Hey guys! This week we’re going to be talking about French food! And to start off with, we’re going to cover French restaurants. First, we’ll cover French etiquette since this is huge in France! Then I’ll talk about my experience at a French-inspired restaurant here in San Diego. Sorry, for anyone who thought I might talk about the French restaurants I went to in France. I was fifteen at the time, and it was ten years ago so my memory isn’t the greatest.
I’ve mentioned this multiple times but I’ll say it again, the French care about etiquette! They don’t eat a lot of snacks so every meal is a family-style sit down meal. According to French culture, it’s not okay to:
- Order just an appetizer
- Split a meal with someone else (that’s an insult to the chef who proportioned it for one person)
- Ask for a substitution/replacement (unless you have a food allergy, the chef will feel insulted)
- Ask for something that’s not on the table (if there’s no butter/salt/pepper/etc. then it’s because the dish, in the eyes of the chef, is so tasty that it doesn’t need it… you want to tell the chef otherwise?)
- Don’t expect bread to be served as an appetizer (often bread is served to absorb sauces served with your meal)
- Don’t ask the waiter to run separate tabs (French waiters aren’t like American waiters, from the U.S., they don’t have the saying “the customer is always right” and lean more towards the customer is always wrong)
- Don’t leave a tip (the tip is always included in the bill so if you leave more money, you just look like a snob)
- Don’t ask for leftovers (the French look down on “doggie bags”)
- Don’t place hands or elbows on the table
- Don’t Instagram your food
Things to do:
- Feel free to ask for tap water in a carafe (they’ll try to push bottle on you but don’t feel obliged to drink bottled water)
- Have wine with your meal (but don’t feel obliged to)
- To order coffee whenever you want (the French drink it with breakfast, lunch and dinner)
- Use your utensils more than your hands (there’s very few finger food)
- Dress up a bit (in general the French dress up more than us here in the U.S. – especially us here in CA)
- Pay attention to the time you eat (most French people believe lunch should be between 12-2pm and dinner is 8-10pm)
- If you’re a non-French speaker in France: don’t assume your waiter speaks English/Spanish/etc. (always ask)
- Accept the aperitif (pre-dinner drink) even if you want it to be non-alcoholic
- Feel free to make reservations (recommended for small or fancy establishments)
First of all, my husband and I are pescatarians so anything that we buy/eat are going to be vegetarian (or fish). However, if there is anything that I convert from a meat dish to a vegetarian dish, I’ll include both recipes. We went to this place in Mission Valley called Mimi’s Café which is a really cute French-inspired restaurant.
For lunch, I had coffee and split a shrimp pasta dish with my husband. It was AMAZING! And then we each had our own bowl of tomato basil soup. Once again, so good!!! And we got a basket of bread for the table (DELICIOUS!). I loved everything about that meal!
But then we had the birthday crêpe cake… and it was just wrong. Everything about it was wrong. It tasted like sugary toothpaste on sponge cake. And probably was more American (U.S.) than French but the dish we ordered wasn’t available so they brought us that instead. DO GO HERE, but for dessert, stick to the muffins. I didn’t have one cause this month’s is pineapple and I’m allergic to pineapple but they smelled good.
We loved Mimi’s so much that we went back for breakfast! This time my husband had the coffee while I sipped on a mimosa. Yummmmmmmm! And we both had the egg, spinach and cheese crêpes with potatoes. Two thumbs up!
Here are some recipes close to what we ate:
French bread: http://steamykitchen.com/75-baking-the-perfect-loaf-of-french-bread.html
Tomato basil soup: http://mimiscafeathome.blogspot.com/2013/03/tomato-basil-soup.html
Shrimp Pasta (for this recipe: replace the last three ingredients with fresh basil, broccoli and tomatoes): http://damndelicious.net/2015/03/13/garlic-butter-shrimp-pasta/
Birthday crêpe cake (for those of you who think you can do better): http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2017/01/birthday-crepe-cake.html
Egg, Spinach and cheese crêpes: http://mimiscafeathome.blogspot.com/2016/02/crepes-florentine.html
Mango mimosa: http://www.countryliving.com/food-drinks/recipes/a3640/mango-mimosa-recipe-clv0511/
Bon appétit!
P.S. This might be weird but I’m really impressed whenever a restaurant has a decent bathroom, and the bathrooms at Mimi’s Café are really cool!
Greate article. Keep posting such kind of info on your page. Im really impressed by your blog.
Aw, this was a really nice post. Taking a few minutes and actual effort to make a great article… but what can I say… I put things off a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an incredibly long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Right now it appears like BlogEngine is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say superb blog!
Hi there, You have performed an incredible job. I will definitely digg it and in my view suggest to my friends. I’m confident they’ll be benefited from this site.
Hey there, You have done a great job. I will certainly digg it and in my view recommend to my friends. I am confident they will be benefited from this site.
Currently it appears like Expression Engine is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Hello there, You have done a great job. I will definitely digg it and individually suggest to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this web site.
Hey! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Excellent post. Keep writing such kind of info on your site. Im really impressed by it.
Excellent article. Keep writing such kind of information on your site. Im really impressed by your site.
It is not my first time to pay a quick visit this website, i am visiting this website dailly and get pleasant data from here every day.
Greate pieces. Keep posting such kind of information on your blog. Im really impressed by it.
Fine way of describing, and good piece of writing to obtain data regarding my presentation topic, which i am going to deliver in academy.
Hello there, You have done an excellent job. I’ll definitely digg it and in my opinion recommend to my friends. I’m sure they will be benefited from this website.
Right now it sounds like BlogEngine is the best blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Right now it looks like Drupal is the preferred blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.
Hey there, You’ve performed an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and for my part suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this website.
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Right now it looks like Drupal is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Currently it seems like Drupal is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Currently it sounds like BlogEngine is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Greate article. Keep posting such kind of information on your site. Im really impressed by it.
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.
Can I simply say what a comfort to uncover somebody who genuinely understands what they’re talking about on the internet. You definitely realize how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More and more people ought to read this and understand this side of your story. I was surprised you aren’t more popular given that you definitely have the gift.
Currently it sounds like Movable Type is the best blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say superb blog!
At this time it sounds like BlogEngine is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Right now it seems like Expression Engine is the top blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to this excellent blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this website with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
At this time it looks like Movable Type is the preferred blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Greate post. Keep posting such kind of information on your blog. Im really impressed by it.
At this time it appears like Expression Engine is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Hi, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Everything is very open with a really clear description of the issues. It was really informative. Your site is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing!
Aw, this was an incredibly nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to make a great article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and don’t manage to get nearly anything done.
Can I simply just say what a comfort to uncover somebody that genuinely knows what they are discussing online. You certainly understand how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More people ought to check this out and understand this side of the story. I was surprised that you are not more popular since you definitely have the gift.
Hi there, You have performed an excellent job. I will certainly digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this website.
Hi there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll certainly digg it and in my opinion recommend to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Hi there, You have done a great job. I’ll definitely digg it and for my part suggest to my friends. I am confident they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Currently it sounds like WordPress is the best blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
At this time it appears like Movable Type is the top blogging platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
What’s up to every one, the contents existing at this website are truly amazing for people knowledge, well, keep up the good work fellows.
This post is truly a fastidious one it helps new internet viewers, who are wishing for blogging.
Aw, this was a very nice post. Taking a few minutes and actual effort to create a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a whole lot and never manage to get anything done.
Aw, this was a really nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to make a top notch article… but what can I say… I hesitate a lot and don’t manage to get anything done.