The Great Parisian Plate Debate

25, Rue Frédéric Sauton,75005
Tel. 01.43.29.40.54

There is something breathtakingly special about a bar in the midst of Paris, the capital of wine’s spiritual homeland and a city where wine of all kind flows like Aftershock™ at a high school party, demanding identification from its patrons. Rumor has it that a small Parisian child with a fistful of euros is able to procure both a pack of cigarettes and vintage bottle of red if such vices are at the direction of a parent (the presence of who need not be required). And yet the Long Hop requires a passport, validated via black light no less, which by simple inference means that it is one classy bar.

So of course it was Dan’s decision to visit the Hop, as it is affectionately called by someone I hope. If I were to become a regular at the Long Hop that is certainly what I would call it. And while I have visited the Hop before, it has been with no consistency and definitely never before as part of a Velib pub crawl.

Entrance to the Long Hop is phenomenal experience if one happens to be in the correct mood. I think underage kids from the States come here quite often, mixing with small groups of expats and French people who wish they were Americans, so on busy weekends you have to put up with excessive noise, Beyoncé, a crowded bar, horrible sights of white people drunkenly dancing, and the smell of every good shady university bar. That means a potpourri of dirty mop water, spilled beer, shame, and a bathroom that’s seen better days. But if you’re in the right mood, with the right people, the Long Hop is great! It’s a shot of fresh air, defiantly standing in opposition to generic Irish bars and stuffy cafés where anything over a whisper is frowned upon by fellow revelers.

This particular evening at the Hop struck one of those good chords. Any and all negatives fade away in the exuberant roar of a bar population intent on enjoying themselves, on ordering a nice Stella Artois, on finding a place where fewer passing elbows threaten to spill one’s beer all over the floor, on the discussion of which shot to order, and lastly, on the joy of a successful Velib pub crawl!