tag: bar

… are spent au bar.

Beyond the well-traversed cobblestone streets behind Sacre Coeur that throng with tourists all day and night, there are still corner bars entirely peopled with locals. That “real Montmartre” you’ve been hearing about. You’ll probably have to walk through some sketchy-ass metro stops and streets to get there, though.

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Posted in: life, paris | Tags: 75018, bar, beers, cigarettes, mes amis, montmartre, montmartre bar, o, paris, paris bar, travel | 0 COMMENTS

On a night so cold that my glasses immediately fogged up upon entering the building, I met up with T for drinks and snacks at Septime’s new offshoot bottle shop / wine bar.

Let’s get our expectations straightened out: Septime La Cave is not the kind of wine bar to which one goes for dinner. One goes for some nice little nibbles and a glass or two of beautiful wine.

There are bottles, which can be had for a €7 corkage fee, lining the walls. No tables to speak of, but a bit of counter space to work with.

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Posted in: dining out, paris, Uncategorized | Tags: 75011, bar, charcuterie, food, paris, paris wine bar, septime, septime cave, septime la cave, snacks, travel, wine, wine bar | 6 COMMENTS

James Henry, previously of Au Passage, has opened a new testosterone-and-punk-rock-fueled restaurant and bar in that corner of the 11th that’s been seeing a lot of action lately.

Prosecco sur Lie Casa Coste Piane, tartare de veau, good books

Get your hipster boners ready, friends. Unsulfured, natural wines. Homemade bread. House-churned butter. Homemade charcuterie. Mozzarella minute. Offal and raw stuff all over the place.

Homemade bread and butter

This was M’s favorite. He had opinions.

Four amuse-bouche

Clockwise from top left: coeur de canard; grilled octopus; cochon de lait broth with roast sea urchin, foie gras, and cabbage; charcuterie maison

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Posted in: dining out, paris, Uncategorized | Tags: bar, bones, bones paris, bones paris restaurant, james henry, natural wine, paris, paris bar, paris restaurant, paris wine bar, restaurant, rockstar chef, unsulfured wine, wine bar | 4 COMMENTS

Delicious brews. Awesome friends. Quality bar. Good oysters. The best.

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Posted in: dining out, paris, Uncategorized | Tags: bar, beer, beer bar, brooklyn brewery, brooklyn brewery launch party at le mary celeste, filles du calvaire, le mary celeste, oysters, paris, paris bar, travel | 1 COMMENT

This week I learned… something… about restraint… or knowing your limits… or something like that. It’s all kind of a blur really.

So what happened is that my French class partners, Tríona and Oisin, invited me to something called “12 Pubs of Christmas.” Basically, the goal was to hit up twelve different pubs in twelve hours, drinking a beer at each one. We started with a lovely brunch at Tríona and Oisin’s place, where we all looked bright-eyed and chipper in our Christmas jumpers.

Each pub had a rule, such as: you must wear a Christmas jumper, or drink with your non-dominant hand, or not call anyone by their real name. Penalties for rule-breakers included drinking shots and doing Irish dances. Keep this sober, late-morning photo in mind. We degenerated quickly.

I think part of the thing I learned was something about not starting out too strong. There were two options you could choose from to fully participate: drink one pint at each  pub (A-team), or one half-pint (B-team). Note that, in Paris, what they call a pint is really 500cl, so the A-teamers would be drinking a total of six liters total. I decided to start out on the A-team, then kick down to the B-team eventually. That decision was my downfall.

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Posted in: dining out, life, paris, Uncategorized | Tags: #12pubs, 12 pubs of christmas, bar, bar à vin, beer, christmas jumpers, drinking, frenchie, frenchie bar a vins, friends, irish pubs, paris, paris restaurants, paris wine bars, pubs, restaurants, travel, ventreche, where's me jumper, wine | 3 COMMENTS

If you can guess what movie that line’s from, I think we’d be friends in real life.

Like I mentioned earlier, we’ve been in (gorgeous, sunny, delightful, cheese-filled) Switzerland this week. We spent a couple of days in Zurich, trained over to Lucerne yesterday, and plan to go to Mürren tomorrow. So, no My Paris post today, but here’s some love from my iPhone of what this country’s looked like so far.

We stayed at the same hotel as the last time we were in Zurich, which meant I got to eat breakfast and hang out and read in this slick library bar again. It used to be a brewery so I drank accordingly.

Speaking of breakfast: is there anything better than a fresh, locally sourced, well-stocked hotel breakfast?

Lucerne is, for a lack of a better word, picturesque. It’s a small city tucked into the folds of hills and mountains with a river and a lake and well-preserved medieval architecture.

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Posted in: travel | Tags: architecture, b2 hotel, bar, beer, europe, hotel breakfast, lucerne, luzern, murren, switzerland, travel, zurich | 0 COMMENTS

I might have done Zurich wrong. Usually, what you want to do when you’re traveling is to spend as little time in and around your hotel as possible. Get out to the center of town, or maybe the outskirts if you want the true, untouristed experience. Eat local food, learn where the rivers are and which way they flow, learn how to navigate public transportation.

I didn’t do that on this trip. Honestly, I must have been within three blocks of the hotel for at least 75% of my time in the city. But can you blame me? Take a look at this place!

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Posted in: travel | Tags: antique market, antiques, b2 boutique hotel, bar, bars, brewery, cafeteria, cow bells, hail, infinity pool, library, library bar, pool, rain, rooftop pool, switzerland, zurich | 3 COMMENTS