The New Philharmonie de Paris – Imagined and Experienced – Sunday, 14 June

OK, it’s true.  I’ve been slightly obsessed with the new concert hall for the Orchestre de Paris (the “big” symphony orchestra in town).  The new hall is called the Philharmonie de Paris, it opened in January, it was designed by Jean Nouvel (who also designed the new Guthrie – yuk!), and it’s located way the heck out in the northeast of Paris (it almost touches the Peripherique, the “freeway” that encircles the city and divides Paris from the suburbs).

The orchestra moved out of their previous home, Salle Pleyel in the tony 8^th arrondissement, a convenient neighborhood for people-you’d-think-would-enjoy-symphony-concerts, close to the center of the city, with multiple transportation options, and close to multiple eateries and music-related shops.

Entrance to the smaller concert
hall, with the Philharmonie
in the background

The new Philharmonie is located in vast entertainment area called Parc de la Villette in a part of town that’s, well, not quite as tony. The Parc also houses a science museum, a smaller concert hall, an IMAX theater, a historical musical instrument museum, a huge pop concert arena (6000+ seats), some smaller musical performance spaces, a couple theatre/dance stages, a giant open-space-under-a-tent for circus performances, the Paris Conservatory of Music, etc. etc. etc., as well as some gardens & green space. 

Green space near the entrance

When I arrived there was a skateboarding demo underway on the huge plaza.  City planners are clearly trying to bring together people of diverse economic classes, cultures, ages and interests to a space where there’s always something interesting happening.

Unfortunately, they don’t have the transportation logistics worked out.  The main avenue leading to the area, Avenue Jean Jaurès, is too narrow for all of the buses, autos and taxis needed to deliver large numbers of people to the area (and it’s the main artery for all kinds of delivery vehicles too). There appears to be only one parking garage and oh, my, did the people trying to enter it this afternoon ever clog up traffic! Only one subway line serves the area.  A few bus lines do, as does the tramway (one of Paris’ best-kept transportation secrets – more about that later).

Missing tiles on the terrace
seating area

There’s been a bit of controversy about the construction of the building (cost & schedule over-runs to start with!), and there is almost NO interior signage (sadly, a “feature” of many of Jean Nouvel’s buildings!), and you can clearly see that some parts are unfinished, and some of the very unusual tile-work is falling off the exterior. Jean Nouvel was so angry about it opening before it was ready that he asked for his name to be removed from official info.  As a matter of fact, they’re totally closing it at the end of June to take the summer to finish things for the 2015-2016 concert season (and moving previously-scheduled summer concerts elsewhere).

BUT OH, MY GOODNESS, IS IT WONDERFUL! My spirit soared as I viewed its gorgeous lines and soaring up-sweeping curves as I walked towards it from the south.  The two-story escalator swept me from the ground level up to the first landing/entrance from the eastern ramp (although the escalator stopped just a few steps from the top – eek – glad I wasn’t further down!).  A shorter escalator then went up to the main entrance and multiple terraces. There's a huge triangular staircase to the south of the escalator entrance that can serve as seating for outdoor performances on the pavement. The shapes of the exterior’s assorted tiles that, when combined, look like birds in flight, were repeated on the paving and the terrace facings. 

My entrance

When I finally found my entrance (after a couple wrong turns), the interior of the hall took even more of my breath away.  It’s unlike any other hall in the world with its shape and cloud-like seating areas and adjustable panels. And I’m THRILLED to report that the acousticians did a fabulous job – the sound was warm, just-reverberant-enough, well-balanced, not seeming to favor any family of instruments. In addition to designing acoustics for unamplified orchestral & choral performances, the engineers installed a sound system for special needs and for other types of concerts.  They used amplification for this afternoon’s guitarist, and my only gripe is that it was cranked up way too high – it distorted some of his sound and the quality of his sound clashed at times with the acoustic sound coming from the orchestra. The Philharmonie also has a pipe organ – wow – I’d love to hear that some day!

Here's a video of British conductor Sir Simon Rattle talking about the marvelous acoustics in the hall:  "Lucky Paris"

(P.S. to my musician friends - if you know someone in the Orchestre de Paris, I'd love hear their opinions on the quality of the acoustics on the stage. It seemed to me like the musicians could hear each other well (something I don't think was always true at Salle Pleyel).

Here's the view from my seat.

This concert of South & Latin American music appeared to be sold out – just a few empty seats here and there.  All ages were represented, children (about age 6 and up) to oldsters with canes!  Quite a good percentage of 20-somethings.  But mostly whites and Asians. I saw one scalper outside (BTW, one of my goals in life is to see scalpers outside every MN Orchestra concert!). 

I gotta pull up their 2015-2016 season info to see when I can squeeze in another trip and another concert or two!

For a variety of reasons, I took an Uber ride up to the concert.  We experienced traffic jams in several locations. And this was a relatively calm Sunday afternoon – a weeknight would be a huge mess! 

Anyone need a ticket???

I had never used the tramway before so decided to give it a try for my trip back home.  The new comfortable traincars run above ground on smooth new tracks in special grassy boulevards along the outer edge of the city proper – and you use the same “billet” (ticket) that you would use on a bus or subway.  You catch the Tram 3b just about a block from the Philharmonie at its Porte de Pantin stop. I was headed to the south of Paris, so I transferred to the Tram 3a at the end of 3b’s line, and took that to Porte d’Orleans, where I jumped on the Metro for a short trip to the Saint-Sulpice exit, just 1/2 block from the apartment!  Easy peasy (once you figure out the system) and cheap!  The trip home on the tram covered many more miles but it took about the same amount of time as the trip to the Philharmonie on Uber. And I saw parts of Paris I've never seen before!

The Philharmonie, viewed
from the Tram station

The eastern pedestrian ramp

 

It’s not every day that one’s impatient and eager (and downright obsessive) anticipation turns out even better than what one imagined.  But this was one of those days!  So I guess that I’ll just have to keep on obsessing!

Here are just a few more miscellaneous photos:

Interior hallway

"The Hulk!" - my shadow selfie on the terrace

Main entrance from the level 2 terrace

The token they give you as you head out to intermission
(to prevent second-half freeloaders!) - you give
it back to the usher on your way back into the buiding

The token flip side

For more info:  http://philharmoniedeparis.fr/en

Luxurious Doing-Nothingness - Saturday, 13 June

Some of you have heard me say that one of the joys of coming to Paris regularly is that things feel comfortable, familiar and stress-free since I’ve in years past figured out most of the logistical “stuff” for getting around, the kinds of things I do & don’t want to see/do, etc.  So if I want I can just hang out in cafés all day and read & write, or watch the world go by, or take frequent naps, or whatever. Of course there are always new things I want to see or do or experience or eat/drink or learn and other things I want to re-experience, but I don’t have to be running at a break-neck pace every day.  Which is good because if I attempted to run I’d probably break my neck.

Well, today I got to experience a bit too much of that doing-nothing luxury.  After running a few errands in the morning I came back to the apartment feeling kind of crappy.  And without going into a lot of detail, let me just say that I thought it would be wise to stay close to the bathroom for the rest of the day.  So bang went the plans (other than napping).

The good news is that I learned something about Paris in my afternoon of lethargy!  Think what you might about Baron Haussmann ripping up much of medieval Paris in the 19^th century to install broad boulevards and make many other then-controversial changes, he had significant foresight relative to the city’s infrastructure.  For example, he had two public water systems installed underground – one, potable drinking water that flows into taps, the other untreated, non-potable water from the Canal St-Martin and the Seine that is used to clean the streets (by those nice guys with lime green brooms in lime green uniforms and by larger scrubber vehicles [some of them made by my old employer Tennant!]) and flow into the sewers. Read more of the story in Heather Stimmler-Hall’s blog post (she’s the one who also clued me in to La Maison du Pastel) here:  Dual Water Systems  

In the evening I felt well enough to go out for some salmon and risotto at Café Cassette about a block away. Very tasty, but I could eat about half of it. And happily, I was close to my home base for luxurious doing-nothingness-for-a-week!

My Pizza is SO Chic! - Friday, 12 June

For many years my tradition has been to have pizza for dinner my first night in town. Strange, I know, and I can’t really explain any logic behind it (other than that it’s pretty simple fare for a jetlagged evening).  But there ya go.

I didn’t get my pizza on Tuesday night, but there is a highly-rated joint just a couple blocks away called Pizza Chic, so I gave it a try tonight. It lived up to its name! 

This place is so chic that it has a topping that I’ve only ever heard mentioned in hushed tones, Lardo di Colonnata de Fausto Guadagni – the brick-sized blocks of pure white pork back fat that is cured with salt, pepper and rosemary in subterranean Carrara marble vats for at least 6 months in the tiny village of Colonnata, Italy.  Only a few families produce it, and Fausto Guadagni’s is the most highly regarded of them.

Even my coffee was
served in a chic fashion,
on a small silver tray!

The resto's namesake pizza, the “Pizza Chic” featured only this lardo (and a little rosemary) on a sauceless crust, so I had to order it!  WOW!  The lardo was sliced paper-thin, and generous ribbons of it were dropped onto the crust (which was absolutely fabulous – crisp and sweet and full-flavored) after it came out of the oven. The lardo was very clean tasting and buttery, with just a hint of herbaceousness, just slight salty, as pure a charcuterie as I’ve ever eaten. Even though it was 100% fat it didn’t seem fatty. Although there were no muscle fibers in it, you still had to chew it – it didn’t melt away on its own. The pizza was served with a plate of vinaigrette-dressed arugula – I piled some on each slice of pizza just before I ate it.  An absolutely eye-opening experience! 

The place was packed when I strolled over at about 9:30, but happily I was able to get a table outside (I love eating outside and it was pretty loud inside!). The interior is very stylish – an embossed cast iron wall, hanging chrome-dipped lightbulbs, a giant black wood-burning oven, white tablecloths.

Join the chic crowd next time you’re in Paris! It’s not gauche to eat Italian food here, especially since this is on the left bank (tee hee!). Pizza Chic, 13 Rue de Mézières in the 6th arrondissement.  www.pizzachic.fr

[Here is a bit more history about Lardo di Colonnata (shamelessly cut and pasted from the “Discover Italian Food” website):

“The history of this product is mixed with legend and myths, such as that of Michelangelo hoarding on the local lard while visiting Colonnata to choose the best marble blocks.

“The origins of Colonnata are related to a colony of slaves from Ancient Rome sent to Carrara to work at the quarries. These ancient workers from Rome gradually mixed with the local mountain population.

“Since that ancient time lard has always been the food of quarrymen, usually consumed with only bread and fresh tomatoes. The quarries have been the life of Colonnata until the late 1950s, when the men started to move to the factories in the nearby city of Massa. Today, only about 300 people live in Colonnata.

“Nonetheless, the tradition of lard production has been passed from generation to generation, and today only a few families in Colonnata are full time producers of lard.”]

My Little Corner of the World - Friday, 12 June

Not every lunch is haute cuisine, but they're pretty much always tasty.  In her “Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” book and app, Patricia Wells recommends Bar de la Croix Rouge, a café right at my corner that's always packed, so I tried it today. Toasted Polaine bread (from the bakery just down the street) topped with thinly sliced yummy rare roast beef on a bed of salad greens dressed with mustard vinaigrette and a flurry of sliced cornichon. Heavenly! And they have Leffe on tap. And the espresso is very good. All for 18€. A winner! I could get used to this.

Across the intersection I found a guy assembling and selling little bundles of lavender. Can’t go wrong for 5€.  And he put on his chapeau when I asked if I could take his picture!

A display of terrine “baguettes” outside Comtesse du Barry in another portion of my intersection called out to me, so I just had to buy one!  I got the tube of nine 70-gram cans of duck, chicken, pork and goose terrines.  Very cute, and I’m hoping they’ll be very tasty.  I also grabbed a tin of sardines – because the tin was cute and, I mean, why not?!?

Then just a few steps back around the corner to drop everything off at the apartment. I am so dang spoiled.

Powerful Pastels - Not an Oxymoron! - Thursday, 11 June

About a month ago a Paris-based blogger by the name of Heather Stimmler-Hall published a post about a historic boutique selling hand-made pastels in the heart of the Marais district.  It’s called La Maison du Pastel, and rather than repeat everything that Heather said, I’ll just give you the link!  Secrets of Paris Blog

Despite the fact that I couldn’t draw a straight line with a pastel (if, indeed, I could avoid dropping it on the floor), I just had to visit this place.  And I’m glad I did!  The colors were so deeply intense and almost luminous that they took my breath away.  I could almost hear them singing.  Here, for example, is their range of blues. 

These pastels were first developed in 1720, and one Henri Roché built the business in the 1860s.

On the wall was a 75% reproduction of a painting (the original is in New York) by one of their customers depicting a “standoff” with another customer in the shop.  Must see if I can find more info about it!

And I found a very interesting 14-minute video about the shop: "The Feel of Color"  Please watch it for terrific insights into the product, its history, its creation and its use.  You will thank me!  I loved this line “I would like each of my paintings to carry good news, like the appearance of the dove announcing the end of the flood.”

Of course, after seeing such beautiful craftsmanship, one must come back down to earth - it helps to stop for a drink at the café right outside the door!  Here’s the view from my table.  

20, rue Rambuteau.  Open only Thursday afternoons, 2-6.  The proprietors, one of whom is a descendant of founder Henri Roché and the other who was originally from the U.S., speak very fine English, so browsing and buying is very easy!  I might just have to become a pastelist in my old age.

Garance's Gunmetal Grey Guises Great Grub - Thursday, 11 June

I am reformed! I shall continue to dine at temples of gastronomy, but at lunchtime whenever I can.

Restaurant Garance was my white tablecloth lunch destination today. It’s in the Les Invalides neighborhood, just a couple blocks from the Museé Rodin, so a handy spot if you happen to be in that ‘hood for some sightseeing!

And although the décor centers around an extreme version of the trendy gunmetal grey “color” (which to me is quite depressing), the food is definitely worth sightseeing and tastebud tickling!

Chef Guillaume Iskandar, a former sous chef to Alain Passard at l’Arpège, helms the kitchen. The restaurant received its first Michelin star in January.

While I was perusing the menu, the waiter brought me a couple pieces of the best brioche I’ve ever tasted, along with an herbed mashed sweet potato spread to accompany them.  The bread had a depth and herbaceous quality (extremely fine eggs and butter must have gone into it!), and its tender airy texture belied its richness.

For my first course I chose the “egg parfait.” What a marvel of understatement that description was!  When the deep orange yolk of the perfectly soft-boiled egg flowed onto the plate I almost fainted, it was so beautiful! Too bad I didn't grab my camera in time to capture video of it (really! it was that beautiful!) but I did get you a snapshot.  The egg was encrusted with crunchy savory breadcrumbs.  Quail (I think) drumsticks and “oysters” of intensely-flavored thigh meat were scattered about the plate.  Wonderful poached onion segment “boats” served as great scoops for the sauce and foam (I must experiment with these when I get home, but I imagine they were made by cutting a medium-size onion into about 6 wedges and then poaching them in chicken stock or court bouillon until they’re tender-crunchy, then separating them into individual leaves).  This was all sitting on a pool of dark lentil purée enhanced with squid ink (I think – it had a slight iodine quality to it).  It all was smooth, sweet, earthy, and impossible to turn down even though there was just a bit too much of it all for a starter course!

For my main course, a large portion of perfectly seared duck breast, topped with crunchy savory breadcrumbs. It was wonderful, but almost secondary to the fabulous vegetables and sauces!  I could have eaten the poached fennel wedges all day – intensely flavored, silky textured, that slight acidic quality you want to offset very rich meat. Two roasted mushroom caps gave a deep earthy quality to the dish, and the dollops of tart apricot purée provided beautiful contrast.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the waiter added a small bowl of white bean purée topped with some crunchy mushroom bits and a plate with duck confit, eggplant sauce, and a wedge of apricot.  Wow.  I couldn’t eat it all.  This would have easily satisfied 2 people.

But of course there’s always room for dessert!  I selected a scoop of heavenly chocolate mousse accompanied with some vanilla ice cream, pistachio purée, crunchy pistachios and fresh sweet cherries.  This managed to find a few pockets in my stomach not full of the previous courses!

Terrific espresso with two little financier topped with lemon crème wrapped things up nicely.

They didn’t have my favorite mineral water, Badoit, but the waiter recommended Ventadour 1858 and said it was better than Badoit.  So I got a bottle.  It was very fine (but better? nah, I don’t think so!).  The sommelier recommended a dry red Grenache from the Roussillon region in the far southwest of France to go with the main course, and it was a good choice – fairly light, spicy, a hint of tobacco – I was pleased!  Apparently this place is known for its very fine and extensive wine cellar.

All of this for 60€ (about $67).

The street level contains their bar with just a few stools and the kitchen in back (not visible). It’s painted in this deep gunmetal grey that I find quite unappealing.  The two dining rooms were up a dark staircase (happily, they had lights under the treads so one didn’t trip) and they were comfortable and bright. The room I was in had about 14 places.  I was somehow expecting it to be a bit more beautifully furnished, but I guess that the food gets to provide the visual excitement!  It was quite warm in the dining room (or maybe it was just me – I worked up a sweat hiking a few blocks from the bus stop to the resto!) 

Their fancy techno-toilet did everything except pee for you!

This part of town is chock-full of foreign embassies, so you see a lot of suits in the ‘hood and the restos.  It was fun hanging out with the diplomats for an hour or so and pretending that I was one of them!

The door you look for!

"I Can't Watch!" - Gymnasts on Stone Pavement - Wednesday, 10 June

I’ve written before about the surprising, delightful and unexpected entertainment you find on the streets here.  It might be a drum corps with jugglers on stilts (Drum Parade) or an installation of bustiers (Bustiers) or a huge range of musicians in the Métro (Klezmer Band) or a rollerblader with very fancy footwork (Rollerblader) or who knows what! 

Well, this afternoon the “what” was a group of about eight very brave gymnasts/drummers taking their act up and down the stone-paved rue Montorgueil. There I was, drinking a café and minding my own business, when they set up shop right across from me. Shirtless and very muscular (with several of them sporting knee braces), they proceeded to leap and karate-kick and perform aerial flips and twists and other maneuvers that I don’t know how to describe, while their pals gave them rhythm on drums and tambourines.  Did I mention that they were doing this on stone pavement? (No wonder that some of them were wearing knee braces.)  I almost had to avert my eyes, I was so afraid that one of them would break something. (I can't handle circuses either.)   

I should have pulled out my camera right then, but fear of capturing a gruesome scene prevented me!  They did move around the corner, and I managed to capture a few seconds of video for you.  But you should have seen them up close, and YOU should have captured video that I could watch later (once you could be assure me that it didn’t contain any nasty injury scenes!).

Future Famous Faces of Classical Music - Wednesday, 10 June

Grant Luhman. Remember this name and this face. You’ll be hearing big things from him in the years ahead (if you haven’t already!).

Grant is the co-founder, along with Emily Green (she’s a horn player, so you know she’s smart!), of Young Musicians of Minnesota (YMM).  He is now studying composition and oboe performance at Indiana University, and it just so happens that he’s in Paris for a month studying at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), founded by Pierre Boulez in 1977.  It’s adjacent to, and associated with, the Centre Pompidou.  Read about IRCAM here: IRCAM  Read about YMM here: YMM

Since Grant’s school is close to my favorite street, rue Montorgueil, I decided that I’d better introduce them!  So we met up for an early-evening drink and a chat at one of its several terraces.  It’s the Parisian thing to do!

Grant told me that Boulez has traditionally met with the students at the IRCAM course, but due to his health issues (he’s 90 now), he won’t be able to do so this summer.  Nevertheless, he’s loving his course and Paris (bien sur!).  And he even got to a concert up at the new Philharmonie de Paris before I did (my ticket is for Sunday – I can hardly wait!).

It’s always great to see the future famous faces of classical music and to absorb some excitement and insight from them.  Take advantage of it when you can!  And remember this face!

Ellsworth's Worth - Wednesday, 10 June

This morning was to have featured three special exhibits at the Louvre (Winged Victory, Sacred Images, Thracian Kings), and I got up early-ish, but the brain was total sludge and the body not far behind.  Dang jetlag.  It’s not nice to (try to) fool mother nature!  Must find time for those exhibits later this week.

So after getting a few things done in the apartment and meandering around the ‘hood a bit, I headed up to my lunch reservation at Ellsworth.  It’s the new casual “daughter” restaurant of the highly regarded Verjus (where I was fortunate enough to have dinner about a year ago).

Just because it’s casual doesn’t mean that its food carries any less PUNCH!  Knocked me out!

First I had thick spears of warm blanched (or maybe steamed) violet asparagus with fabulous tangy/citrusy and spicy feta cheese (the heat came from harissa) and some scattered herbs and sunflower nuts and other seeds.  A brilliant combo.  I’m guessing that they mixed the harissa into some buttermilk and then soaked the feta in that mixture to spice it up.  In any case, the cool-yet-hot cheese combined with the still-slightly-crunchy warm asparagus was a revelation!

Then the best chicken sandwich EVER!  No hyperbole here.  The deeply flavored sweet succulent warm fried chicken pieces sat on top of some spicy wholegrain mustard. It was topped with a cloud of zippy & refreshing homemade “pickle” of very finely julienned cabbage & red onion.  It was all contained in a sweet brioche-like lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Perfection.

Finally, I went with the deeeelicious Sainte-Maure cheese (from the Loire region, made with unpasteurized full-fat goat’s milk) with rhubarb compote (tart, concentrated by cooking out most of the moisture, partially pureed, sweetened with just a touch of honey). The chèvre was fresh and earthy, with just a bit of sweetness in the rind.  The rhubarb compote was wonderfully intense.

A rosé from the Languedoc enhanced everything beautifully.  It even played nicely with the rhubarb – no small accomplishment, trust me!  An intense, thick, hot espresso, the best of my trip so far, rounded things off nicely!

34€ (about $39 with the good exchange rates right now) for everything. Hecuva deal!

The place seats about 30 people.  It’s not as charming as Verjus upstairs, and there’s not really a view, but the food and other diners make up for that!  It sounded like about half of the tables were speaking French and half English.   34, rue de Richelieu in the 1^st arrondissement.  http://www.ellsworthparis.com/en-main

The door you look for!

From my table towards the entrance

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