FAST FOOD PARIS-STYLE
TO BISTRO OR NOT TO BISTRO?
La Mere Catherine in Montmartre, which claims to be the oldest bistro. and the establishment where the word was coined.
Never one to miss a chance to address the nation, President Macron chose the annual Galette des Rois celebration at the Elysée Palace to press UNESCO to include the French bistro among the world heritage sites.
(For more on the Galette des Rois tradition, with its ritual of golden crown etc, see my earlier post - https://johnbaxter.substack.com/p/the-feast-of-the-kings.)
What constitutes a bistro anyway? How is it different to a café or a restaurant? Supposedly the name comes from bwystra, meaning “fast”, which is what hungry Russian soldiers occupying Paris after the fall of Napoleon I shouted to restaurateurs. Or it could be a corruption of bistrouille, a coffee that’s been corrigée - corrected - with a dash of cognac. Back when cafes didn’t serve meals, the distinctions meant something, but these days no establishment can survive on beverages alone, so it’s generally taken to signify a restaurant serving ‘bistro classic’ dishes - boeuf bourguignon, steak-frites, croque monsieur, blanquette.
The Association of French Bistros and Cafés launched their campaign in 2024, arguing that “French bistros and cafés are guardians of time. They span over centuries and generations.” This showed some nerve, since France is already represented on the UNESCO list by the baguette, not to mention the tradition of the repas or banquet to celebrate a family event. However cafes are under pressure so the president stepped up, even though it’s probably been some time since he sat down to a leathery entrecote and a glass of the house red.
Why then preserve the bistro? Because, I suppose, it’s as close as you’ll find in France to something approximating the English pub or the American bar; a place to foregather where what you consume is mostly a pretext. A café is for being alone; a bistro for company, even if it’s just the professional welcome of the waiter; a place where even the cliché menu is, in its way, a consolation, an affirmation. a ceremony.
Our nearest Paris bistro is the chronically congested but hugely popular Balzar, a canteen for intellectuals from the nearby Sorbonne and College de France. In 1998, it was the site of a sit-in by some high-profile clients who feared changes in its style and menu after the Flo restaurant chain acquired it. All came to nothing when the Flo’s CEO Jean-Paul Bucher dropped by to reassure them nothing would change. Why would he alter anything? He’d bought the place because he enjoyed eating there himself. The waiters returned to take orders, and in a very Parisian way, political action segued into lunch.
My favourite? Well…..In a key scene of Alain Cavalier’s film of the Françoise Sagan novel La Chamade, Catherine Deneuve, seated at the bar in a crowded bistro, is reading William Faulkner’s The Wild Palms. A passage so impresses her that she calls out for silence and reads it aloud to the dour, preoccupied patrons. Whatever one does, urges Faulkner, be it to eat or drink or make love or take a dump, one should enjoy it to the limit, since you’re a long time dead. The assembled diners put down their utensils and join in a round of applause. I’m not sure where this place is, but I’m still looking.
How are the snails today? Lunch at the Balzar.
I'm glad you enjoy my posts.
The brasserie is an interesting case, since it should, as the name suggests, be essentially a brewery, and serve dishes compatible with beer. Brasserie Lipp began in this way, brewing beer in the cellar, which explains some of its specialities, eg. choucroute and those expensive canned sardines. When I moved to Paris in 1989, there were many Alsatian restaurants with menus stressing cheese and charcuterie, and featuring beer equally with wine, but today I wouldn't know where to look for raclette or the goblet of blonde that Hemingway used to enjoy with his cervelaz sausage and potato salad.
Bouillons were technically cheap restaurants for the poor, hence the need to line up outside. (We still have one of these just around the corner from rue de l'Odeon.) Most tried to convert to a regular clientele, but the premises are usually too large to be economical. Many subsist on block bookings, and I've used them as such. Upstairs at Bouillon Racine isn't bad for a large literary event but until you've shared it with a hundred Chinese tourists ordering lunch, you don't know what cacophony is.
No, cheap the Balzar is not, least of all for the drinks. And while they do still serve some traditional bistro dishes, the prices are decidedly up-to-date; eg. today's special of calf’s sweetbreads with morel cream sauce and pommes Dauphines at Euros 39.50. i.e. Au$69. On the other hand, where else would you get calf's head with sauce gribiche or authentic andouile sausage, made from minced pig parts, including that indispensible ingredient, the trou de cul or asshole?