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| Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City's 102 Best Restaurants | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Lobrano
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $9.00
You Save: $7.00 (44%)
Buy New/Used from $9.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (20 reviews)
Sales Rank: 17230
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0812976835
Dewey Decimal Number: 647.9544361
EAN: 9780812976830
ASIN: 0812976835
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Release Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 16-20 of 20 | | « PREV | | |
 my dinner with alec May 9, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Alexander Lobrano (Alec) has re-invented the guide book with his new thriller Hungry for Paris. Each listing not only describes the restaurant and the food, but tells a small story about the dining partner. In doing so, the evening comes more alive and you too feel that it could be you, lucky enough to be dining out with Alec...in Paris, bien sur. This is a classic for food lovers and guide book readers and all in love with Paris.
 Hungry for Paris: The Eltimate Guide to the cities 102 best restaurants May 9, 2008
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
The write-ups for each of the restaurants is too long and verbose. I can't figure out for whom the guide was created. If it's for first-timers in Paris, then I think it should be more instructional and less ethereal. It it's written for experienced Paris travelers (as I am), then I'd like it if the write-ups were more to the point.
Almost as much fun --- almost --- as dining in Paris April 21, 2008
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
Dollar skidding, plane fare soaring --- it's not likely I'll be having dinner in Paris any time soon.
But that doesn't mean I can't eat in Paris by proxy. Naturally, the lucky stiff who's having the meals I'm missing is an American --- someone with an expatriate's appreciation of culinary greatness. This person can write as well as he/she can enjoy the handiwork of a fine chef. And, finally, this gourmet can appreciate the value of the dollar.
On the basis of Hungry for Paris, Alexander Lobrano is my Paris rep.
He's so American: "My first visit was in August 1972, en famille, with my parents, two brothers and sister. We stayed at a now-vanished hotel just off the Champs Elysees and every day began with a glass of warm TANG, which my late father mixed up in the bathroom water glasses, as a bit of thrift."
Lobrano is an ideal guide because he remembers who he was, how he became the expert he is now, and how you can acquire expertise. And he can do that hard thing --- see what's in front of him: "The French never drink Perrier with meals because they think its large bubbles make it too gaseous to go well with food." He has a good ear for the quotable restaurant owner: "Come on, eat! Go ahead! I'm going to charge you a lot of money, you know!" He can let it rip: "A heavy rain filled the gutters with bronze-covered chestnut leaves last night, and the city is suddenly the city is nude." And, above all, he has an awareness of ultimate goodness: "It is hard to imagine a better lunch than a creamy wedge of Camembert smeared on a torn hunk of crackle-crusted baguette and a glass of red wine."
But, eat in restaurants he must, so he's off to 102 of his Paris favorites. Some of them are mine, too. Most, refreshingly, are not. And, refreshingly, he's not shy about explaining his enthusiasms. Le Pamphlet: "the best risotto in Paris." L'Alcazar: "better service, better lighting and a more cosmopolitan menu" than La Coupole. L'Epi Dupin, which he hears about from "the nice lady at the post office." Le Florimond serves his beloved stuffed cabbage "in a pool of brown gravy so lush it had already skeined on its way to the table."
Reputation means nothing. Neither does atmosphere. Lobrano is all about what's on the plate. L'Ami Louis is "for high rollers more interested in a brand-name experience than good food." Bofinger's "beautiful decor...can't compensate for the kitchen's mediocrity." Le Divellec is "stuffy...and exorbitantly expensive."
Even if you never go to Paris, this book is wonderfully educational. I've seen aligot on a menu; I didn't know that the whipped potatoes are mixed with Tomme de Laguiole cheese and garlic until they have "the texture of molten latex." Joel Robuchon makes spaghetti carbonara with Alsatian bacon and creme fraiche --- I'll try that at home. And more, and more, until the meal fantasies merge and I have to...well, if truth be told, I need to pour a small glass of red wine, tear off a hunk of baguette and slather it with cheese.
Alexander Lobrano serves up gastro-porn of the highest order.
indispensable guide April 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City's 102 Best Restaurants
fresh views on familiar places and new discoveries on and off the beaten path distinguish this well-written, informative and thoroughly enjoyable guide. a great read and highly recommended.
if you buy one guide book on Paris restaurants, buy this one! April 15, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Finally, a book on Paris restaurants that is a pleasure to read and informative! I have been going to France for thirty years, am a French teacher, and often take my students to France (I'm going soon and Lobrano's book is in my carry-on!) Lobrano is an experienced writer and food lover and gives his wonderfully irreverent opinions on a wide range of Parisian restaurants. There are also several fabulous essays! This book will be the one to have and cherish for years to come. I am already waiting for Lobrano's next book on Paris. Until then, bon appetit!
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