Episode 30: Paris Pigalle Tiki Bar & An Author / Original French Basher, Stephen Clarke

by Paige Donner

For our October Show of Paris GOOD food + wine we get the down and dirty of Paris... namely, we hear about the genesis of Paris' first Tiki Bar, Dirty Dick...

Dirty Dick Tiki Bar on Facebook

Scott Schuder is the owner of Dirty Dick Tiki Bar in Pigalle and his 19 ½ years in Paris, during which he raised his son here, too, taught him a lot about the city's bar scene and where to go to find the best Michelin star restaurants in France...

---

Next we'll be hearing from the Original French Basher, Stephen Clarke, whose runaway success with his Merde books – the first one being A Year In The Merde – gave this writer the greenlight to live the life many of us dream of, namely a novelist in France who spends his days writing and the rest of his time exploring the finer things of life...

 

He'll explain to us how Merde is not necessarily a pejorative word in French and he'll also give us a tip about where to find the best lunch restaurants in the City of Light.

So sit back and relax as you listen to another deliciously informative episode of Paris GOOD food + wine....

Paris GOOD food+wine is generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine.

If you'd like to learn more about French wine regions, French wines and how they pair nicely with food, book your Perfect Pairings food+wine seminar today. We take groups of 2 to 20 people. More information and instant booking is at ParisFoodAndWine.net

Thank you for listening to our October 2017 show of Paris GOOD food+wine, episode 30, season 4.

For information about where to find Scott's Dirty Dick bar in the Pigalle district of Paris, please go to our website , ParisFoodAndWine.net and click on Blog or click on the Facebook link above. You can also refer to Local Food And Wine at wordpress.com and find us on twitter @localfoodwine and also @parisfoodwine and on Instagram @Paigefoodwine

For information about Stephen Clarke's upcoming stand-up shows based on his trilogy of A Year In The Merde books, you can find that info also on his website and Twitter page: 

www.stephenclarkewriter.com

@sclarkewriter

 

Until next time, … Feel free to write us with any tips, suggestions and questions . Our contact information is on the blog LocalFoodAndWine.wordpress.com

ParisFoodAndWine.net

I'm Paige Donner, the host and producer of Paris GOODfood+wine. Find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Tune In radio and Souldcloud and wherever you download your podcasts.

Music, Good Vibes, is courtesy CP Bryan via FreeSoundTrackMusic.com and is free of rights. Show Intro/ Outro Jazzy Paris background courtesy of BenSound Music.

To book a Perfect Pairings food+wine seminar in Paris, make your reservations on parisfoodandwine.net click on Perfect Pairings food+wine. This 2 hour wine tasting and food pairing class in St Germain des Pres, Paris, walks you through the ABC's of French wines and food+wine pairing Do's & Don'ts (Mostly the Do's!!!)
@parisfoodwine
parisfoodandwine.net

This episode has been generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine @ParisFoodWine  parisfoodandwine.net and also Bordeaux Food & Wine @bordeauxfoodvin bordeauxfoodandwine.com

To contact Paige for hosting and speaking engagements and for sponsorship for the podcast as well as media collaborations: 
Paigedonner.info © All rights Reserved 2017 Paige Donner

More Info @ParisFoodWine
Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

All photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner

iTunes – Paris GOODfood+wine / 

Prints available by contacting http://PaigeDonner.info

Episode 29: Perfect Pairings food+wine by Paris Food And Wine

by Paige Donner

This episode of Paris GOOD food+wine, our season 4 kick-off, is devoted to my very favorite topic, food+wine pairings.

When I'm walking my clients through my food+wine pairing seminar, Perfect Pairings food+wine here in Paris, I always tell them that together, when you do a proper food+wine pairing, The Whole is Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts, to borrow a phrase from Aristotle.

Meaning, in simple English, that the wonderful tastes of both wine and food, when served in the right combination, are amplified, sometimes exponentially.

However, before we get to the good stuff, namely my interviews with Jaimee Anderson, the newly appointed Wine Director at Paris' La Réserve Palace Hotel followed by my conversation with David Boileau, France's Cognac Bureau's Wine Ambassador, I'd like to start off with some of the Do's and Don'ts, of wine and food pairings....

There are three basic rules of thumb for successful food+wine pairings: 

Those of harmony (where acidities, sugars and weight in the food and wine are equal) and those of opposition (where a wine of high acidity cuts though fatty meat or an off-dry wine goes with spicy food).'

The third thing to remember is, "If it grows together, it goes together."

So join us on this Season 4 kick-off of Paris GOOD food + wine, our September 2017 show, episode 29, as we delve head-long and deep into the world of fine food and wine pairing.

To sign up for one of our Perfect Pairings food+wine 2-Hour seminars here in Paris held 7/7,  late afternoons and early evenings, please Contact Us HERE or use the form below:

 

[contact-form][contact-field label="Name" type="name" required="1" /][contact-field label="Email" type="email" required="1" /][contact-field label="Website" type="url" /][contact-field label="Comment" type="textarea" required="1" /][/contact-form]

All music  - Jazz Bolero  - used is free of rights and royalty-free courtesy FreeSoundTrack.com. Show Intro/ Outro Theme Jazzy Paris background courtesy of BenSound Music.
This episode has been generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine@ParisFoodWine http://parisfoodandwine.net and also Bordeaux Food & Wine @bordeauxfoodvin http://bordeauxfoodandwine.com

For sponsorship and advertising, contact Paige. Also for hosting, events, and speaking engagements and for media collaborations: http://Paigedonner.info

More Info @ParisFoodWine
Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

All photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner

iTunes – Paris GOODfood+wine / 

Prints available by contacting http://PaigeDonner.info

Episode 28 : Branding Out of The Box - Paris GOOD food + wine

​by Paige Donner

Host-Producer  Paris GOOD food + wine 

Looking to inspire the next generation of food+wine entrepreneurs, Paris GOOD food + wine takes a closer look at French and European food + wine companies that began as single-visionary entrepreneurs.

A rural English potato farmer who turned his potato chips into a global brand (Tyrrell's); a Bordeaux wine company started by a few brothers in the late 1940s that has gone on to be Europe's biggest wine-selling brand and whose market is 80% French (Castel Frères) ; a cookie and snacks company whose founders got their pastry-making degrees while in business school (Michel & Augustin); a cabaret and restaurant that has been resurrected from the ashes of its 1930's glorious past (Le Bal Blomet); and a fine foods grocery shop that retains its Mom & Pop Provençal feel (Maison Brémond 1830).

This episode has been brought to you by the generous support of Paris Food And Wine. Follow us on Twitter @parisfoodwine, Facebook @ParisFoodAndWine and you can find me on Instagram@PaigeFoodWine

Find this and more episodes of Paris GOOD food + wine on Soundcloud,Stitcher, YouTube, Tune IN Radio and also on iTunes.

Paris GOOD food + wine is the first (and still only) English language radio program and podcast about food and wine produced in Paris, France. This episode, Branding Out of The Box, seeks to inspire budding, next-generation entrepreneurs who might have an idea or a dream and simply require the confidence to pursue it. In an era where big companies are only getting bigger and fast becoming monoliths, the entrepreneurial, small-business dream is still real and still scalable.

Sprouts is a weekly program that features local radio production and stories from many radio stations and local media groups around the world. It is produced in collaboration with community radio stations and independent producers across the country.

All music used is free of rights and royalty-free courtesy FreeSoundTrack.com. This episode features Attacked by Cherubs and also the Sprouts soundtrack Torpedoes on Tuesday by Poison Control. Show Intro/ Outro Theme Jazzy Paris background courtesy of BenSound Music.
This episode has been generously brought to you by Paris Food And Wine@ParisFoodWine http://parisfoodandwine.net and also Bordeaux Food & Wine @bordeauxfoodvin http://bordeauxfoodandwine.com

For sponsorship and advertising, contact Paige. Also for hosting and speaking engagements and for media collaborations: http://Paigedonner.info

More Info @ParisFoodWine
Instagram @PaigeFoodWine

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine on :

All photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner

iTunes – Paris GOODfood+wine / 

Prints available by contacting http://PaigeDonner.info​

Paris Food And Wine Parisfoodandwine.net

iTunes - Paris GOODfood+wine /  Paige Donner / 

​

 LinkedIn 

a flask of Chateau Haut-Brion wine

by Paige Donner (all photos copyright 2017 Paige Donner)

As Bordeaux's very first wine château, is it any wonder that Haut-Brion still ranks with such stature in the world's profile of wines and wine estates? Well, a measured answer would be both yes, and no. 

​

It's not a given that a wine or a wine estate with such deep-roots and a glorious past would be sheparded forward through the centuries in a fashion that continues to uphold what is best of the property and best for the wine. 

On a recent visit to Château Haut-Brion, my first visit, in fact, I was told by the lovely Turid, the château's press relations manager who has been with the property for 17 years, that Château Haut-Brion is rightfully considered the very first Bordelais wine-producing château as they have come to be known through the ages. Meaning: vineyards, wine production area, chai, vat room, cellars and in Haut-Brion's case, even a cooperage. 

As many French, and it's said the Bordelais in particular, tend to wax eloquent about the history and cultural significance of their properties, I had always taken this singular claim as the original Bordeaux Château with a grain of salt. BUT, I stand to be corrected. As the charming Turid pointed out, and later I was able to verify through my own research, indeed, it was as far back as 1533 that Jean de Pontac bought what was then considered to be a mansion that sat on the locality known as Haut-Brion in the commune of Pessac and united it with his surrounding vineyard land-holdings. 

Thus, it can rightfully be claimed, through historical land records, that Château (& vineyards) Haut-Brion came into existence in 1533. 

​

But that is not all that Jean de Pontac did. By 1549 he started building and enlarging on the very site that is still the château today and in fact the north-eastern part of the current château still constitutes this edifice. 

Fast-forward a century or so and the château, always owned by illustrious men of power and King's servants, has gained immeasurable repute for its terroir and its resulting wines. So much so that in 1677 a (famous) philosopher by the name of John Locke, on a visit to the estate, is quoted as saying, 

"The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a little rise of ground, lieing open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white sand, mixed with a little gravel.  One wold imagin it scarce fit to beare anything...."

That is probably one of the most remarkable things about Haut-Brion, a Gascon name that derives from its ancient Celtic origins of "Briga," meaning rise or mount, that traces of wine production here date back to the 1st c. AD. Hence as far back as Pax Romana times, this little hillock with its characteristic small white stone gravel soils has been recognized as being especially conducive to growing grape vines. 

First Growth, Bordeaux Grand Cru

On the 25th of May, 1787, America's great lover of wine, Thomas Jefferson, who at the time was the 2nd American Ambassador to France, visited Haut-Brion during a tour of Bordeaux.  According to historical record, this is what Mr. Jefferson had to say about Haut-Brion: 

READ MORE ON  https://localfoodandwine.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/a-flask-of-chateau-haut-brion-wine/

For photos contact:  PaigeDonner.info

#BordeauxFoodAndWine

BORDEAUXFOODANDWINE

MORE INFO @PARISFOODWINE
INSTAGRAM @PAIGEFOODWINE

BORDEAUX FOOD & WINE TOO! @BORDEAUXFOODVIN

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine Podcast on :

La Mission Haut-Brion, A Château With True Soul

by Paige Donner (all photos copyright 2017)

Château La Mission Haut-Brion's chapel for me sums up the essence of the property. It has been for centuries, and still is, a family home. A home where people have worshipped, where they have begun their lives and taken their last breaths, where meals have been shared, verses read, fine wines enjoyed after a day's labor in the vineyards. 

The elegance of Château La Mission Haut-Brion is that it blends its luxury and taste with absolutely no aristocratic airs. These are some of the oldest vineyards of Bordeaux. I count myself as extraordinarily lucky to have been invited to overnight there on a recent trip to Bordeaux. Granted, this is why most of the wine estates keep up their châteaux, yes because of the vineyards surrounding them and the cellars and vinification rooms and all the acoutrements that go with making great Bordeaux wines. But also to welcome guests, usually who work in or for the wine industry or those who are especially loyal appreciators of the wines. Few château owners actually live on their properties themseves, at least not in Bordeaux. 

The entire property still has echoes of piousness threaded into all of its structures and its tasting room feels like one in which a monk would feel at ease. Indeed the owner, Prince Robert of Luxembourg, who re-did the tasting room and its reception area only a few years ago, handpicked art pieces and even the the design of the iron-framed high-backed bishop's chairs that encircle the tasting room table. 

If you ever get lucky enough to gain entry into the chapel, look high above, at the molding just above the authentic and ancient (16th c.) stained glass windows. There you will see the years of the château's Millésimes - vintage years - engraved in a band across the four walls.  After 2015 and 2016 are added, there will be room enough only for a few more. So in another 4 or 5 centuries it would be interesting to see if perhaps the entire walls are engraved with numbers noting good vintage years. 

#BordeauxFoodAndWine

BordeauxFoodAndWine

MORE INFO @PARISFOODWINE
INSTAGRAM @PAIGEFOODWINE

BORDEAUX FOOD & WINE TOO! @BORDEAUXFOODVIN

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine Podcast on :

 

 

Dinner At Château Latour Bordeaux Grand Cru Classé en 1855

Bordeaux, June 18, 2017 

by Paige Donner  (photos copyright 2017)

On a hot summer evening in the Médoc's Pauillac, Bordeaux guests arriving for the 1855 Grands Crus Classés dinner held this year at Château Latour were greeted with a marching Scottish-sounding band and flutes of Roederer champagne (who happens to own the closest neighboring château, Pichon Comtesse). 

The Belle of the Ball, namely Madame Salma Hayak Pinault kept herself demurely sheltered inside the reception hall from the intense heat of the evening that persisted until after the sun went down. Thankfully, her and her Kering husband, François-Henri Pinault, offered the option of mingling in the cellar's anteroom (as opposed to outdoors on the inner patio lawn) which was cleared out, save for an elegant display of the Grands Crus Classés en 1855 wines that were to be served at dinner. As a response to the sweltering heat of those few days in June, this ideally accommodated the several hundred privileged guests. 

These dinners, the official opening of Vinexpo Bordeaux held every two years, are always lavish events. It's where international and French journalists/ wine writers meet and mingle with these prestige wine estate owners and venerable Bordelais families, many of whose roots in the soil of the region run deeper even than U.S. modern history. 

The choice of the chef is always a pivotal statement, too, of how the year's chosen chateau will express their taste and style during the event. This year it was Chef Michel Guérard who ranks among the living legends of French chefs. .. .

Read The Rest on BordeauxFoodAndWine

 #BordeauxFoodAndWine   

BordeauxFoodAndWine

MORE INFO @PARISFOODWINE
INSTAGRAM @PAIGEFOODWINE

BORDEAUX FOOD & WINE TOO! @BORDEAUXFOODVIN

Listen to Paris GOOD food + wine Podcast on :