Le Reminet - un Paris bistrot

With so many options to dine in Paris, how do you find a great, reasonable meal?

Certainly, you should check internet reviews, but I would offer that reading blogger favorites may be a good place to start.  In June of 2010, Virginia (Paris Through My Lens) introduced me to Le Reminet.  She had met Meredith Mullins for déjeuner at Le Reminet at Meredith's suggestion.  The prices are quite reasonable at lunch if you guard your wine consumption and select from la formule.  The meals have been excellent and the friends I have sent there agree.  Often I enjoy a bit of a splurge at lunch and have just a light salad or baguette et fromage for dinner. 

Le Reminet has a lovely aubergine-colored entrance, a charming ambiance,

and it is situated on a narrow street in the 5ième near Notre Dame. 

Le Reminet

3, rue Grands Degrés

75005 Paris

Métro Maubert Mutualité



Le Moulin de la Vierge - boulangerie

If you have been reading my blog for some time, you know how I enjoy "a hunt" and definitely love "a story."  Before my recent trip to Paris, blog friend Louis la Vache (San Francisco Bay Daily Photo) asked if I could get a photo of Le Moulin de la Vierge on rue Vercingétorix (14ième arr.)

I coaxed Peter (Peter's Paris) to make the trip with me, and we were delighted with the pain from the wood-fired oven, the tile walls, the murals of women holding armfuls of wheat, the mural on the ceiling, the etched glass doors...

This is the story behind this charming boulangerie as told by Louis:

The boulangerie is operated by Basil Kamir, a former music promoter turned boulanger. He inadvertently became one of the leaders of the renaissance of artisan baking in Paris specifically and France in general.

Kamir was using the then-closed boulangerie as his office when an "urban renewal" project in the neighborhood deemed that the building would be destroyed. Basil loved the building with its marble counter, copper fixtures, and fine details.  He couldn't allow the building to be destroyed.

Because of his work in the music business, he knew the Minister of Culture. A call was placed to the Minister, Basil pleading for intervention to save the boulangerie building. Calls were made, arms were twisted.

The Minister of Culture phoned Basil and said (in effect), "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is the building will be saved. The bad news is that it must be used again as a boulangerie."

Basil protested, "I don't know how to bake!"

To which the Minister replied, "Well, you had better learn!"

And he did. And in doing so, became a leader in the rediscovery of artisan baking, away from pain industriel, and also became one of the leaders in introducing biologique (organic) flours into baking.

But it didn't happen without some delicious Gallic drama.

A wrecking crew complete with a crane fitted with a wrecking ball showed up in front of the boulangerie. Somehow, the word didn't filter down through the bureaucracy that the building was not to be destroyed.

Basil practically came to blows with the crew. He went back into the boulangerie, and came out with a shotgun. The crew wouldn't back down, and neither would Basil. After some time of this impasse, Basil, took his shotgun and went to the basement, crawled into the wood-fired oven (at this point still long unused) with his shotgun and told the wrecking crew they would have to take him out!

Panicked calls were made and finally the wrecking crew got the Official Bureaucratic Word not to destroy the building.  (You can get additional detail from Louis' post here - Merci beaucoup, Louis)

Here is the link to Peter's comprehensive post of the boulangerie. 

Le Moulin de la Vierge

104, rue Vercingétorix

75014 Paris

Métro Pernety

Passage du Caire

As Marie and I wandered the streets of the 2ième arrondissement we saw a small green space, un petit jardin, on a triangle of ground called Place du Caire. As we glanced up we saw this façade, an entrance to Passage du Caire, adorned with three heads of the goddess Hathor. The Egyptian theme is further carried out with the band of pseudo-hieroglyphs above the sculptures.

Now, for the rest of the story... I have been trying to find the name, the exact location, the street address off and on for several weeks. Marie had joined in the hunt as well. So, what expert would you turn to in the same situation? Why, Peter, of course! He responded in an instant and so I am linking to his post which is much more comprehensive than mine. Many thanks, dear friend!


Passage du Caire
Place du Caire
at Rue d'Aboukir

Un apéritif à Paris

What a wonderful time we had... a casual party, in Paris!

From left on front row: Julie of Sydney-Eye; Marie (M); Aude of Paris-ci Paris-la; Back row: Peter of Peter's Paris; Cynthia of Parisian Adventures; moi; Mary Ann of Classic.Casual.Home; she-who-must-not-be named, our concierge; Eric Tenin of ParisDailyPhoto.

I cannot imagine anything better than getting together with friends in a chic Paris apartment. It seemed like playing make-believe at the time.

Paris apartment, wine, friends....

As you can see from the photo, all of the baguettes and cheese had been consumed and most of the wine. In December Holly and I invited Peter (of Peter's Paris) for un goûter before the paparazzi team hit the streets of Paris.

It just does not get any better than this! (unless we could have stayed until spring!)