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Cuisine and appreciation for wine, like so much else in France, are arts that the Court stimulated. They are at the heart of French culture and are among the reasons why so many travelers visit.
We can take you to the world-known stores for gastronomy and make personalized arrangements at celebrated restaurants. Or we can concentrate on the produce and places that Parisians with discriminating palates select.
For groups, we suggest special events.
Please scroll down.
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 - A royal feast in the 15th century
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 - Open-air markets are among the most pleasant aspects of every-day France.
"Madame Georgette" has never gotten around to asking for a stand at an organic market.
She has sold her own farm produce in an inexpensive neighborhood market for 40 years.
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Every morning (except Monday) neighborhood marchés take place. They can be expensive, inexpensive, can stretch out over a single street or many, be covered or open-air. They can be organic, raucous or simply picturesque.
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Markets are an expression of the French capacity to make simple things beautiful.
We point our visitors toward those we think they'll enjoy most.
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- Visiting a"boulangerie" (bakery) takes us into the heart of everyday France
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 - Neighborhood "boulangeries" are wonderful too.
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Many bakeries still make bread themselves, but are unenthusiastic at the idea of visitors.
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An exception nestles in "hometown Paris" (where Madame Georgette's market is as well). It is particularly memorable at chilly times of year, because it is warm and cozy. It always smells wonderful.
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 - Part of a wider visit: Please click on the link below.
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Chèvre frais, crottin, chevrotin (goat camembert), chèvre wrapped in a chestnut leaf so that the tannins will bring a fluid cheese...
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The farm is near the otherwise eye-opening town of Dreux, which is about an hour's drive south of Paris, much of it through bucolic countryside.
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This American wine exporter is about to present five good recent wines with ways to test and compare them. Or we invite wine producers.
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The evening is ideal for bringing a group together on a first night, especially when it is held in a hospitable private salon, with live music.
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- Tastings in wineshops or restaurants with a soul
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•Events
 - France still has small wine producers too. Thank goodness.
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A Montmartre wineshop owner expresses the reason for such events' interest: "My wines are from small producers whom I know personally. I know exactly how their wines are produced. My clients live in the neighbood and come for something different."
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Patrons of small wineshops receive our guests, around themes that tie in with the group's program. When tastings include cheeses, a salad, dessert they become full soirées. Adding live music makes them memorable.
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- Restaurants for local palates
Restaurant reviews swamp the media. Many are superficial, bestowing noblesse on places that are undeserving. Establishments that are deserving often don't want reviews in magazines that tourists see: They know that a brief flurry of foreign visitors will drive their regulars away and in the long run be bad for business.
There are restaurants, however, for which Parisians secretly hoard the addresses. They don't want too many outsiders "spoiling" them.
We point our small and select membership to restaurants whose celebrity is justified or to places that are discreet and cherished.
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•After dark •Landmark
•Restaurants in a "touristy" neighborhood
 - Landmark since the 19th century
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•Examples & costs
 - The blonde is the owner and chef.
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 - Visitor and excellent cook
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...in a restaurant that is traditional, central and that that reflects the owner in an exceptionally personal way. A former actress turned chef, she expresses the refinement one associates with France.
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She shows visitors how to prepare the specialities that she'll recommend in her restaurant that night. Then they and she sit down to dinner, served with appropriate wines, before the clients arrive.
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Fifteenth-century feast / "Les très riches heures du Duc de Berry"
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