Yet Another Reason to Love Paris: My Friend Helene

If you're a Paris regular (or if you've read my blog for a while), you may already know Helene Samuel because she's the bright mind behind Delicabar, the restaurant in Le Bon Marche department store, and Cafe Pleyel, the very chic spot (with the great hamburger) in the newly renovated Salle Pleyel concert hall.  What you might not know about Helene is that she's generally cool, meaning hip, but also meaning level-headed - even when she's emailing or texting.  In other words, she seldom uses exclamation points and never sends her messages with any of those high-priority symbols.

Knowing this, you can be sure that the instant I saw her name, a red flag and the subject line:  IMPORTANT NOTICE, I opened the message immediately.   I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this:

"When you arrive, do not buy cheese - I've got some for you."

I love everything about this email.  I love that Helene knew that as soon as I hit town I'd head for the cheese shop.  I love that she didn't want me to have too much cheese, a situation worse than having too little, since nothing as precious as cheese should ever be wasted.  And, of course, I love that she had shopped for me.

When I saw Helene last night, here's what she handed me

This is cheese from our favorite cheese vendor at the Sunday market, the organic one, on the Boulevard Raspail.  The cheesemaker is Philippe Gregoire and his cheeses, labeled Elevage du Corbier, are made with milk from the goats, sheep and cows that graze on his farmland in Burgundy. 

There is never a Sunday when I am in town that I don't visit Philippe Gregoire and come away with exactly these three cheeses: the large round is a fresh, soft cow's milk cheese, and the two smaller rounds are actually the same goat cheese, but one is older (and therefore firmer and fuller flavored) than the other.  To round out the package, Helene included another of my favorites,  Philippe Gregoire's yaourt brebis, sheep's milk yogurt, which is rich, thick and tangy and good with everything from raw vegetables to apples and pears.

And, as if this goody bag wasn't enough, it held another surprise: cookies from a new pastry shop

  The shop, named for its chef, is Carl Marletti, and it's on the rue Censier near the rue Mouffetard, the city's legendary market street.  I haven't been there - I can't even raise a reference to it on google - but I'll track it down just for these cookies.  The edges of the cookies taste and melt in your mouth as though they are made of butter, and only butter.  They're incredibly fragile, but also crisp.  Then there's the center of the cookies - a translucent caramel with nuts.  I've never seen cookies like these, neither here nor in the States (if these look familiar to anyone, please, please, tell me!), but I'd be happy to see them everywhere.

I'll be going to Marletti, for sure, and I'll bring back an address and pictures.  Also on my must-see list is Philippe Conticini's new patisserie on the rue du Marche Sainte Catherine.  More about that, too.  In the meantime, thanks to Helene, I've got some delicious munching to do.

Comments

[Laura G]

I found this for your butter cookies.
http://www.carlmarletti.com/
Wish I could try these too. It will be some time before I get back to Paris. Let us know if you find them. They sound perfect.

[s]

I found cookies like these --cookie outer ring and sugar/nut window center -- in Shanghai, China, where I currently live. They are at a bakery called Paris Baguette or Paris something. Quite tasty, which is why I rarely buy them.

[cybercita]

i used to live very close to raspail, at mouton-duvornet in the 14th. what a lovely neighborhood! {but i shopped at alesia.}

[Athena]

I've not been to Paris to enjoy all the wonders, especially the food.

But I absolutely love what you mentioned: that a friend can think of, shop for, and prioritize for you (and your interests and styles). An e-mail like that is magical - moreso because it's in celebration of food. Thanks for sharing. :-) It made my day.

[Jane]

After visiting Paris many times in the last 30 years, I finally rented an apartment for 10 days this February, and I am a convert. Apartment living is the way to go. I am one of the three mentioned by Victoria in your 3/8 comments. May I say that next to Poliane bakery is a restaurant for tartine's.Simple, but simply fabulous. Even in Paris, simple great ingredients is the formula for success. Will be checking your site for more of these type eatery's. Tootsie

[Victoria]

I just got back from 10 days in Paris where I stayed with two girlfriends in an apartment on Rue du Cherche Midi. We had Poilane bread every morning and went to the organic market on Sunday and got cheese from your vendor! Two years ago we visited and stayed at The Lutetia, which was lovely, but staying in an apartment was definitely the way to go. We're going it again next year, so I will be checking your blog all the time for suggestions to put in my "Paris" file. I needed a small present to give to a young woman about to graduate from NYU who did me a favor while I was away. She had spent a semester in Paris last year. Of course, there are many wonderful things to bring home from France, but I finally decided on a copy of Paris Sweets. I knew she would love it, and she did. Thanks Dorie!

[laurie]

While I have never been to Paris myself, my exchange student in high school was from France. She brought us these little almond cookies and they were so good. Heavenly good. I have never had another one like it. I hope to someday visit her in Paris, where she now lives.

[Juli Savage]

I too have been to Paris several times but I wish that I had your book Paris Sweets with me at the time! What a great book that talks about the different bakeries and what they specialize in! I ate at Bofingers with some clients and it was fantastic. Even my friend who is French loved it! I haven't been back to Paris in about 7 years but when I do I will take Paris Sweets with me for my guide!

[Rosa]

New pastry shops, how exciting!!! (Well, you already knew that I'm not nearly as level-headed as Helene!)

[Louisa]

I love Helene too - thanks to you. And Delicabar's chocolate boxes are still my favorite - their whimsical, modern design with tiny dark chocolate orangette balls reminds me of an edible pachinko game. Can't wait to see the Conticini micro boutique through your eyes - and palate!

[Kelly-Jane]

Wonderful cheese and cookies.

The cookies sort of remind me of the stained glass childrens biscuits - you know the ones where you have the dough outer ring and a sugar sweet in the middle, and when baking they become one as the sweet melts flat and attatches to the cookie. Maybe this is done with nutty caramels? Just a thought.