Emily in France 🇫🇷 A New Champagne-Focused Terrace in Paris
The sun will come out... some day
Summer is proving long in arriving in Paris, but last week, we attempted to pretend otherwise at the launch of the new Sun Club, an open-air bar atop Printemps department store.
I’ve long been a fan of this viewpoint overlooking the city below, with a clear view of the Eiffel Tower. But this summer, it’s gotten even better with a temporary bar sponsored by Veuve Clicquot.
Through September, Sun Club will serve the prestigious cuvées alongside dishes like a smoked salmon spiral with lemon-ginger mascarpone, a vegetarian carrot hot dog, spiced fries, or a house burger, many of which we got the chance to try at this event. I particularly liked the carrot dog with yellow mustard, which definitely made me think of home.
The brand’s new RICH cuvées were the star of the evening, with both the white and rosé served with a sphere of ice that bobbed happily among the bubbles. While certainly pretty, unfortunately, the sweetness of this cuvée wasn't my personal cup of tea.
Luckily, they also served up the house’s classic dry!
It was awesome to get the chance to experience this terrasse, despite the overcast skies (and the fact that I had to throw a cardigan on the second after this pic was snapped). But I hope that soon the weather will make it even easier to take advantage of this unique viewpoint overlooking the city.
Cheese of the Week
It’s hard for me to imagine a cheese that doesn’t go with Champagne, but bleu des Causses is perhaps one of the best – especially with the slight sweetness of RICH.
This cheese likely looks familiar to fans of Roquefort, and that’s for good reason. Before Roquefort implied the exclusive use of Lacaune sheep's milk, cheesemakers in the Aveyron and Lozère would use cow's, sheep’s, or both to make their local cheese, depending on what they had on-hand. When the definition of Roquefort narrowed, the nuttier cow’s milk version became known as bleu des Causses, a reference to the limestone plateaus of the Massif Central that provide the natural caves with the stable humidity and temperature needed for the perfect blue veining. Nutty and slightly sweet with the damp, crumbly texture Roquefort fans know and love, it’s a rarer blue nearly as assertive as its cousin that’s definitely worth a try.
To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
What I’m Eating
Le Paul Bert is a good bistro; this I cannot deny. But is it worthy of all of the accolades? I tried it recently while researching my guide to the city's best bistros for the Infatuation to help me decide. More on the blog.
Where I’m Going
1. Back to Café les Deux Gares, to see if it's as good as I remember.
2. On a cruise along the Marne to discover the history of wine in the region.
3. To Bill & Rosa’s Book Room, to listen to my dear friend Janet Skeslien Charles discuss her new book, The Librarians of rue de Picardie.
What I'm Writing
1. From hiding their best bottles to providing secret intel to Allied forces, French winemakers played an essential role in the French Resistance, which helped pave the way for D-Day. For the BBC.
2. I didn't write it... but I did set up this interview between Chris Kimball and Chris Edwards, the latter of whom was vice-champion in Paris' best egg-mayo contest in 2022 and has since opened a brand-new restaurant, Café des Musiciens, in Nice. In Milk Street.
3. From the archives: Saint-Nectaire can’t be made properly without volcanic soil – and volcanic caves. For Atlas Obscura.
What I'm Doing
Great news: We’ve set the dates for our next TERRE/MER retreat! Come hang out in la Ciotat to craft handmade ceramics and eat cheese and drink rosé from October 3 to 6. Book now to snag a spot!
Friends of Emily in France
I’m surrounded by some pretty exceptional entrepreneurs, writers, and tastemakers, and I think you should know about them too! From now on, each week, I’ll be profiling one person I think you should be aware of.
The brilliant Anne Marsella is a true Renaissance woman: a writer, an expert in all things coquette, and now the host of a new artist residency in sunny Céret, near the Spanish border. Céret has historically been no stranger to artists including Soutine, Picasso, Braque, Dali and Matisse, and these days, Céret is home to galleries, year-round concerts, theatre, a cooperative bookstore, dozens of cafés and restaurants, and now La Cerisaie, a space for writers and artists seeking uninterrupted time to pursue creative work.
Take full advantage of the natural beauty of the Pyrenees with this gorgeous cottage as your home base. It boasts a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom with a shower and washing machine, a small dining area, a high-ceiling living room and an office space. The bedroom, on a mezzanine, has a comfortable double bed (140cm x 190cm). Outside there is a private patio with table and chairs, a parasol for the summer months and a lounge chair to enjoy reading in the garden.
This is a self-directed and self-funded residency for one person (or a couple) that runs from one to four weeks, year-round. Fees begin at 500 euros per week, depending on the season.
Céret is located in the eastern Pyrenees, a thirty-five minute drive from Perpignan or a two-hour drive from Barcelona. The airports of Perpignan, Carcassonne, Barcelona and Toulouse are all within reach. A TGV train runs regularly from Paris to Perpignan.
Contact Anne (annemarsella AT gmail DOT com) for more information!
FAQs
In an attempt to bring you the content you crave, I've solicited your help. What questions can I answer for you? Drop them into the newsletter chat, and I’ll answer as many as I can!
This week’s question comes from Hajni Nagy of WhereIsTheMarket.com. “What does ‘tomme’ mean? I asked my guide and some market vendors in Provence but no one could really tell me. They said it just means cheese.”
Not quite, market vendors! Tomme is indeed a cheese-related word, but not all cheeses are tommes.
The word tomme (sometimes spelled tome) refers to a pressed cheese, most of which are harder cheeses. These cheeses are typically made in mountainous regions, where cheesemakers take advantage of the rich summer milk to make cheeses with a longer shelf life. By pressing the whey out of the curds, they reduce the cheese’s water content, ensuring it can be aged for several months – even several years!
Some tomme-style cheeses like Comté and Beaufort have their own names and AOP protection. Others are simply described using the word tomme, their place of origin, and/or their milk type. For instance, you may see tomme de brebis, tomme des Pyrénées, or tomme de chèvre normande in your cheese shop. These refer, respectively, to sheep’s milk tomme, tomme from the Pyrenees, or goat’s milk tomme from Normandy.
Some tommes are even coated in other ingredients like flowers or hay, or inoculated with Penicillium to make them slightly blue. Their harder, hardier characteristics make them particularly perfect for summer picnics.
What I'm Reading
1. While the premise of Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You might have been what captivated some readers, I’ll admit that it was the setting and the characters – especially the protagonist – that kept me riveted. I cared less about the mystery itself than about Bodie’s own history, and as a result, I might have liked more of her loose ends tied up by the end. I nevertheless greatly enjoyed this book, especially the boarding school setting and deep, believable friendships that were expertly developed over the course of the more than 400 pages of the story.
2. This breathtaking, inspiring exploration of the way what we need to read changes through time – and why we can’t cherry pick the best parts of philosophy. The essay ultimately also manages to dismantle the suffering artist trope and pave the way for art with a bit more joy. In Elysian.
3. This luscious ode to the tomato. In the New York Times.
A bientôt !