Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic

One of our favourite cookbooks is Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten, and although every recipe in it we've tried has been wonderful, our favourite is Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.

To paraphrase Ina, it may seem that three heads of garlic is a lot, but they do mellow out a lot during the cooking process.

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Café Salade de Fruits

Inspired by our recent visit to Café Régalade, we jumped right back into our French food endeavours with a return visit to Café Salade de Fruits. We first ate here many moons ago, and it was our first stop during last summer's escapade when we eventually ended up at L'Abattoir.

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Café Régalade

When Steeve Raye Pastry opened last October, we were thrilled by Steeve's incredible creations. We were devastated to hear of its imminent closure in February and only moderately mollified by news of its replacement, Café Régalade French Bistro. A few weeks ago, while we were in Whistler, the bistro opened, and ever since we've been itching to go.

Well, we finally made it to Café Régalade, for Tuesday brunch. We would have gone the day before, but they are closed on Mondays. Funny how people like to have a day off.

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Coco et Olive

In keeping with our French food theme, I met a friend for lunch at Coco et Olive, a cafe that also sells cheeses, olives and olive oil (of course), and other fine foods.

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Faubourg Bistro

A return visit to Faubourg, this time for lunch. Tucked away in the back of the bustling coffee and bakery area is a serene bistro, where you can imagine yourself having stepped off rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris.

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Pied-à-Terre

Continuing our 2011 French restaurant tour, we paid a return visit to Pied-à-Terre, the cool bistro owned by Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart, the duo behind La Buca, Cafeteria and the now-closed tour-de-force Parkside as well.

As we walked to the restaurant from the bus stop, we admired the playful sign on the side of the building by noted local artist Robert Chaplin.

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Mistral French Bistro

Last year, we explored many of the outstanding French bakeries in Vancouver, but with a new year comes a new focus, and we'll be visiting some of the wonderful French bistros and restaurants in town. First up, a lunch date at Mistral French Bistro. Now in its sixth year of operation, Mistral has enjoyed steady success thanks to the creative mind of owner-chef Jean-Yves Benoit and the gracious hospitality of co-owner and wife, Minna Benoit.

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Ganache Pâtisserie

As our regular readers have noticed by now, we like going to bakeries, a lot. We like going to French bakeries even more. We had been meaning to visit Ganache Pâtisserie for a long time. We even made it there one evening, after it had closed; all we came home with was a photograph.

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Faubourg

The long wait is over. Originally scheduled to open in August, we finally were able to step into Kerrisdale's newest addition to the culinary landscape. Business was steady on opening day as we sat enjoying our hot chocolate and cappuccino.

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Steeve Raye Pastry

apple tart

On my first attempt to visit Steeve Raye Pastry in early October, I was foiled by the simple fact that it had not yet opened for business. Harrumph! I had to "settle" on Thomas Haas instead.

Thanks to Mia Stainsby, I learned that this pâtisserie was finally open, and I hopped on down to check it out. The staff, and the man, Steeve Rayé, were super friendly even before I whipped out my camera.

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Rose Bakery

Hidden gem. Find it if you can.

40 rue des Martyrs
9ème arrondissement
Paris.

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Chez Marianne

This was my third visit to Chez Marianne, a kosher Middle Eastern deli-restaurant in Le Marais. I've stood in line for a delectable sandwich from their take-out window and also feasted on their sampler plates.

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Le Garde Robe

One of the things I love about Paris is its abundance of museums. On every visit to the City of Lights, I spend hours in the Musée d'Orsay. I've also had the pleasure of visiting Musée du Louvre, Musée Rodin, Musée de l'Orangerie, the Centre Pompidou, Musée du Vin and others.

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À L'Étoile d'Or

I met possibly the friendliest shopkeeper in Paris, if not the world. She is the proprietor of arguably the best candy shop in Paris, located in the 9me arrondissement near the Moulin Rouge. If you have ever in your life craved anything sweet, make the effort to find this place. You will not regret it.

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Léo le Lion

The name of this bistro, Léo le Lion, caught my eye as we were standing at the hotel desk one afternoon. Having an affinity for lions, I did some simple research and decided we would give it a shot.

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Rue Cler

Our hotel, situated in the 7me arrondissement, offered easy access to one the best market streets we've seen. Obviously, when a street this famous, it's going to be a huge tourist draw. Nevertheless, someone's got to be buying enough fresh seafood, meats and produce to keep the vendors in business, and it's likely not the visitors, who mostly stay in hotels and eat out at restaurants.

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Les Deux Magots

On our previous visits to Paris, we've seen and avoided this super popular restaurant, not only because we thought it was a tourist trap, but also because it was it was just so crowded.

Les Deux Magots, originally a gift shop established in 1812, was named after a popular play of the same name about two Chinese merchants. By 1885, it had become a bar frequented by literary icons such as Verlaine, Rimbaud and Mallarmé.

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L'Atlas

When you want Moroccan food, Paris is a good place to be. There are dozens of good restaurants marocaines, and L'Atlas, located on just off the Seine on the Boulevard St. Germain, is one of them. After a long day of walking, soon after it began to rain, we ducked inside the entrance into a relaxing refuge.

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Villefranche-Sur-Mer

This Italianesque village built on a cliff dangling over the sea will forever be seared in my mind.

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La Merenda

Dominique Le Stanc earned two Michelin stars when he was the chef of Le Chantecler restaurant in Nice. He quit to take over La Merenda. This restaurant came highly recommended from friends, and we had to give them a chance.

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