#Pray for Paris. I am currently in the city of lights, Paris and was dining out with close relatives and watching France-Germany soccer match when the phones started ringing informing us about the sad events of the Paris attacks that were taking place just 2 miles away. Paris is currently extremely quiet with a heavy military presence, especially around the 10th/11th arrondissements. Pray for Paris.
With the recent addition of Manresa, California has now 5 triple Michelin starred restaurants (Benu in San Francisco, The French Laundry in Yountville, Manresa in Los Gatos, The Restaurant at Meadowood in St Helena as well as Saison in San Francisco), which makes it the most triple- starred Michelin state in the US. With its exceptional wines, superb weather and enviable terroir , SF keeps positioning itself as a true, not just marketed as such (hein Montreal?), world class foodie destination. Here is a list of Michelin-starred restaurants in San Francisco (quite impressive, I have to say).
Visiting Rome and Sicily – As with any popular foodie destinations, Italy has its shares of misses and hits when it comes to food. Do some search, lots of it ..or else, you may end up …like me….with your share of really ordinary (just Ok) meals.
Rome – In ancient times, the saying “all roads lead to Rome” basically meant that whatever you do, only the Roman way mattered. Rome may not be the so-called “centre of the world” that it was once dubbed, but its glorious past still resonates nowadays in the hearts of the impressive mass of tourists that it keeps attracting even in November, a period when tourism frequentation is at its lowest level anywhere else around the world. One of this globe’s most touristicky cities, as one would expect, and deservedly so….though, for the food, I am not fully sold about Rome’s position among world’s best foodie destinations. Perhaps I should have done better searches, perhaps…but I recall that cities lile Tokyo or San Sebastian dazzled more with no specific planning. I have to say, I am frustrated by the level of the food in Rome. Of course it is a good food city, but its better food is as tasty as any fine Italian food eaten in America. The food here is victim of something called GLOBALIZATION…and between you and me…it is a shame because what you generally eat in Rome could have been served to you in New York…and the difference is not that huge anymore.On Rome, during this visit, Vecchia Roma led the pack of the eateries I have tried. I also ate at: Ciampini, Baia Chia, L’Angelo Ai Musei. Just make sure that you are really familiar with Roman cuisine and do enjoy it, or else I can foresee some serious inaccurate opinions.
Palermo, Sicily, was no love at first sight for me. But the more I got to wander in its streets, the better it fared. Quattro Canti, the Norman palace, their beautiful old town, the unique blend of Christian and Muslim architectures and arts…Palermo kept fighting back. In the end, I had no other choice but to surrender: yes, some parts of Palermo was destroyed during the second world war and little of that was renovated since then, but this city has way more to offer than its first impressions, which is not a surprise when you start digging in its past: Phoenicians, Greeks, Normans, Romans, Arabs…where else can you find such ecclectic influence?? Outside of Palermo, I had time to visit Monreale (sorry, I did not get the fuss.Yes, they have a beautiful church and a nice view over Palermo, but I had nothing more to bite into) and the very pretty seaside city of Cefalu. An island with such varied historical and cultural richness (few places in the world did themselves proud by proving to the world that Muslims and Christians can coexist together in such harmony…no wonder Palermo, their capital city, is a UNESCO world heritage city) needs to be taken seriously (5 days in just Palermo, Monreale and Cefalu is clearly not enough). On the aspect of the food, with the surrounding Mediterranean sea in the picture, I was expecting the usual dazzling seafood I came to expect from well, … the Mediterannea. But nah, that was not going to happen. Cinque Terre and the Italian Riviera, which I visited two years ago, offered seafood and vegetables of far better quality than what I kept sampling in Sicily.
L’Oxygene (Paris) – is an African restaurant in Bois Colombes, with a Senegalese young Chef at the helm. To some, going to Paris is the opportunity to eat French food and that is obviously what I would recommend to the most. But the best African cooking outside of Africa is in Paris. As I “breath”/eat/cook French classic food since age 6, it goes without saying that I do not need to eat solely French food in Paris. Given my familiarity with African cuisines, I do also eat at African restaurants whenever in Paris. On a first visit, I had the braised chicken which was as flawless as it could have been as well as their braised bass – nicely braised, but I was annoyed by the fact that the fish was not marinated for a long time. Furthermore, I ordered the braised fish for take out and it was mixed with a brunoise of tomatoes which diminished the flavor of the fish. All dishes (there are just 4 or 5 items from what I recall) cost eur 15. (My verdict: Very good>Good>Ok>Bad ): Good. The best Senegalese restaurants in Montreal get nowhere near what you will find here. Even though I still prefer how ppl from the Carribean and the Indian Ocean do marinate and grill their fish (marinated longer, the seasoning a bit more elaborate ) —normal, as one tends to prefer the flavors he grew up with — , what you need to know is that the Senegalese do it a bit differently so consider than when reading the aforementioned account. As for the brunoise of tomatoes altering the flavor of the fish..well, just ask to have your brunoise served separately / not mixed with the fish, if you order it for takeout. At the end of the day, regardless of my personal taste, their talented young Senegalese Chef is cooking good food. Restaurant L’Oxyene, Addr: 241 Avenue d’Argenteuil 92270 Bois-Colombes Phone: 06 06 57 85 86
Pierre Gagnaire, Paris – As explained elsewhere, on this blog, I am not a fan of visiting plenty of high end restaurants. Most upscale restaurants have kitchen brigades capable of offering a good standard of food, but no more. At the high end dining level, it is rare, nowadays, to eat food that tastes “personal” in the way the food of Chefs like Jacques Maximin or even, on my last meal at L’Ambroisie, Bernard Pacaud, to name those two Chefs, could taste like (certainly food that could only come from an “artisan Chef”). In other words, most upscale restaurants cook food that can be easily replicated by many kitchen brigades because their food just taste “impersonal”. Impersonal cooking is obviously the best way to run a restaurant successfully, nowadays, and I can certainly see why, but I am not moved by such evidence. PG is a big business, but at least it can’t be accused of playing it safe. The review of my meal at 3 star Michelin Pierre Gagnaire can be found here.
40.120875
9.012893
***Palermo is known as one of world’s top 10 street food destinations, but keep in mind that most of their street food is generally found near markets.
If you are used to street food in Africa and Asia, which is my case, then you will quickly notice that grilled red meats (which is a must on the streets of Africa and Asia) is missing in action here. Certainly a different street food experience from what I grew up learning to appreciate as dazzling street food, but interesting nonetheless: superb arancini, delicious goat intestines and sandwiches.
To recap, Sicily is a very beautiful island with plenty of picturesque vistas, historical buildings, fine (though not dazzling) food and wines. Just not a foodie paradise, but that should take nothing away from this gem of an island. Palermo itself has some parts of it that was destroyed during WW2 and that remains as is (meaning it was not rebuilt), but that concerns just a relatively tiny portion of Palermo.
An anonymous Montrealer's Michelin Star dinners 
You must be logged in to post a comment.