The Great Parisian Plate Debate

Vieng Siam is a Thai restaurant in Paris’ second arrondisement with all the typical décor one has come to expect from such establishments: chopstick packets on the table, a disco ball hanging pendulously from the ceiling, statues of various deities adorning a flat surface, overpriced Thai beer at the bar, and little wicker containers holding secret condiments.

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We chose Le Bistro les San Culuttes because A) they had wines prominently listed on blackboards outside their café, and B) Paris had granted us pleasant weather, and there were outside seats available. A quick glance at the interior showed what I like to call a “rustic” look – nice wooden floors and tables, comfortable lighting, an inviting bar…dare I say there was even a hint of English pub??

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I love markets. When I lived in London I could be found most weekends at one of their many. I’d even say that Borough market was one of my favorite places in the entire city. While almost every Paris neighborhood has its own street market, few offer the smorgasbord of street food that was quite common in London. The Marché des Enfants-Rouges is the closest that I have found.

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There was some fun people watching to be had, one particularly louche example being a well dressed man in his fifties that leaned against the metro entrance for a good 45 minutes leering, singing and bumming cigarettes from people. He looked like he’d been drinking for a while and some fresh scars across his temple definitely added an air of mystery.

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Christian and I were near the end of the road. There were only a few days left, yet there still remained 14 bars. What to do?
The answer was a not as much an choice as an imperative: a traditional “blue collar” European breakfast.

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I discovered La Pinte after my target, L’Urgence Bar, foolishly closed their doors on this particular day. I found myself in dire need to escape the Parisian torrents, as I was brilliantly sans umbrella as usual. L’Urgence Bar’s loss is La Pinte’s gain, and no amount of kitsch – and L’Urgence, which serves cocktails in test tubes and labels their cocktails with such enticing names as The Laxative, has that en masse – makes me regret my serendipitous choice of La Pinte.

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