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Rome vs. Paris vs. New York
By Ann | March 7, 2008
Which is the best food town? On his blog, Bitten, Mark Bittman has some interesting posts (also here and here) on his recent travels to Paris (and, geez, is the guy a prolific blogger! He sometimes has 3-4 posts a day. Long ones, too.) Essentially, he experienced several bad meals in Paris and is wondering — has the City of Light lost its culinary mojo? He left Paris thinking that New York was a better eating city, by far.
Since my return from Rome, I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Eternal City versus the City of Light. As I mentioned in my Rome report, I’ve had some of the worst, tourist-trappy meals of my life there, truly awful food that I still (three years later) resent. I think there are several reasons: (1) Rome is much smaller than Paris or New York, and the historic center (e.g. touristy area) is more concentrated. (2) I don’t speak a word of Italian. (3) On my first visit, I didn’t have any local friends to guide me (and to be fair, the food improved vastly after an emergency trip to the internet cafe to consult Chowhound).
Rome’s dining options are also quite limited. Aside from Italian food — and there doesn’t seem to be that much regional variation in the Italian food, just Roman, Roman and more Roman, with the occasional Neopolitan pizza parlor – there seem to be very few ethnic restaurants, or even places serving other European cuisines. Though I did spot a few sushi places and the obligatory Chinese joint, I didn’t see one single French restaurant. However, if you want Roman cuisine, and you know where to go, then you’re in for a treat — though it won’t be cheap, but that’s mainly because of our puny dollar.
Proportionately, I’ve had many more good meals in Paris. But that could be because (1) Chris speaks French. (2) He lived there for many years. (3) We have friends who live there who gave us many wonderful suggestions. (Actually, #3 probably counts for the most.) Parisian restaurants also dip into more ethnically diverse territory, with Vietnamese cuisine (though Mark Bittman writes about an awful Vietnamese meal), falafel (L’As du Falafel rocks!), Moroccan fare — and I’ve seen more than a smattering of Italian trattorias, as well. But I think Paris is best for the mid-range meal; I’ve had many wonderful dinners there — not fancy, expensive, or innovative – but classic, French food accompanied by good wine. Of course, our anemic dollar is an issue here, too.
New York, where I lived for years, is the city I know best — as a result, is it even fair for me to compare it with the other two? I think New York does cheap eats the best, not only in terms of price (no dollar issues, there), but in variety — it is inarguably the most diverse (and to me, exciting) food scene in the lower price range. For mid-level dining (e.g. dinner out with friends with three courses and a bottle of wine), I’d choose Paris any day.
What’s your favorite eating city?
Topics: Dining Out and About, In the news |
3 Responses to “Rome vs. Paris vs. New York”
Comments
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March 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Hello Ann,
I guess what I have discovered (and I am sure you know this) is people need to get away from the center, away from any large monument and always go on a recommendation. My Italian husband and I NEVER eat anywhere that hasn’t had a good recommendation by someone we know (except the Thai food place but it came as a comment on my blog). The farther out you get, the better the food and the price.
PS I am adding a link to you on my blog. It is so great! I am glad I found it! Thanks for your wonderful comments over on mine!
March 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
The Hauses vote for Paris. Even our favorite “cheap eat” in Paris– a cheese plate with bread, cappuccinos and wine– was always excellent and beautifully presented!
March 11th, 2008 at 3:59 am
Hello, I really like you blog. Anway I found you post on Roman food a little bit light. I mean, there are many false points in your post that pushed me to interevene:
- Rome has the greatest historical centre of the world, as recognised by Unesco (I am talking about real monuments, and not of huge avenues full of cars with no cosy places at all to stop and enjoy the atmosphere…)
- Italian cuisine (as part of the Mediterranean cuisine) is recognised as the reference for a healtier life: I am talking of olive oil, mainly, of red wine (good red wine!), pasta with white mozzarella, green basilik, and red tomatoes, colours. The colours of the italian flag!)
- Real caffé and real cappuccino can be found only in Italy. Even in Paris or New York, italian cafés are held by emigrants who complitely forgot what’s the taste of caffé. And (let me add) of pizza. Because real pizza is just in Naples. Full stop.
- If you don’t speak italian this is your problem. You cannot go yelling around that Italy cuisine is the “worst, tourist-trappy meals of my life” just because you can’t speak italian and find a way to get out of the touristic low-level restaurants!
French are know for being mono-language people. Please don’t let me think of you as of such a persone. I like people who travels, who learn foreigner languages and don’t limit themselves to speaking just english or french.
I therefore invite you to read some of my posts and in particular this one:
http://frenchconspiracy.blogspot.com/2008/03/fighting-in-kitchen.html
Greetings
Emigré