By: Anonymous

Good food in every city

 Being an OHS student allows you to be anywhere in the world and still take classes. Those of us who have had the privilege of visiting other countries know the feeling of experiencing other cultures. A large part of that experience is cuisine.

Paris is known around the world for being a city with beautiful landmarks and a deep history. However, it is mostly known for its food. I have had the treat of visiting Paris on more than one occasion, and these are a few of my favorite restaurants and food places that you are not likely to find in the guidebooks.

1. Picard

Website: http://www.picard.fr/

Picard is not for those staying in a hotel. You see, Picard is a frozen food market, so their products require a freezer and a kitchen. Be warned, you may mistake it for a morgue or a surgical supply store, but it isn’t. When you walk in, you immediately feel a change in atmosphere. The icy tundra of freezer cases surrounds the entire market. There are carts lined with silver insulation used for transporting food from one place to another. You may find it hard to believe that France’s most popular brand produces frozen food. Well, it does. Picard teams up with the best chefs in France to create gourmet frozen foods and dishes. When I first heard of it, I was doubtful. Surely this was another Stouffer’s or Lean Cuisine. It most definitely isn’t.

Some of my favorite products are the Timbales de Sorbet and the Trois Fromages Pizzas. They have delicious hamburgers, bagels with lox, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, every type of fish, meat and poultry, fancy hors d’oeuvres, and entrees – all frozen solid and waiting to be warmed and eaten!

2. The Swedish Institute:

Website: https://paris.si.se/infos-pratiques/cafe-suedois-3/

If you’ve had your fill of French Cuisine, try one of my non-French personal favorites. The Swedish Institute is a cultural center for Swedes in Paris. However, lying inside the beautiful courtyard is a small café with indoor and outdoor garden seating. There is no menu, so one has no idea what to expect when they arrive. There are Scandinavian sandwiches with homemade bread and delicious soups. Make sure to save room for the desserts. Each dish is more delicious than the next. The most recent included: lingonberry and cardamom cake, carrot cake filled with coconut and a dark chocolate orange cake. Afterwards, make sure to see the newly reopened Picasso Museum, which is located only a few blocks away.

3. Cantine California:

Website: http://www.cantinecalifornia.com/

Founded by a Canadian-American from San Francisco, Cantine California is a food truck that serves astoundingly delicious burgers and the best Mexican food I’ve had in Paris. Don’t let the long lines discourage you from tasting American food, “France Style”. The menu is a small one. There are only two options for tacos (Carnitas and Chicken) and five different burgers including the “Obama Burger”. Each burger contains a perfectly cooked beef patty and all sorts of toppings. A freshly

baked sesame-seed bun tops off the masterpiece of a burger. Now for the tacos… Inside the warm, flour tortillas are your choice of meat, fresh salsa, and many other delicious ingredients. This is all multiplied by three and placed with a side of black beans. It may be hard to find the truck because it does travel around. I know for sure that it stops at the farmers market on Boulevard Raspail on certain days a week. If eating at a little standing table doesn’t suit you, one could always visit the Cantine California restaurant, which I have yet to visit.

4. Altaglio:

Website: http://www.altaglio.fr/en/

Altaglio is a nicer and more creative version of your local pizza parlor. They have everything from a simple Margarita with fresh cheese to the most exotic of pizzas such as the potato and truffle pizza (my particular favorite). Altaglio has three locations, all in different areas around Paris. Some of its locations include the low-key Republiqué and the bustling Saint-Germain-des-Pres. No matter which location you visit, the pizza made there is of the highest quality. When you walk inside, you are immediately faced with over 5 rectangular trays full of pizza, each with unusual ingredients. Behind the counter sits an employee wearing an apron and holding rather sharp scissors in both hands. It is with these utensils that the employee looks to you as you gesture where you would like her to cut. The pizza is priced according to weight, not by slice. Many boxes of pizza can fill with just one purchase. However, you don’t have to worry about carrying these many boxes due to an ingenious invention: a plastic carrying sack with large holes in each corner of the bag. When you put pizza boxes inside, the corners fit perfectly into the holes to ensure a better “pizza experience”.

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Categories: The Argo