The Great Parisian Plate Debate

65 rue Montmartre, 75002
Tél. 01.40.39.07.36

There are three things which stand out about Café Noir, located in a very cool area of the 2eme and recommended by a French acquaintance, known to Dan and I as Julien. From now on I will always trust French people named Julien, because he certainly didn’t steer us wrong with this suggestion.

The first is that it is an ideal bar to begin a Velib pub crawl, which we happened to be doing this evening. The second arrondissement, as you may imagine, is a central neighborhood of Paris. All points East, South, North, West….equidistant! Each cardinal direction at your beck and call – it’s a beautiful thing. This makes the Café Noir a suitable meet-up bar prior to any pub crawling, and on the off chance you don’t have a route determined, the Café Noir is in a lively locale in which there is no shortage of bar suitors.

Secondly, they make a good caipirinha. It may be the national cocktail of Brazil, but le Café Noir in Paris France does a pretty good impression. At the happy hour cost of about five euros, the caipirinha is a steal – cachaça, sugar, limes (and muddled, no less)…it’s an embarrassment of riches, really. From personal experience I can tell you that two Café Noir caipirinhas is all you need to get a nice kick to the pending peddling pub crawl. Maybe three, but remember you will be dodging Parisian traffic soon. Any more than that and most good friends should push you off your bicycle as soon as you hop on rather than let you go weaving amongst the large buses and taxis of Rue Montmarte. As I always say, please remember to wear a helmet whenever drinking caipirinhas prior to a long pub crawl across Paris.

So, the caipirinhas are slightly strong, which brings me to the third and final item that stood out in regards to the Café Noir. After convincing a friend to join me for one – let’s just call him Jason W – he laid down the smoothest move I have ever witnessed. It was directed at a friendly female co-worker who had joined us at Café Noir to wish us luck during the night’s trek (I believe some people don’t find the concept of a Velib pub crawl wholly safe) but sadly could not partake in the crawl portion. Jason W, with his infinite knowledge of the fairer sex, tossed his apartment keys at her and told her to wait for him at his place. Now, mind you the age gap here is at least a decade and Jason W barely knows this girl from any other girl in our office. This would have been a phenomenal moment to review later with the boys, reveling in the pure courage and ridiculousness of such a move, but it got slightly unsettling when the begging began. The frozen “Holy f#ck what do I do,” look on her face was high comedy, though, which is why I am doomed (lucky?) to remember this peculiar exchange.

Café Noir and its surrounding area are great – I hope it’s all the same when I am able to return to this gem of a street for another Velib pub crawl, or barring that, a simple beer or caipirinha.