january food blog

some of my favorite bites from rome and paris

normally i would be writing about the best things i cooked this month, but i didn’t cook much at all as i was in rome for a quick trip for my birthday :), and then went to paris to do some marriage license stuff which took longer than expected. (ps. do you want to know about wedding planning stuff or is that the biggest bore ever to you and incredibly cringe of me to be talking about?)

anyway, instead of things i cooked this month, i’ll be talking about all the great things i ate, and all the wonderful places that made the delicious things. if you’re looking for more of my recs from paris and rome those are all up on the amigo app (a place for travel recs)- skip the waitlist on the app by using my code “PARISGO” - the app also has guides to nyc, and the hudson valley (both of which i update every once in a while), madrid, and i just added sicily(!), from my trip this past summer (and in case you’re planning a trip there i added lots of activities we did and places we visited, to help guide your trip).

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paris:

st. félicien cheese - my favorite cheese, i haven’t really seen it in the states yet, so every time i go to paris i eat an ungodly amount of it - this trip was 5 wheels, eaten for dinner or lunch with a baguette and salad (usually endive and beets.) i have two favorite cheese mongers in paris - barthelemy, and

chez virginie. i like to ask for it mûr aka. ripe. the one at chez virginie is a bit funkier than the one at barthelemy, and they let it ripen so much that they sell it to you in a cup. either way you can’t go wrong. the cheese is a bit strong on the nose, it reminds me of a very specific childhood memory - in the spring when there has just been a lot of rain and then you pull up a chunk of grass, and you get the green and fresh smell of the new grass and the funky/earthy/rich soil. that’s what this cheese smells like. most of the taste comes from the nose, on the palate it’s relatively mild, and incredibly creamy/buttery and gooey (akin to a brie.)

ten belles roulé à la cannelle/bread. ten belles is close to where i stay in paris, and since they have a number of locations, maybe nearby you too. i always knew they baked fantastic sourdough loaves, beautiful texture/crumb/crust and flavor, which i often eat with scrambled eggs. but this trip i tried their roulé à la cannelle (aka cinnamon roll) - and it’s excellent. super flaky since they make theirs with croissant dough, the perfect level of cinnamon and sweet and topped with flaky salt. if you are staying at an airbnb, or somewhere with a toaster oven, i highly recommend ordering one and squirreling it away re-warming it when you get home.

escargot at chez georges- maybe it was the fact that it was snowing in paris which just really made the evening so special, or maybe they were just that good, but i have a bit of a *thing* for ordering escargot at every restaurant that has them, and the ones at chez georges were maybe the best i’ve had. super garlic-y, buttery, and with just the right amount of parsley. we also were wowed by their scallops - nice caramelization on the outside and perfectly cooked on the inside. and their apple tarte tatin, the cookery on the apples was sublime. this restaurant is now one of our favorite brasseries in paris for a special date night.

flan at mille & un - rated best flan in paris 2023 for a good reason. it is excellent. beautifully creamy texture, perfectly cooked, and in a beautifully crisp puff pastry shell.

poulet dürüm at urfa dürüm - i always love this sandwich, and get it every time i’m in paris. but on this trip, eating it on a cold day, brought the hot freshly made sandwich to a new level of wow. the fresh warm lavash is so beautifully soft and chewy, and the chicken is always perfectly cooked with such great flavor from the charcoal grill.

profiteroles and tartare at grande brasserie - not a ton of restaurants are open on a sunday night in paris, but this one is. out of all the restaurants we dined at on the trip, this was the quietest/chillest - so if you’re looking for a quiet dinner, maybe with a family, this is a great option. i had the tartare here, and it was great, but everyone we were with loved what they ordered. their profiteroles also deserve a shoutout, i tried about 4 on this trip and these were the best, their choux is nice and crunchy with a delicious craquelin, smooth ice cream, and most importantly a very rich chocolate sauce with a hefty pour. their creme brûlée and mont blanc were also very well done.

croissant and pain au chocolat at sas boulangerie moderne - sas is quickly becoming my new favorite croissant in paris. i live for a buttery-flakey-not-sweet croissant, and this meets all the marks. for proof: théo mentioned he thought this croissant might even be too buttery (aka perfect in my book), and he teased me for how it was all over my clothes. hopefully you will be blessed with warm ones when you go.

rome:

pasta alla gracia at armando al pantheon - a little secret, i used to be a highly picky eater (food sensory stuff) and didn’t touch pasta between my toddler years through middle school. it was at armando al pantheon that i first tried pasta alla gricia about 6 years ago, which quickly became one of my favorite, if not my favorite, pasta dishes. here they do it right - perfectly al dente pasta, lots of toasted black peppercorns, creamy sauce (made from the guanciale fat and starchy pasta water reducing together), and crispy guanciale. when i went back and tried it again this trip, it was still excellent, the best version i had on the trip, and i had quite a few.

carciofi alla romana at trecca - i ate a lot of artichokes this month, this was my favorite. the artichoke itself was melt in your mouth, the olive oil robust, and a bit of brightness from the herbage (oregano?) on top. i really just loved all the food and the hospitality so much. you can read all the other things i loved about my meal here on amigo app.

cured meats at roscioli - the different prosciutto’s here are fantastic, each one has their own distinct flavor, some more sweet, some more nutty, all delicious.

cannelloni at trattoria pennestri - filled with mushrooms and fonduta, dressed in brown butter and sage - there is something about this dish that felt so traditional and so modern at the same time. it was a bit of an eye opener for me in a way i can’t quite describe, but if you go and eat there i am sure you too will love their seasonal dishes.

pizza rosa and cured meat sandwiches at panificio bonci - i ate a sandwich here over 3 weeks ago, and not a day has gone by where i didn’t start think about it and immediately begin salivating. the bread is so perfectly crisp thin and oily, it is the perfect encasing for the beautifully cured meat. that’s all that is in the sandwich and i wouldn’t want it any other way. two beautifully simple, perfectly executed, products that when paired together for a beautiful harmony of flavor and texture. same goes for their pizza rossa, their perfect bread topped with tangy/umami/sweet tomato sauce and a big glug of olive oil. what’s not to love?

big shout out to katie parla, we tried a bunch of different places, but all of her recs were our faves!

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and if you want to read more about other delicious things i ate at these restaurants, and are looking for more dining recs, in paris and rome (including the ones in these photos below) head on over to amigo app and use code “PARISGO” to skip the waitlist