note: Allison is bilingual and can easily switch between French and English.

Our menu for today: (Recipes can be found on her website listed above)

Pumpkin chestnut soup

Lemon confit and ginger-toasted veal

Fluffy flourless chocolate cakes with Earl Grey crème anglaise








All-in-all the dishes were fabulous. You will learn skills, cooking techniques and also some of the French cultural nuances as it relates to food, culture and dining etiquette. Allison's warm, patient and nurturing personality is infectious and goes a long way when teaching several different personality types. This probably has to do with her many years teaching teenagers.

Should you book; I say ABSOLUTELY.  What an absolutely wonderful time spent cooking, then even more fun, getting to taste the fruits of our labor.

CHAPEAU ALLISON!

Allison also provides walking tours, so please visit her site. 

PARIS ON THE EDGE

Restaurant Review -- Fogón

45, Quai des Grand Augustins, 75006 Paris
Tel:  01 43 54 31 33
Web: fogon.fr
Metro: St. Michel (Line 4)

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)

4.50 - Star......................................................€€€ ................................................... 2 - Bell

It was a cold dreary, wet day in Paris, so we went to Fogón for a late lunch. JJ had been there before, and he had raved about it. It's a Spanish restaurant known for their paella.

It's a really cute restaurant. Quite spacious by Parisian standards, and the location couldn't be better. The restaurant is very playful, and as we were searching for our utensils our wait person told us we each had a drawer with our napkins and utensils. A cute idea.

Although they had an October tasting special, we opted for the 51€ per person prefix-menu for two which came with several entrées, and you can select what type of paella you wished to have. We selected the "paella negro" which is a black paella seafood paella made with squid ink.

For our amuse bouche we had lovely popsicles of cucumbers and cantaloupe. Although a little gimmicky, we were first given an aromatic of fig to to smell and sweeten our olfactory senses. It was very refreshing, and I can see this being a big hit in the summer.

For our first entrée we got the "crevettes bagnées dans l'eau de morue" (bagnées water shrimp and cod). The Chef appears to like "agar-agar" or should I say 'gel', both dishes had a thin layer of it. The dishes were innovative, fun and a great entrée to start with.

Our second entrée was "la plage à la marée montante" (the beach at high tide).  This was a very playful dish. It was the Chef's interpretation of what the beach would look like at high tide. There was seaweed, and various other shell fish such as cockles and also a side of a poached cabillaud. This dish was not only innovative and beautifully presented but was delicious, the "jus" was out of this world delicious. Again, he had a thin layer of a jellied sauce under the cabillaud. I could've lived without, but all-in-all a delicious dish.

Then onto the main course. We had "Le riz en Paëlla noir" (seafood paella with squid ink). It's not an attractive dish by any means and maybe 'off-putting', but don't let the ugliness of the dish fool you. It's packed with tons of flavor since the paella is flavored with squid ink. The rice was cooked, al dente, which may turn some people off, but we enjoyed it tremendously.

For desserts JJ had the rhubarb creme brulée and I had the Manchego cheese. The Rhubarb brulée was excellent and the manchego cheese was aged where it almost tasted like a parmesan, reggiano. Both was excellent.













Summary: 

It's so nice when you come across a restaurant that really tickles and excites the palate. The food and service were excellent. We felt like we were in a 3-star michelin restaurant without paying the prices. If I have any complaint at all is that he used too much jellied this and that, which is a style preference more than anything else.  They do have a monthly tasting menu, which was the same price as their prefix meal, 51€ per person. With a glass of sangria and a coupe de champagne, and 2-glasses of their of white and red whites our bill came to 155€.  Would we go back ABSOLUTELY.  This will be my new go to restaurant for Spanish food.

Restaurant Review -- La Cagouille

10 Place Constantin Brancusi, 75014 Paris
Tél : +33 (0)1 43 22 09 01 / Fax : +33 (0)1 45 38 57 29
la-cagouille@wanadoo.fr
Metro : nearest station: "Gaîté" (line 13)

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor

€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)

4 - Star.........................................................€€€...................................................... 2 - Bell

We joined a friend for lunch at this restaurant on a warm beautiful Saturday. So warm in fact, many people opted to eat on their fabulous terrace.

The restaurant is located in the 14eme, in fact the morning market is located in that area, and coincidentally the fish monger was housed directly in front.  This restaurant is known for their seafood. It has gotten mixed reviews over the years, and bottom-line, people either hated it or loved it so I was anxious to try it.

We perused the menu. They had a lovely selection.

Once we ordered we were given a nice plate of cockels to share as an amuse bouche.  Cockels can be tricky if not cooked well, in fact, it can be down right nasty if it's overcooked and have the texture similar to chomping on rubber bands.  But these cockles were perfectly cooked, tender, beautifully flavored and not too salty.





Entrées:

Two of us had the mussels. The mussels were great, they were in a simple nice wine sauce with the right amount of garlic. You got a heaping portion, in fact it was so large, we were unable to finish them.

JJ had the razor clams. They too were delicious.  Whereas the mussels had a nice wine sauce, the razor clams had a wine and butter sauce. I only had one minor complaint with the dish, it could've been scrubbed more, since some still had sandy grit on them.  Otherwise it was a very good dish.

Plats: 

JJ had the mackerel.  The mackerel was beautifully grilled. Mackerel can be very salty and also very dry and fishy if not cooked well.  This mackerel had a nice searing and the flesh was quite moist and tender. The sauce was a mustard butter cream sauce, although it sounds heavy, it was actually a great accompaniment.

One person had the cabillaud (cod). It was nicely pan fried and lightly grilled on top, and sat atop a sauce of light garlic. The fish was perfectly cooked and the sauce was a a great accompaniment.

I had the Salmon where the skin was every so lightly pan seared, but the flesh was raw. This fish sat atop some steamed spinach. One person made the comment that they would've probably sent it back since it was basically raw. I decided since I like sashimi, what the hey, I'll eat it as is. I later discovered this was not a good decision.

Desserts:

Only JJ got the dessert. He got the apple and pear crumble. Although nothing out of the ordinary it was good and hearty.

This restaurant is known for the collections of cognac, so our friend got a glass of the "Ragnaud-Sabourin Grande Champagne 1er cru de Cognac". I had a taste of it, I have to admit it was excellent!











Summary:

We all enjoyed the food tremendously. So we're in the camp that really like this restaurant. With exception of the minor flaws in the razor clams everything was on par. Their service which has also been criticized was excellent.  Now here's a word of advice, if you cannot digest raw fish, then I would suggest that you ask them to cook the fish "a point" -- medium.  I've discovered recently that I can no longer tolerate raw foods whether it be fish or tartare, and I suffered for it later.

So, would we go back, absolutely.  With a bottle of Sancere, our bill came to about 60€ each.