For coffee, check out The Caféothèque of Paris in the 4th near the Seine. Despite being next to the river, it is somewhat hidden, but a treasure trove inside. They offer a coffee tasting menu as well.
For me, the most comical French closure in August is the Berthillon ice cream store on Ile Saint Louis. Seriously. They are closed from July 24th until August 29th this year. Now there are other shops on the island that sell their ice cream, but what Northern Hemisphere ice cream shop in their right mind would close for the entire month of August?
There was an explanation of this by (IIRC) Adam Gopnik. If they stayed open during August, the lines for ice cream would get very long, and they don’t want to inconvenience their clients. (Seriously. Bottom line thinking is not the default over there.)
I don’t know why I haven’t been following this thread, but it has been a great read. Thanks Andrew (and others)!
Agree!!
That’s just mean. I. hate. you. ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
I think the ice cream people were just blowing smoke there. Paris has always shut down in August, and it always will. The French are serious about their traditions.
About twenty years ago, 60 Minutes did a piece on a French government official in charge of trying to get fewer people to take their vacations in August so there would not be such a hiccup in the French economy at that time. When asked when he himself planned to take his vacation that year, he replied, “Probably in August.”
Lol, when I first read what you typed I thought they wanted to put him in jail for trying to get fewer people to take their vacations in August. Now that’s a serious tradition.
Another interesting vacation fact - the French government subsidizes vacations for many workers through a voucher program called “cheques vacances,” which issues $200-$300 (based on family size) in vouchers that can be applied to a number of vacation expenses (travel, lodging, etc). They’re generally a hassle to use, but are good for two years and can be stacked. More info at http://www.ancv.com 
Vacation season is finally over!
The ridiculousness that is August in Paris is over, with most places opening on Monday/Tuesday. The idea of living without my bakeries and butchers was so bad, we said screw it and packed up for Portugal for 11 days, then Corsica for a week.
The Corsica story is a funny one, so I’ll share more. We live above a small Lebanese restaurant and have befriended the staff and quite a few of their regulars. I’ll stop by for a beer a couple of times a week and spend 75% of the conversation using translate.google.com on my mobile, which is something I would have never imagined before moving here. One of the guys is fluent in English and was emphatic that we visit Corsica this summer. I looked at the Air France flights (~$225), checked VRBO availability and said “f it, let’s go!” I came back an hour later and told him I booked plane tickets and showed him where we were staying and he gave me one of those “you can’t be serious” faces…
Best way I can describe Corsica is Maui in the Mediterranean, but better wine/cheese/charcuterie, as it’s part of France. After a 90 minute flight, we arrived at a dinky airport in Bastia and picked up our Opel (seats 7). Quick note - as with most places in Europe, the vast majority of vehicles are stick; if you need an automatic, call and make sure you reserve it ahead of time. Also note that Europcar has cheap rentals, but long lines… as a data point, I booked with Enterprise using a corp code and dropped it from 1200 euros to 340 for a week.
We missed some of the bigger destinations (Ajaccio, Bonifacio) because traffic is a joke on the island after 10 AM (spent 2 hrs going down a straight-stretch of 100 km), but were able to hit quite a few beaches and towns from Porto Vecchio north to Cap de Corse and down to St Florent. We became experts at GPS beach-hunting, which entailed watching the nav screen for patches of beach along the coast, identifying nearby roads to get there and then driving aimlessly down dirt roads to get there. Food highlights include an ungodly amount of Coppa Corse and Lonza, tons of shellfish, and the clear winner of “wine of the summer” - Clos Canarelli rose, which I started drinking in Paris a month before we left.
Happy to answer PMs if you find yourself headed that way. Only other note is that few people spoke English. On the bright side, quite a few spoke Spanish, so between my awful French, decent Spanish and pointing/wild gyrations, we were still able to order things.
Couple of photos I pulled down from Facebook below.
I’ll be going to Corsica in February to visit our Corsican winery, Clos Culombu, in Calvi, on the Northwest coast. The last time I was there was when I was 16 years old, but from what I recall the food was outstanding. Can’t wait!
Tell me about it!!! The downside is that the supermarket and the vet were packed this week. The one shelf completely emptied at the supermarket on the first Monday after vacation: toilet paper!
I’ve been getting massacred with travel, having parachuted into eight countries over the past three weeks, dragging along a broken ankle for good measure. That said, I made a run to my local boulangerie and they’re running raspberry desserts with a vengeance. I saw the case below and had to take a shot to share with the board. Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of bad days living here, but seeing these desserts in the window? Simply glorious. Hope to post more when things settle down a bit.
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haven’t had a chance yet to read it but France Today’s Paris issue is out.
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Got my copy of France Today also. I’ll hit it tonight.
Excited to see that the Washington Post believes I live in a “chic” neighborhood!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/europe/5-arrests-after-explosives-found-in-chic-paris-district/2017/10/03/c378f1d2-a809-11e7-9a98-07140d2eed02_story.html
On a more positive note, I took my wife to the opera, I picked up some discounted tickets from work, got dressed up in slacks, a coat and my moon boot (I have a broken ankle)… and we jumped on the metro. First reaction is “you’re dressed for the opera and you’re getting on the metro?!?” Yes, I’m in the 16th (far left) and Bastille is way to the right - it can take an hour to get across Paris on a Saturday night… and ~$40. Metro it was!
Quick note regarding the opera (Opera National https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/). The “Opera National” refers to the all-up org, rather than a specific building. Most people equate the Opera with Palais Garnier, which is an amazing building and an architectural highlight of Paris. Located right in the the middle of Paris, it’s a hugely imposing venue with statues, busts, etc. and quite an experience if you want to see a ballet production, We went to see an opera, so we headed to Bastille. The Bastille building is… modern and boring. See pics below 
. Tickets range from 80 - 180 Euros, depending on the show (mine were 180 marked down to 135).
Dress code is an interesting topic, as I was expecting a lot of suits/tuxedos, but really saw a range from jeans and sweaters to formal, with most people falling into business casual (jacket, slacks, no tie). Plenty of champagne available (Taittinger Brut, Rose) , so I enjoyed a couple of glasses before going in. I’m not a big opera fan, so yeah, box checked. Pics below.
Three nights in Paris next week, Arpege, Ledoyen, Coq se la Maison Blanch and Cagouile lined up.
Visiting the butcher is always an adventure in patience for me. The butchers frequently ignore my asks (save the chicken’s feet, don’t cut into the fat on a pork chop, etc) and then proceed to tell me how to cook whatever I’ve bought. At first, I thought it was a “service” they provided and then just realized they expect English-speakers to have little, if any, culinary expertise. To be fair, some are worse than others, but at my local butcher I finally pulled out my phone, walked the guy through my grilling page on Facebook and convinced him I would not dishonor the rack of lamb I had just purchased from him. Today, I won a new hire at the butcher counter and, after going back and forth, one of the other butchers explained that I didn’t want him to trim my meat. The new guy looked at me like I was from a different planet and then handed me my rack.
One of these times I cook on Friday night, I’m going to bring leftovers in on Saturday, just to shut them up 
On the cheese front, fall is here!!! That means my favorite (thanks to this board) is hitting the shelves - Vacherin Mont d’Or!
I haven’t picked up any Mont d’Or yet this year, but saw some at the Fromagerie. Looking forward to it.
Andrew, have you used “Le Fooding” much? That is my go-to source for good restaurants. Although it is still difficult to find places that will do BYOB.
Andrew, your Post link is broken