Food & Drink

By Alexander Lobrano Through a succession of different owners and chefs, Chardenoux, now known as Le Chardenoux, has been part of my life in Paris for thirty years. Now this storied old bistro has been rebooted as a fashion-forward restaurant redesigned and redecorated to attract a trendy crowd of younger

By Alexander Lobrano When a rooster crows, the French transcribe the sound it makes as cocorico. Even after living in France for over thirty years, I’ve never quite been able to retool my SONY Walkman ruined Connecticut-born ears to hear that. Mais peu importe, (But that’s of no importance, or, in more

  Deliciously Sincere Contemporary French Cooking By Alexander Lobrano Heading for dinner at Virtus on a rainy Saturday night, I couldn’t help but thinking about how this address in the 12th Arrondissement has always been sort of a cradle for the gastronomic ambitions of foreign chefs in Paris. The first time I

By Alexander Lobrano In the dialect of the Bearn region of southwestern France, Jòia means “joyous.” But ever since chef Hélène Darroze’s new restaurant by the same name opened in Paris, it also means great eating and good times. “I found this space when I was looking for a new address for

By Alexander Lobrano Astair is the newest address of a trio of the French capital’s most innovative restaurateurs–Jean Valfort, Charles Drouhaut and Jean-François Monfort. This team has real gift for delivering restaurants that hit a bull’s eye in terms of what Parisians want to eat right now (Canard et Champagne and

By Anita Stewart So many people, be they media or marketers, try to define what culinary tourism means…the term “a sense of place” is overused.  Meanwhile there are chefs and home cooks who are  so far ahead of any definition that they will never really fit into a particular box.

By Alexander Lobrano Coming through the door for the first time on a warm Sunday night, Au Petit Panisse delighted me, since it was such a perfect sketch of everything I miss about Paris when I spend a long period of time away from the city. This is because Paris is now

Story & photos by Julie Maris/ Semel In Piemonte, when the Wool Road changes course south of Biella towards Alba, the fiber connects textile traditions to centuries of wine production. The culture of wine and its landscapes resulted in UNESCO’s designation of the Langhe-Roero and Monferrato regions as a World

By Alexander Lobrano Tucked away in one of the ancient and atmospheric side streets that survived the massacre of Les Halles*, the great central food market that was once ‘the Belly of Paris,’ La Poule au Pot is a long-running address that once attracted a bon-vivant crowd of celebrities and night owls

By Alexander Lobrano Though the TripAdvisor reviews may not yet reflect it, Le Vaudeville, one of the most legendary brasseries in Paris, is back. Following a sensitive renovation by new owners the Groupe Bertrand, it’s much better than it’s been for a longtime. To be sure, it’s not a place one