French Restaurants

Road Trip – The Alston Park Loop, The Riverfront Promenade, Dinner at Angele Restaurant, and Returning to the Fink (Napa)

January 3, 2026 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Road Trip, Travel

Our one full day in Napa started with pastries being delivered to our room in the Napa River Inn. These are from Sweetie Pie a bakery – sandwich shop located in the Old Mill Complex next to the hotel.

A bit too much sweets for me; but we saved most of it to have as an afternoon snack.

We then headed out to Alston Park and spent the morning doing an easy walk along the Alston Park Loop Trail. A nice walk along the meadows, groves, and of course alongside some vineyards.

Of course we had to finish before things got too sunny/hot as JJ does not do too well under those conditions.

After which we headed into downtown and found parking on 1st Street….man, it gets pretty busy here, where the Missus did some shopping.

For some reason, the Missus just didn’t find Napa to be much fun….She thought it was on the boring side???

We returned to the hotel and finished off the pastries and had a nap. After which, the Missus just wanted some time to read, so I decided to take JJ out for a walk along the Riverfront Promenade which basically cuts thru downtown Napa. Here’s a view of our patio which was right along the promenade.

It was a nice little walk.

We walked all the way to the First Street Bridge which has a nice view of the promenade.

And there was shade for our fragile, heat sensitive, little squirt.

Check out this mural in front of a Tiki Bar named Wilfred’s……kinda sterotypical, yeah?

JJ and I took Main Street back to the hotel.

I kind of enjoyed some of the architecture.

I saw this church on the way back and walked over.

This is the First Presbyterian Church, built in 1874 in the Gothic style.

When dinner time rolled rolled around, we had noticed a French restaurant named Angele located just a few steps from our accommodations in the Historic Napa Mill.

So, we dropped on by and there were a bunch of al fresco tables available out front. The menu was quite interesting; a nice variety of dishes. As is our usual, we went with three apps and one main.

The baguette was nice and crusty, though a bit “doughy” for my taste.

I was fascinated by the Potato Beignets.

These were interesting. The exterior was crisp, though we weren’t big fans of the overly pasty and sweet filling.

The Pate de Campagne was “by-the-book” and quite good. Very porky, slightly offaly, hint of boozy sweetness-pungency.

The much needed cornichons and mustard allowing for some pungent, palate cleansing counterpoints.

The Beef Tartare was a bit on the mushy side.

And the use of capers was a bit on the heavy-handed side, though not bad overall.

The piece of Veal Sweetbread was huge!

It looked like it was overdone, but was quite tender-creamy. The jus was quite winey, though not unpleasant. The sweetbreads were a bit livery, but overly “metallic” in flavor.

The service was friendly and welcoming. And while not in the same league as L’Escargot in Carmel which we dined at a few days earlier, it was a nice meal overall.

Angele Restaurant
540 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

It was still light out when we finished dinner, so we took a walk along the Promenade.

There’s so much public art in Napa. This one is named Grateful Harvest.

After crossing the 1st Street Bridge, we came across this.

This is the China Point Overlook and Park.

Did you know that Napa once had a Chinatown? From this park you can see the location of Napa’s Chinatown, which was razed in 1927 to make way for a Yacht Club. Which by the way was never built.

We then headed back to the Napa River Inn. From the sign at the door to front lobby it seems like “Ember” had checked out with only JJ and Nola being the two “VIPs” left.

After relaxing a bit, as I did the night before, I headed next door to The Fink for a nightcap. This time I took JJ along.

The woman working smiled as we entered and said “oh, I’m so glad you brought the pup along this time!”

And the owner…”the Fink” himself asked me if I had noticed anything strange the previous evening. When I said “no”, he told me the story of the hotel being haunted!

Yikes, it was time for a cocktail!

JJ was indeed treated like a “VIP” here as several customer came to pet him!

It was a really cool cocktail bar!

The Fink
530 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

It’s the Et Voila Time of the Year

December 30, 2025 mmm-yoso Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants

Well yes…it’s that time of the year again. Funny how we get into these habits. Even though we had other plans for NYE….we’re going to stay closer to home, Et Voila always comes to mind, especially for Happy Hour. Though we’ve had some NYE meals at ET, we just decided to drop by. Especially since they now have a “special” black truffle menu.

Which you can add for $18 to any dish, or pick something from that menu. Because we had JJ in tow and were sitting outside, we could take advantage of the Happy Hour menu as well.

So, we placed our order, of some HH favorites, and a truffle dish off the menu. And of course I had a Huckleberry Bourbon to start.

It seems a bit weaker these days…but maybe its the HH curse?

This time there was no charge for the half baguette. Perhaps it’s based on what you order?

First up were the Beignet de Champignons ($10 HH). My goodness, this is what we usually order during HH with mixed results. This time it was so perfectly fried.

So crisp, the mushrooms almost buttery…my goodness! Which hides a mild earthy-saltiness. That aioli…which is almost like a basil driven thousand island does fine as well. Perhaps the best we’ve had over so many visits.

Unfortunately, another HH staple for us, the Raviolis aux Champignons (HH – $15) was off the mark for our tastes.

The raviolis were really tough, the sauce overly sweet, and we couldn’t make out the flavor of white truffle at all. I think we’ll be giving up on this one.

The next item, another HH staple set everything right again. The Terrine de Porc (HH – $13) was indeed “porc-y”.

It was quite offal-y and liver-y as well…so that whole grain mustard helped clean the palate and the sinuses. The Missus prefers the baguette with this to what is served.

And then what was supposed to be the “star” of the evening….from the Black Truffle Menu, we got the Champignons a la Royale ($28)….I know, we’re really into the fungi here.

First off, we really enjoyed the crisp and cheesy Parmesan Toast. For some reason the Perigord Black Truffle flavor didn’t come thru. The usually strong fragrance and nutty-sweet-earthy-ultra umami flavors quite faint. The sauce was too thin and watery, but had a decent mushroom flavor.

The Royale was more mushy than creamy and though it did have truffle and mushroom duxelle, the flavor didn’t come thru sufficiently for us.

Service was very nice as always. The woman serving us remembered JJ from our visit last NYE! She kidded us about loving our fungi. Though two of four is not that great in terms of dishes…it has us wondering if our tastes have been changing quite a bit over the last couple of years? At least the Happy Hour prices aren’t too bad.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116

Road Trip – The Secret Garden and Dinner at L’Escargot (Carmel)

October 25, 2025 mmm-yoso Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, Travel

After doing the 17 Mile Drive and some shopping in Pacific Grove, we headed back to Carmel. After parking the car, we decided to take JJ down to Carmel Beach which was just a few blocks from where we were staying.

It was kind of overcast, but we enjoyed the short stroll.

We then headed back up Ocean Avenue where the Missus did a bit more shopping.

While looking at this window display, the Artist and owner of the shop, Edi Matsumoto came out. She was so nice and we had a lovely chat!

As we headed on back to the Green Lantern, I happened to look down the driveway off of San Carlos Street and I noticed something.

Hmmm…..

Ok, they really know how to get me, right? You know I just had to see what was down that path.

It was a cute little path, adorned with statuary, fountains, very serene and relaxing.

There’s a little Garden shop.

And the path leads out to Dolores Street and this bookstore.

It was a very nice community bookstore and the owners were oh so friendly and kind.

You can really tell they’re part of the community here!

And you know what; I just happened to open up this Children’s book….

And I saw all those places we’d been walking past! I loved it! I wanted to support this shop, so I bought an Autographed copy! Of course it features pooches, right? But wait, there’s more! There’s a fabulous map, and you can follow Olly’s and Lucille’s adventure using the Voicemap App – from the book’s website!

Here’s a screenshot of the map from that website:

Also, more about the Secret Garden here and here.

Pilgrims Way Community Bookstore
Dolores St. between 5th & 6th
Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921

On the way back we came across this cute little park between all the art galleries on Dolores Street.

Away from the hustle and bustle, Carmel is quite charming.

We took a short break before heading out to dinner. I had made reservations at a French restaurant for our last dinner in the city. The name, L’Escargot hooked me. The restaurant was a 15 minute walk from our room. It was dinner time and all the traffic was back. Though once we got past 6th Avenue, things seemed to quiet down a bit. The restaurant had ample outdoor seating.

I walked over; peeked into the restaurant and the host seated us at one of the al fresco tables.

I got a Kir Royale and some baguette and butter was dropped off while we looked over the menu.

The butter was cold, but nicely whipped very creamy, milky, and light. The baguette was a bit damp, but the crust was very good!

As we often do; we just went with several apps. Starting with the Duck and Pork Country Pate.

Coarsely ground, but oh so rich….deep earthy-gamy flavors. Those cornichons came in handy. The mustard helped to cut the liveryness. Man, this was so good with the baguette….our Server saw us blasting thru it and brought us another basket!

Of course we had to try the Escargot, right?

Man, these were jumbo sized! Plump, great texture, toothsome, but not chewy! Oh my, that garlic butter was so rick and savory….guess who needed more baguette?

The Sweetbread and Mushroom Vol au Vent was also a big winnah!

Light, crisp puff pastry; crisp and creamy, mildly gamey-sweet sweetbreads, earthy-sweet mushrooms. That mushroom sauce was earth-buttery-perfectly seasoned.

Our Server saw how much we loved this and he brought us another piece of the Veal Sweetbreads – such great service!

Man, I wish this were in San Diego! Even though we were outside of the restaurant; we were checked on on a regular basis. And they gave us that extra sweetbread! This was a delicious meal, our favorite of the two week trip and made up for the other mediocre meals we had in Carmel!

L’Escargot
Mission At 4th Ave.
Carmel, CA 93921

Paris – L’Escargot Montorgueil Revisited, CIAL Restaurant Coréen (since closed), and a place I’ve posted on a zillion times

October 4, 2025 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Cocktails, France, French Restaurants, Korean Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

**** I’m not going into too much detail since there’s a revisit and CIAL has already closed.

I guess we’ve been to Paris so many times that it feels like my second home….at least the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Arrondissements do. And since our stay was basically a four nights to link the Cinque Terre/Milan to London, we really didn’t make too many plans as we figured we’d be returning soon. This was, of course before we got the “little squirt”, so perhaps we should have done a bit more….but still, this was like our 9th time in Paris.

Staying at the Citadines, near Les Halles is quite convenient. The studios have a full kitchen and we really enjoyed the view of square below.

As you can see, it had been raining the night before. And being the creatures of habit that we are, headed off to our usual stop for morning coffee and people watching on Rue Montorgueil; Café du Centre. As always, some cafe allonge and “une carafe d’eau”.

And watch the “theatre of life” pass before us.

After which we headed on out to wander aimlessly. You’ll always see something interesting in Paris. On this day, there was a huge line in front of this shop.

Looking in the window…well, I cracked up as it looked like stuff based on Manga characters. Looking up the place, I found out it’s a yearly pop-up for Maison Ghibli! A store featuring “stuffs” based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli! In Paris! My goodness! Paris is always full of surprises!

And of course, we love the names of businesses here!

The clocks seems to move so quickly here! Before we knew it; it was time for lunch. I’d usually plan for our meals….but since we just wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves we hadn’t made any plans. The Missus di want some Asian food. One of the great things about Paris is having access to a decent variety of cuisines. I mean, we have our favorite “neighborhood” Sichuan and several Ramen shops that we frequent. Heck, we’ve even had decent hot pot….though we’re still searching for some good jiaozi.

During our walks, I’d noticed a Korean restaurant, on one of the side street of Rue Rambuteau. Named CIAL Restaurant Coréen.

It was a bit chilly, so I thought the Missus would enjoy a Dolsot BiBimBap and perhaps I could get some Tofu Jigae.

It seems the place was quite popular with the French folks for KBBQ. It was quite interesting as I was greeted with “Annyeonghaseyo”! All the staff on this day were Korean and they thought I was as well!

Anyway, from what I understand this place has closed since our visit, so I won’t go into too much detail. The baechu kimchi was pretty good, fermented tones.

The Missus’s Dolsot BiBimBap was ok. The dolsot wasn’t hot enough and the rice never developed a ncie crust.

I decided on some Doenjang Jigae; the fermented soybean based stew. It was fairly weak in flavor, but really did warm me up.

Basically mediocre Korean. Still, it’s interesting to see the variety of cuisines available in Paris!

CIAL Restaurant Coreen (Since closed)
16 Rue Mondétour
75001 Paris, France

We did a typical after lunch walk and took in the sights….

Before heading back to the Les Halles area.

And indulging in another typical travel habit….the afternoon nap!

Upon waking, we relaxed, had some tea, before deciding to head out for dinner. And of course, there was something happening close by….on the stage right outside Les Halles shopping mall.

For some reason, I felt like the “musicians” were having just as much fun as the folks listening!

While in Milan, the Missus really became attached to Aperotivo time and of course, She wanted to experience the same here! So we headed back up to Rue Montorgueil and Café du Centre.

Though we’ve had drinks here before; we’d never had little bites with our wine and Kir Royale before!

This was quite nice!

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

As for dinner? Well, I hadn’t made any reservations for our last evening in Paris. My initial thoughts was to hit up a Boullion, perhaps Bouillon République again? But the Missus really wanted to have the Escargot at L’Escargot Montorgueil once again! I guess She wanted to make up for the dozens of times we walked past the place thinking it was tourist hell…..and then finding out that it was quite good. We entered doing our best “marcher avec grâce” (walking with grace)….well, at least the best that a Sansei from Hawaii with two left could do…..

Our Server was again Olivier, whom we thought was a caricature of the stereotypical French waiter. But much like what we thought about L’Escargot Montorgueil we were wrong.

Olivier had a great sense of humor….drier than a French Sauvignon Blanc, delivered with a totally straight face! When we asked him how long he’d been working at L’Escargot Montorgueil, he told us “many, many, years…..longer than the furniture here has been in existence, older than Monsieur Escargot on the sign!”

Of course we ordered the Escargot and the Foie Gras, both of which were as good as what we had on our previous visit.

And of course because I’m so predictable these days….in the comments of my previous post “FOY” Kenneth asked how the Chanterelles were….because he knew we must have ordered them the next night, right?

Oh man, the boiled egg with a sinfully oozing yolk, the sauce so rich, a light acidic sweetness to go along with the earthy, yet lightly sweet-savory tones of the chanterelles.

There was not enough baguette to sop up all the drippings. We went thru three baskets of them!

The Missus really enjoyed the wine picked out for us. In spite of what we were eating, She wanted a white, so Olivier chose this.

The Missus also enjoyed the Creme Brulee for dessert.

While I had a lovely Vermouth.

This was a lovely last meal in Paris. And, I’ve learned my lesson to not disregard places just because of their location.

L’Escargot Montorgueil
38 rue Montorgueil
75001 Paris, France

After dinner we took a nice stroll up Rue Montorgueil….just enjoying the vibe.

Before heading back to the hotel. We’d be getting a nice night of sleep before heading back to London. Instead of flying, we’d be getting there a way I’d been wanting to travel since I first read about it many years ago. Boy, was I excited!

Thanks for stopping by!

Paris – Les Enfants Rouge Revisited and L’Escargot Montorgueil

August 23, 2025 mmm-yoso Fine Dining, France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

After our wonderful walking tour of the Marais we headed off to lunch. After "striking out" on our previous two meals in the city….something that had never happened to us before, I didn't want to take any chances. So, knowing that one of our favorites, is usually not very crowded on a weekday for lunch we headed on over to…..

Les Enfants Rouge:

A Le Efants Rouge 01

And yes, I was correct as the place was quite mellow during the lunch hour.

The restaurant, helmed by a Japanese Chef, who does a comingling of French dishes with Japanese touches, has become a favorite of ours. We think there's more of a Japanese influence to the menu items. As with both of our previous visits, I was actually greeted first in Japanese…then in English by the Hostess!

For lunch, a 50 Euro three course tasting menu is presented and we were glad that some of our favorite dishes were on the menu!

Because I've already done two previous posts on Les Enfants Rouge; I'm just going to mostly do photos.

We love the Lamb Terrine; it's mildly gamey-winey, quite tender.

It goes so well with the bread. And yes, that is Kyuri Asazuke that is on the plate.

Of course we had to get our favorite dish at Les Enfants Rouge; the White Fish Tempura, served with a super umami nori "dashi".

The maigre (croaker) was so moist and tender, the tempura batter light and crisp.

As you can see that dish above really skews to the Japanese side in terms of preparation. While the Blanquette de veau – veal stewed in a white sauce takes it toward the French side of the scale.

Though the Eryngii Mushrooms were sauteed with a bit of soy and perhaps mirin.

The Missus went with the restaurant's version of a Paris-Brest which has to be ordered at the beginning of the meal.

While I, the one who really doesn't have a sweet tooth was happy to have the Cheese Plate…..which the Missus enjoyed as well.

You can see why we enjoy Les Enfants Rouge, right? I wish we had something like this in San Diego….it would be a regular stop for us!

Previous posts on Les Enfants Rouge here and here.

Les Enfants Rouges
9 Rue de Beauce
75003 Paris, France

After which we headed back to the hotel and relaxed. We'd put in a good amount of mileage!

It had drizzled while we were napping and upon awakening we were blessed with a rainbow….something that I miss about living in Hawaii. And of course, rainbows always makes us remember Frankie!

We had done quite a bit already on this day, so we basically just hung around the 2nd.

IMG_3514a

Then the question arose….."what's for dinner?" I hadn't made any plans for this stay in Paris. The Missus really wanted some escargot; She was so disappointed at what we'd had for lunch at Aux Crus de Bourgogne. Then it came to me……on Rue Montorgueil, before you cross Rue Étienne Marcel was a place we passed perhaps 40 times during our stays in Paris.

It was named L'Escargot. But, much like Aux Crus de Bourgogne, we've always thought of the place as being a "tourist" restaurant. Though the sign says that it was established in 1832, when Louis Philippe I ruled France!

Well, looking online, it seems that perhaps I might have been mistaken, as the reviews were pretty good. So, we decided to head on in.

The dark, ornate interior, screamed stereotypical neo-classic/second empire decor.

Our Server was a very serious, "humphing", almost a caricature of a French waiter; Olivier. We would later find out that he was a long time Server at L'Escargot and actually has a sense of humor.

The menu itself seemed like a cliche of what one would think at stereotypical French gastronomy would be.

And of course I ordered a Kir Royale, which got a nod of approval from Olivier. And upon m first sip, my opinion of L'Escargot started changing; the ice thawing as it was perfect.

Perfectly bubbly, with balanced tart and sweet tones!

Of course we had to have the Escargot. Of which we found that there were several preparations. Versions with Black Truffle or Foie Gras!

Of course we had to get the traditional preparation. We got a dozen; which the Missus absolutely loved.

So meaty, the snails had the perfect slightly toothsome, yet tender texture. The menu says the snails are precooked in a court boullion with herbs…it is indeed delicious! Nice herbacious-savory tones; so delici-yoso with the provided baguette!

And of course I had to get the Pan Seared Foie Gras. So this was 24 € but there were two pieces of perfectly cooked, "firmly-creamy" foie gras.

The sauce added a perfect touch of fruity sweetness and the brioche even held up. Which went well with the rich-slightly offally, savory Foie Gras. Be still my heart…literally.

The only clunker of the evening were the Frog Legs.

These bow-legged stanced hind legs of said amphibian were dry and on the chewy side. The herbal topping was fine; but we just didn't care for the heading toward sourness of the flesh.

Still, the escargot and foie gras more than made up for the frog legs.

We enjoyed this meal so much that we'd return the following night for more!

Sheesh…..hidden from us in plain sight all these years!

L'Escargot Montorgueil
38 rue Montorgueil
75001 Paris, France

We headed back to our room taking a roundabout route…a nice after dinner walk…"la balade".

After having two not so good meals the previous day, the two wonderful meals on this day was a perfect correction. And for at least this evening; all seemed right in the world.

Paris – Jeffrey Cagnes (Rue Montorgueil) and Dinner at Le Colimacon

August 16, 2025 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts, France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

After lunch, we took a nice siesta. Upon awakening, the Missus decided it was the correct hour for le goûter (tea time).

So, we headed on over to Rue Montorgueil (of course) and the Missus picked up some tea from Mariage Freres.

Mariage Frères Montorgueil
90 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

And then of course she needed to find some dessert. Our usual stop on the street would be Fou de Pâtisserie, but the Missus wanted to try somethin different. Right up the street is a location of Jeffrey Cagnes, which had opened at the end of 2022. The place had always been pretty packed on our previous trip to Paris, but now it looked like things had settled down a bit.

The Missus liked the look of the pistachio tarte.

So that's what we got.

It was actually a pistachio – orange tarte.

Which the Missus enjoyed with Her tea. Edging on overly sweet, hints of orange, hints of earthy-nutty-vanilla.

Jeffrey Cagnes
73 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

We enjoyed just relaxing before heading out to dinner.

While in Milan the Missus requested that I cancel our reservations at Septime and make reservations at a place named Le Colimacon instead. I'd never heard of the place, but went ahead and cancelled Septime and made requested reservations for dinner. The "modern bistro" is located in the Marais on a street we're fairly familiar with Rue Vieille du Temple, where Breizh Café, Edwart Chocolatier, and other places we'd been to are located. We arrived at opening which was at a very "un-Paris like" 630pm. Most Parisians dine after 8pm.

The restaurant is warm and cozy and there's also an upstairs area as well. Service was very attentive and we were spoken to totally in English….which are "red flags" for me with regards to dining in Paris.

The prices weren't too bad and there seemed to be some interesting items on the menu.

Though there was an item on the iPad menu that I wasn't going to order……

I think there was something "lost in translation" here? Hmmm……

Of course I started with a nice Kir Royale!

Which sadly would be the highlight of the meal.

Though the baguette was yeasty and quite good.

First up was the Frisée with poached egg and "lard croustillant"…that would be crispy bacon.

The frisée was crisp with nice, bitter tones, and the vinaigrette complemented it well. The poached egg was ice cold and the yolk overcooked and hard. It also had that fishy flavor. The bacon was on the burnt and bitter side and was chewy instead of being crisp.

The Croustilles de Escargot was up next.

The pastry that the escargot rested in lacked crispness. The escargot was fine; nice and meaty, but the persillade needed more "umph" and was weak in the garlic and flavorful olive oil department.

Seeing Huitres…..oysters from Normandy with a truffle gratinee on the menu…well, you know I had to order that, right?

The oysters were nice and plump with an almost sweet-briney finish.

But the sauce overpowered the bivalves and we really couldn't make out any truffle flavor either.

The last dish up was the Cassolette de Champignons.

This usually creamy mushroom dish was served at room temp, which made it really gluey and pasty. The overall flavor was quite bland.

Overall, nice service though a fairly mediocre meal. All the customers were tourists, which is quite telling.

Le Colimacon
44 Rue Vieille du Temple
75004 Paris, France

As we were leaving the restaurant I asked the Missus how She heard about this place. She then told me that the daughter of the owner has a very popular Instagram account! Say what???

The place was packed with folks waiting outside when we left……ah yes, the "influencer effect".

As we walked back to our room; I tried to recall when we had two mediocre meals in a row in Paris?

Well, I was determined not to make it three in a row!

Paris – La Samaritaine, Nèulo, and a Return to Aux Crus de Bourgogne

August 15, 2025 mmm-yoso Bakery, Croissants, France, French Restaurants, Paris, France, Travel

As I continue to try to get all our travel posts done…….

Having arrived in Paris, we just wanted to relax. We'd been to the city so many times that it almost feels like our….or at least my second home. We decided to stay at the Citadines Les Halles in the 2nd Arrondissement as it was right on the RER Blue Line from CDG and of course my favorite street, Rue Montorgueil is close by.

Looking out from our room in the morning, it seemed like it was going to be a nice day.

We did our usual morning "thing" and had our morning "caffe allonge" at Café du Centre, which I'd already mentioned in my previous Paris post. We then had a nice stroll before trying to determine what we wanted to do this morning. On one of our previous trips, I noticed that La Samaritaine had reopened after being closed for 16 years!

We decided to take a look. Man, talk about a fancy place!

Established in 1869, it had become an iconic building right off the Seine. The department store closed its doors in 2005 due to safety concerns. The luxury goods company LVMH purchased the property and after 16 years the property reopened under the auspices of DFS Group. Even after all of the renovations and such, not everyone was happy about that.

We decided to take a peek…..

We walked up the stairs to the top floor……the art work is quite over-the-top.

There a restaurant which was closed. Not that we'd eat there.

There's also a area with a hologram show going.

This all seemed a bit over-the-top, though somewhat entertaining. We also noticed only a couple of customers shopping…..and really wondered if Parisians would really take to a place like this. La Samaritaine has been touted as revolutionizing the department store concept.

La Samaritaine
9 Rue de la Monnaie
75001 Paris, France

As we headed down Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie to do some necessary shopping, we stopped in at this patisserie.

They seemed to specialize in flan as there were at least eight different versions available, but the Missus wasn't interested. Of course, I just wanted a croissant aux beurre.

It was fairly light though the interior was on the moist side. Nicely laminated and crisp, but sorely lacking in butteriness. Just a mediocre version overall….I should just give in and gotten a flan….

Nèulo
46 Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie
75004 Paris, France

We managed to get some shopping done…..I've posted on these places before.

And then of course we did the lèche-vitrine – window shopping (literally translated as "window licking" in French) thing. And of course the people (and pooch) watching.

Along with a dose of history along the way…..

And doing that Flâneur thing ("to wander with no purpose") we came across this…..

It's one of the last 8 remaining towers of the Philippe Auguste Wall, which was completed in 1215 to encircle and protect the city. We would take a tour with the one and only Oliver Gee, who is obsessed with the wall and learn a lot more about it. It's amazing what you run into just walking down the street in Paris!

For dinner, we just headed on over to Rue Montorgueil and Rue Bachaumont to a place that we'd dined at twice before, Aux Crus de Bourgogne. We'd had a surprisingly good meal there, back in winter of 2022…we had passed the place so many times and thought it to be tourist restaurant. We did a follow-up visit and did not enjoy our dinner as much. This would be the "tie-breaker" of sorts. And we picked visiting during lunch.

The service was prompt and professional as always.

The Missus loves tearing into the baguette here. She also loves the rillette that accompanies the baguette!

We had really enjoyed the Vol-au-Vent with mushrooms on our first visit and were happy to see it on the menu on this day.

The puff pastry was on the doughy side and not crisp and light as we enjoy. Good amount of mushroom, but the sauce was a lot thinner than what we'd had here before and lacking in the rich-earthiness.

The Missus had always enjoyed the Escargot here, so we ordered that as well.

This had a lot less olive oil and garlic than before and the snails were on the tough side! Bummer.

This ended up being like our second, not so great visit. Well, I guess we're done with Aux Crus de Bourgogne for now.

Aux Crus de Bourgogne
3 Rue Bachaumont
75002 Paris, France

Oh well…..can't win 'em all! And we are so blessed to be able to return to Paris so often that we're able to try a place on three separate trips, right?

Road Trip – Cailloux Cheese Shop (Solvang)

April 19, 2025 mmm-yoso Cheese, Cocktails, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel

After our rather "busy" morning and afternoon, we settled back into the Viking Inn for a nice afternoon nap. When dinner time arose, we didn't want to go very far. There was a place we'd seen the previous day, that was actually open on a Tuesday (many businesses are closed on Monday and Tuesday in Solvang). Cailloux Cheese Shop is located in a courtyard that also houses McClain Cellars, Dascomb Cellars, and Cordon Tasting Rooms. It is a cheese shop – restaurant, you purchase cheese – charcuterie – wine to go, or have access to a menu of French style dishes along with accoutrements for a cheese plate along with beer and wine by the bottle or glass.

We were having an early (430) dinner, the place closes at 6pm, and this seemed perfect. So, I went in and placed our order, paid, and we had a seat in the patio. The folks working here are so very friendly and kind. We were immediately asked if we needed the heaters turned on. Which we didn't.

The Missus went with a Chardonnay and I had a Savignon Blanc.

The Missus wanted to try the Cassoulet, which seemed like a bargain at $18, so we started with that.

At this price, I didn't expect anything like what I make at home, but this was pretty good. The Guanciale added a nice rich, porkiness to the dish, which wasn't overly salty.

There was a decent amount of duck in the dish; kind of chewy, but flavorful. The beans unfortunately, were pinto, I didn't expect Tarbais or even Flageolet beans at this price point, but thought even Cannelli would have been better. I did mention this to the kind older woman who helped bring out our dishes; I believe she is the owner, who said pinto beans are the only thing they can afford to keep the price down. I totally understand!

Our Cheese and Charcuterie plate was huge!

I liked the fact that they "flagged" the cheeses for us. I especially enjoyed the Mitica KM39, firm and flavorful, it went well with the bread. I'm a fan of blue cheeses so I enjoyed the Stilton. I wish they sold Port by the glass, which would have been perfect with this; but unfortunately they don't. The Missus enjoyed the Spanish Chorizo and I the prosciutto and pate. The Pico went well with the candied walnuts as well.

This was a generous and well put together plate. The staff are wonderful. I was curious about the name of the place, "Cailloux" translates to "Pebbles" in English, but we weren't near a beach or river bed. I asked and was told that the owner named the shop after her late pooch, named "Pebbles"! You gotta love it! I know JJ did!

We were finishing right before the 6pm closing, but were told "please take your time – we won't be leaving until after 730". Very nice! It was a perfect early dinner for us and we'll make sure to return!

Cailloux Cheese Shop
1623 Mission Dr. Suite L
Solvang, CA 93463

We strolled back to the motel; the Missus relaxed in the little grass area reading. I took JJ for a nice stroll in the neighborhood. After JJ had his dinner, I took JJ to get a nightcap. During our last stay in Solvang, we discovered Vaquero Bar, attached to the Coast Range Steakhouse. The place seemed to have quite a few locals. I decided to take JJ and head on over.

The place was empty, except for one other customer, who seemed to be a regular.

I had a fairly "stiff" Old Fashioned and a nice chat with the Bartender, who also works with the county doing road repairs. He confirmed my "observations" on the morning and evening traffic patterns. He told me that this was indeed "slow" season. Things start picking up at the end of March, going all the way thru summer/early fall.

Vaquero Bar (In Coast Range Restaurant)
1635 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

This was a perfect end to an enjoyable stay.

Though we had yet another road trip coming up in a few weeks!

Stay tuned!

Road Trip – Whiskey n’ Rye, Exploring Solvang, and Bell’s (Los Alamos) Yet Again

April 12, 2025 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, BBQ, Dog Friendly, French Restaurants, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Travel

As soon as we got back from our last road trip with JJ, the Missus had me planning another one. Looks like we're doing one and month? Anyway, JJ had so much fun in Solvang and it was the slow season, so She wanted to stay there. I managed to find a dog friendly motel close to the edge of the "main drag" and we were set!

Of course, the Missus wanted to have lunch at Bell's yet again, so I made reservations for lunch and called to make sure we had a patio table. This time, even though it was on a Monday, I had 1pm reservations, so things were a bit more busy.

Still the service was great as they immediately brought JJ his own bowl of water when we were seated.

Lunch was as expected. Not going to go into much detail since I've done so many posts on the place before.

Though I will say, that even though the beef cheek in the beef cheek sandwich was delicious; we didn't care for the "rye-ish" bread that really messed up all the flavors.

Perhaps I should have stayed with my favorite here; the beef tartare. Still, this was a nice lunch.

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440

After lunch we headed straight over to Solvang to see if our room was ready. And yes, it was! So we were able to check in an hour early.

We stayed at the Viking Inn on Mission Drive.

We liked the outdoor space with a fence right outside our door. The room was comfortable. I had read about street noise, but that wasn't a problem at all. Later that evening, the Missus, JJ, and I sat and relaxed outside for a bit. We had the whole area to ourselves. Being on the first level made taking JJ out at 4 in the morning a lot easier!

It seemed like the place was only half full, so no parking or similar issues. The only time we dealt with folks was when we checked in; the rest is done by code and text messages. While these accommodations were quite different from where we stayed in Solvang before, we enjoyed it.

Not sure how it is when things are busy, but this was really relaxing!

Viking Inn
1506 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

After unpacking, we took JJ for a walk. On our last visit to Solvang we found a really nice Pet Store, which just happened to be across the street from where we were staying.

And then headed down 246 and did some shopping. While there seemed to be traffic heading out of Solvang……I found out later that all the folks working in the town head on home….the opposite happens in the morning, there we hardly saw anyone walking!

We enjoyed ducking in and out of shops!

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It was quite entertaining.

Folks working at these shops were very friendly. I'd usually stop at the front of the shop with JJ and let the Missus walk in if there's no "dogs welcome" sign. Most of the time we got waved in.

This soap shop was interesting…..

Mainly because of this sign…..

I asked the young lady working about it and she told me that every once in a while they'd find teeth marks or a chunk bitten out of the soap when they close up!

We ended up at the Mission Santa Ines, which we visited before.

We walked JJ along the grounds where dogs are allowed. JJ seems to be fascinated by statues. I call this one "JJ meets JC"!

I love the view from the Mission.

As we headed back you could see the line of cars heading out of Solvang…….

We got back to the room, took a short break and then headed out to dinner. One things about Solvang, it seems that many places are closed on Monday and Tuesday, so we had rather limited options when it came to dog friendly establishments. We decided to stay close and went to a place named Whiskey 'N Rye Smokehouse which was down at the end of Atterdag Road.

We were surprised to see that the entire interior of the restaurant and the bar was packed. I guess folks eat pretty early here? But we lucked out as the entire patio area was empty. I guess folks thought it might be too cold? The really nice Server was shocked when we said that he didn't need to fire up the heater.

As the name says; the place has a huge list of Bourbon, Scotch, Rye, and similar spirits; but I just wanted a beer.

The food offerings were BBQ/Meat/Burgers based, you know what I mean right?

The Missus had seen photos of the Brisket Dirty Fries ($22) and was fixed on ordering that.

While I don't think this was worth twenty-two bucks; it was the better of the two dishes. The fries had been "dusted" thus it was able to retain crispness thru the whole meal. The brisket wasn't very smoky and sort of stringy and chewy. I wish the cheese mix had more Gouda in it than Mozzarella, but it was great at making a gooey mess. The pickled onions and jalapenos were good as it added spice, pungency, and acidity. I thought this was decent "beer food".

We also got the Filet Mignon Tips ($34) which was a mixed bag.

We ordered the meat rare. but only the large piece was rare, the rest were medium-well, skewing things to the tough side of the scale. The meat was well seasoned, though the "sauces" really didn't go well with the proteins but was necessary for the really dry "garlic bread" bites in our opinion. The Bloody Mary aioli was interesting, but pretty bland; the BBQ Sauce was too sweet.

We were hoping for something in line with Shalhoob's, but this was more in line with "chain/tourist" food. At least the service, while a bit slow, which I can understand based on the crowd was quite nice. Not too many places open on this day so we had limited choices.

Whiskey 'N Rye Smokehouse
442 Atterdag Rd.
Solvang, CA 93463

Still, Solvang has it's charm and we were enjoying ourselves.

Thanks for stopping by!

Road Trip – Helena Avenue Bakery (Santa Barbara), Good Seed Coffee Boutique (Solvang), and a Revisit to Bell’s (Los Alamos)

April 6, 2025 mmm-yoso Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Croissants, French Restaurants, Road Trip, Sandwiches, Santa Barbara County, Travel

After a surprisingly good dinner at Shalhoob's and a nightcap at Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company, I thought I would have a nice night's sleep. Well, that was not to be. I did anticipate JJ's 4am morning "puppy potty", but I had a hard time sleeping because of the traffic noise from the 101. I really enjoyed the Moxy Hotel, but it was right on the 101 and the traffic noise kept me up for most of the night. Oh well, cant win 'em all.

When morning arose, the Missus and I made some quick plans. We had lunch reservations at our favorite restaurant in the area and added in what we thought would be a fun visit for JJ.

But before all of this, we decided to head down the block. I had noted that right across the way from Figueroa Mountain Brewing was Helena Avenue Bakery. I decided to get my croissant fix, since they supposedly made everything inhouse.

It's quite a charming spot, the bakery shares the space with a wine tasting room. It also shares the address with a place we had really looked forward to eating at that kind of disappointed us on our previous visit to the area.

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You order at the counter and are given a number. We had a seat at one of the lovely outdoor tables.

Soon enough my Americano and Croissant was ready.

The Americano was fairly smooth, with a nice kick.

Seeing that the ridges were falling off the viennoiserie made me somewhat concerned, but the pastry did not shatter into crumbs upon consuming. The exterior was light and crisp, the interior fairly fluffy and "honeycombed". It was sorely lacking in butter and even salt for that matter. Quite bland overall.

A "halfway there" croissant if I've ever had one. Liked the vibe of the place, though I'm not sure what it would be like if busy.

Helena Avenue Bakery
131 Anacapa St. Suite C
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Since we had lunch reservations in Los Alamos, we decided to head on up to Solvang which is sort of on the way. We thought that JJ might enjoy the place and since it was a Monday during the slow season, things wouldn't be too hectic.

And we were right. It was calm and relaxed, we enjoyed strolling around. And JJ kinda enjoyed his "photo-ops".

This was when we thought it would be fun staying in Solvang with JJ, which would be our next "road trip".

We took a short break at this little coffee shop.

Where I had my second Americano of the day. This one was smooth and easy to drink. We just had a seat on the porch and enjoyed things.

It was a nice break in the action for us.

Good Seed Coffee Boutique
1607 Mission Dr.
Solvang, CA 93463

We did a bit more walking; then it was time to head off for lunch. Which was going to be at our favorite restaurant in the area; Bell's in Los Alamos. Over time we've come to conclusion that we enjoy lunches at Bell's more than the prefix dinner. It's much more classically French, with local produce and such. And since this is my fourth post on the place; I'm just going to mainly do photos. You can click on the preceding links for more info on our previous visits.

Perhaps because it was 11am on a Monday, we had the place to ourselves for a while. The back patio is dog friendly and the chef even came out and spent some time with JJ!

We ordered what we usually do at Bell's. They still make one of my favorite versions of Beef Tartare.

Love the cut of beef, with a wonderful texture, perfect ratio of capers and pungency, so rich and decadent.

Of course the Missus had to have Escargot.

The Country Terrine is nice and porky, with hints of winey-sweetness. It goes well with the cornichons and grainy-pungent Dijon.

We also enjoy the slightly offally, mildly sweet Chicken Liver Mousse.

The strawberry jam works as a nice sweet "foil", with the cornichons sour-acidity clearing the palate. Our only issue is with the crostini which were hard rather than crisp.

As with our previous we enjoyed our lunch at Bell's and would return again in a few weeks.

JJ enjoyed his first visit to a Michelin Star restaurant and got treated so nicely!

Bell's
406 Bell St.
Los Alamos, CA 93440

Now it was time to head back to the hotel and get a much needed nap…..if I could block out the freeway noise; before dinner!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend!