Before the tracks of the RER suburban line were laid, Parisians commuted to and from the suburbs via steam trains. On the east edge of the city, Vincennes-bound travelers boarded at the Bastille where a grandiose station, inaugurated in 1869, handled 30,000,000 passengers per year in the 1920s. The rise of the automobile diminished its use and the last train pulled out of the Bastille in 1969. While the Gare de la Bastille had a brief stay-of-execution through its transformation into a concert venue, it was razed in 1984 to make way for the Opéra Bastille.

The Coulée Verte, loosely translated as the Green River, now follows the trace of the old rail tracks beginning behind the opera house. From there it snakes through the 12th arrondissement, a part of the city little explored by visitors, unless they might be visiting the Marché d’Aligre Beavau, one of the most vibrant food market areas (part indoor, part covered) of Paris, and its neighboring restaurants, cafés and wine bars.

Setting out from the Bastille, the path is elevated along the old viaduct, now called the Viaduc des Arts, whose arches are home to elegant craft stores and workshops. Beyond the viaduct, the path lowers into a neighborhood park before winding its way through the varied urban landscape toward the edge of the city, occasionally branching out into broad picnic areas and playgrounds.

This variety adds spice to the trail since almost every conceivable approach to urban landscaping is tried and tested somewhere along the route. There are bird sanctuaries, bike paths, formal rose gardens and several stretches where weeds go wild. There’s everything but the kitchen sink. No, you actually can see kitchen sinks as you amble past people’s 4th floor windows on the elevated sections.

The most extraordinary architectural highlight offered by the Coulée Verte’s elevation is a view of the chorus line of Michelangelo slaves that adorn the top two floors of the Police Commissariat at 80 avenue Daumesnil. The building screams 1930, but it was designed by Barcelona-based architects Manuel Nunez-Yankowsky and Mirian Teitelbaum in 1991. The balcony apartments shadowed by those mighty stone thighs are reserved for police personnel.

The Coulée Verte René-Dumont was originally called the Promenade Plantée, the Planted Promenade. In emphasizing its greenery it also took on the name of René Dumont, an agronomist and one of the fathers of France’s ecological political movement. Paris has a second Coulée Verte, the Coulée Verte du Sud Parisien, that’s especially worthwhile for leisure bikers. It begins toward the southern edge of the city, behind the Montparnasse Station, and extends nine miles to the suburb of Massy.

The Coulée Verte René-Dumont is partially bikable but only parts are truly bike-friendly. Walking shoes are the best bet here. This Coulée Verte is best approached via metro Bastille or Ledru Rollin. There are then a number of stair entrances up to the planted promenade on the viaduct. For an approach without stairs, the Coulée Verte is accessible via the entrance on rue Jacques Hillairet (near Metro Montgallet) and by the Surcouf elevator in the same general area.

If you plan to wander hors piste for sustenance, Le Viaduc Café (43 avenue Daumesnil) makes for a fine pause for coffee or lunch. The above-mentioned Aligre Beauvau Market is also well worth a detour, particularly if you’d like to picnic along the Coulée Verte. The market (closed Mon.) is in fact a notable place to begin or end an exploration of this area.

Train buffs may want to picnic in the newly renovated gardens of the Gare de Reuilly at 6 rue Dukas/181 avenue Daumesnil, a rare vestige of the old Vincennes line that has survived and that lives on as a neighborhood community center.

The Coulée Verte opens at 8am on weekdays, 9am on weekends and holidays. Closing times vary from 6pm to 9:30pm depending on the section and the season. See the City of Paris website for times.

Text and photos by Corinne LaBalme.

The post The Coulée Verte: A Green and Gentle Promenade in Eastern Paris appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

In 1912, dance fanatics flocked to the Théâtre du Châtelet to watch Vaslav Nijinski and Tamar Karsavina of the Ballets Russes perform new-fangled ballets like Firebird and Spectre de la Rose. During intermission, bemused spectators would thumb through elaborate programs for Cocteau’s take on what it was about.

Parisian couturier Jean Doucet chose this historic venue to premiere an All-About-Avian Spring/Summer 2013 haute couture collection that didn’t need any footnotes.

With Irina Kolesnikova of the Saint Petersbourg Ballet making a star pirouette on the runway, fashionistas checked out a Very Vogue Version of Swan Lake.

In Doucet’s re-staging, good girl Odette snags the guy since Irina got to wear the feathered wedding dress in the finale—although, come to think of it, back-stabbing Odile was also invited to the party.

Far, far from the avenue Montaigne crowds, Jean Doucet’s salon adds a spark of glam to ever-so-slowly gentrifying Bercy district at 6 rue Jean Renoir in the 12th arrondissement.

© 2013, Corinne LaBalme

Corinne LaBalme, a Paris-based writer, journalist and editor, is currently working on development of a series life-style documentaries for Muses Productions.

The post Paris Haute Couture for the Birds appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

So it was with Fabien Nègre at Le Cotte-Roti, a year-old “bistronomic” restaurant near Marché d’Aligre in the 12th arrondissement. With his doctorate in philophy and post-graduate degree in economy, professional experience in radio and television, and expertise in gastronomy and cigars, Fabien Nègre is the kind of person whom you can ask how he got from there to here and then sit back and enjoy the ride.

Marché d’Aligre, the nearby food market, is notable for its own pairing of character and history. The neighborhood of a food market is traditionally prime territory for homey bistros and rustic wine bars. For the latter, Le Baron Rouge is now part of the city’s folklore, so if you’ve never been there you might push past the smokers outside and cozy up to a barrel for a glass of down-home red before going for the more refined stuff at Le Cotte-Roti two blocks away.

While traditional bistro and ethnic fare is found all around this market area, we’ve come to Le Cotte-Roti to examine a more contemporary development in Paris market (and non-market) neighborhoods, something that has in the past few years come to be called bistronomy.

Bistronomy is a combination of bistro and gastronomy. The term best applies to bistros where the chef continues to emphasize seasonal produce and nearly traditional recipes while displaying his knowledge and interest in more polished or sophisticated cuisine. These are indeed bistros since the additional elements required of a truly gastronomic restaurant—elegant services, fine tableware, more expensive produce, a section-by-section kitchen staff, a decorator—may be absent.

A number of famous (read: trademarked) mid-career and older chefs who have made their name in gastronomy now have an adjacent business of bistronomy, while opening such a restaurant is now also a way for chefs in their 30s to try to strut their stuff and take full control at an early stage in their career.

The term bistronomy is naturally a fad, a bit of a marketing ploy by which its owner or chef claims to be a cut above the ordinary bistro. Yet beyond the easy way the word rolls off the tongue lies the sensible notion that traditional French cuisine evolves and that gastronomy is just another of saying a good meal. Add to that the notion that a hungry traveler can have a relaxed, well-conceived meal in an unpretentious setting at an inviting price.

Le Cotte-Roti is a classic example. It is an open 30-seat space that’s pleasant enough without having any particular charm. Service is kind if direct. The chef sometimes gives a hand in the dining room. A three-course meal is currently an honest 30€ without supplements. One comes for the food.

Thus a tasty October lunch with Fabien of hare terrine containing bits of foie gras; braised veal tournedos with stewed mushrooms; a fruity-cum-earthy bottle of Faugères, a Syrah-Mouevèdre-and-then-some blend from the Languedoc region.

Re-thus a notable November dinner with Jean-François (who not only allowed me to share in the conversation but also in his meal) of oeuf mollet frit, a fried soft-boiled egg on a pesto-lined “dipping” bread; a mi-cuit foie gras terrine; a succulent scallop and potato purée dish; a sea bream (dorade/daurade) on a bed of salsify heightened with white truffle oil; poached quince with a triangle of French toast; poached pear on a creamy rice putting laced with caramel. Wine: Saint Joseph 2006, a Syrah from the northern portion of the Rhone Valley.

All these are good examples of bistronomy’s enhanced bistro fare and of someone giving it his best effort in the kitchen. Regarding those efforts, the foie gras lacked umph (and curiously of toast), an indication that one can’t expect the chef in a two-man kitchen to do everything well.

Nicolas Michel, 33, owner-chef of Le Cotte Roti, is in many ways the classic example of the type of culinary beginnings and ambition that have led to such praisable, acceptably-priced bistronomy. His C.V., punctuated by the names of notable restaurants, also serves as a language lesson for anyone looking to learn the terms for kitchen help in French: stagiaire (trainee/intern), divers extras en cuisine (various on-call jobs, i.e. Hey, Nick, I need someone to help out Saturday night, are you free?); 1er commis de cuisine (basically the cook helper); demi chef de partie (somewhere between a commis and a section head): chef de partie (section head);chef de cuisine (head chef); second de cuisine (sous chef); chef cuisinier (big boss, accompanied here by the title propiétare-gérant/owner-manager)

Cotte-Roti is a play on words involving the name of the street (rue de Cotte) and the Nicolas Michel’s reverence to Côte Rôtie, the Rhone Valley appellation that has made a name—and a price—for itself over the past decade. Mr. Michel, having lived in the Côte Rôtie area for two years, is a big fan of these wines. Sold here at 80-90€ per bottle, they can overwhelm the price of the meal. That’s not a judgment, just an observation. Indeed, despite the moderate price of bistronomic meals such as served here, bistronomy does assume a clientele capable of spending more and of aiming high when in the mood or at the appropriate occasion. Most wines here are priced in the 30-45€ range on a list that sits broadly in Côtes du Rhone, therefore mostly Syrah, territory, while occasionally spilling north to Beaujolais, Burgundy and the Loire, and west to Languedoc as during my lunch with Fabien Nègre.

As for what Fabien was telling me during this time, there’s no need for me to repeat it here. You’ll soon be able to sit back and enjoy his affable, wide-ranging conversation yourself by reading his series of portraits of some of Paris’s most celebrated chefs to appear on France Revisited beginning with his portrait of Guy Martin of Le Grand Véfour in February 2009.

Le Cotte-Roti, 1 rue de Cotte, 12^th arrondissement. Near Marché d’Aligre. Tel. 01 43 45 06 37. Metro Ledru Rollin. Closed Sun., Mon., Dec. 25-Jan. 1, three weeks in Aug.

Le Baron Rouge, 1 rue Théophile Roussel, 12^th arrondissement. Near Marché d’Aligre. Tel. 01 43 43 14 32. Metro Ledru Rollin. Closed Mon.

© 2008, Gary Lee Kraut

The post Le Cotte-Roti: Exploring Bistronomy Near Marché d’Aligre appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.