L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

L’Appart has plenty of details, often told in sardonic humor, about life, food, culture, cost and rules of living in the culinary capital.

But it mainly focuses on the never-ending setbacks experienced by a results-oriented American in a city whose laws seem designed specifically to delay closing the deal on buying that perfect apartment…

…then going through endless torture with untrustworthy and (it turns out) incompetent contractors.

We live in Miami, so evil...careless...corrupt...disappearing contractors are actually considered the good ones!

Many here exist only in a circle of hell below corrupt/incompetent.

So we feel Lebovitz’s pain while he endures strings of five figure costs for perpetually delayed, always shoddy work worth less than four figures when the dust clears.

Will our hero live, sans nervous breakdown, to see the completion of his dream Paris kitchen in an apartment that he will own?

Find out at

https://www.amazon.com/LAppart-Delights-Disasters-Making-Paris/dp/0804188408/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=sl1&tag=davidleboviswebs&linkId=76c7bc04325a5c6cae423c22cbec67b7&language=en_US

L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

The author’s DavidLebovitz.com blog shared recipes, as one would expect a cookbook author to do, but it gained popularity has he also shared matter of fact tales of everyday life in a beautiful city that can be rather unforgiving in etiquette, tradition and red tape.

L’Appart (busy Paris contraction for The Apartment) comes with the bonus of recipes from an expert chef who has been featured in: Bon Appétit, Chocolatier, Food+Wine, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Travel and Leisure, The New York Times, People, Saveur and USA Today.

But for those of us who enjoy memoir over a countertop of bowls, mixers and dozens of ingredients -- it's easy to skip over, or speed read them.

My fingers were eagerly flipping pages to keep up with his perfect blend of storytelling spiced/spiked with details about peculiarities of Paris, French bureaucracy and contractors.

L’APPART: THE DELIGHTS AND DISASTERS OF MAKING MY PARIS HOME

DAVID LEBOVITZ’S LATEST BOOK IS A MUST-READ                                (EVEN IF YOU SKIP OVER RECIPES SHARED AT CHAPTER ENDS)

I have just completed L'appart and commend Chef/Blogger/Cookbook Author/ExPat in Paris David Lebovitz for his ease with the language and ability to to season trying tales with good humor.

To me, the kitchen only is a place to store, refrigerate, freeze and re-heat stuff.

So the having recipes part of the book scared me away from buying it for a half year.

Lebovitz began working in restaurants at the age of sixteen and ended up at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, working with the famed Alice Waters and co-owner, Executive Pastry Chef Lindsey Shere, who he credits as his pastry mentor.

He moved to Paris in 1999 and started an early blog to coincide with the release of his first book, Room for Dessert. 

CAFE GIACOSA -- PART 3

ROBERTO CAVALLI STYLE MEETS

OLD SCHOOL FLORENTINE NEGRONI

Giacosa is inviting for late afternoon cocktails, and the drink of choice is the Negroni.

The mystical union of Campari, sweet vermouth and gin was invented on this very site at the start of the 1920s, back when it was Bar Casoni. 

I approached the handsome barkeep in vest and tie and ordered the drink old fashioned-style, one of several variations on the menu.

He presented it smartly with a garnish of fresh orange slice, the sweetness complementing my mini baguette with prosciutto di Parma.

One can also get other delights to go or have them shipped home, such as wickedly good chocolates by weight, Roberto Cavalli Vodka, or Cavalli Tenuta Degli Dei Wine.

Whatever your pleasure, Giacosa is a heady mix of old Euro charm and of-the-moment glamour, a perfect oasis of calm from the buzzing streets of Florence.

http://www.caffegiacosa.it/

CAFE GIACOSA -- PART 2

ROBERTO CAVALLI STYLE MEETS 

OLD SCHOOL FLORENTINE NEGRONI

Cavalli, the designer synonymous with bold animal prints, has created a space -- once known as Florence’s drawing room – that gives a nod to both the past and the present.

Think Old World luxe crossed with contemporary chic: a gorgeous wooden bar and padded banquets; walls covered with black and white photos of fashion models, working the all-important contrast of light and shadow, like the chiaroscuro in Renaissance paintings.

Giacosa is open throughout the day. To get the full flavor of it, first come for breakfast, then return for afternoon highballs. 

Our morning visit included aromatic, perfectly foamed cappuccino and an assortment of scrumptious pastries, including some dark, near bitter chocolate delights and a blueberry-filled croissant.

The people-watching was as irresistible as the food. Businessmen in bespoke suits and expensive looking briefcases rushed in for coffee and pastry, then on to the office.

A decidedly hip young mom spent some quality time with her little shaver in tow. 

A slender, androgynous woman with impossibly thin hips encased in leather pants stopped to make the scene.

NARRATIVE CONTINUES TOMORROW -- JULY 20

CAFE GIACOSA -- PART 1

ROBERTO CAVALLI STYLE MEETS 

OLD SCHOOL FLORENTINE NEGRONI

By Heidi Johnson-Wright

Italy’s reputation as a civilization through the millennia is unparalleled: standard-setting architecture, ingenious feats of engineering, art as awe-inspiring as gazing into the face of God.

All of those things should be part and parcel of a trip to Florence. 

But let’s not forget two of the best things about contemporary Italian culture: tasty things to put in one’s mouth and gorgeous things to wear.

That’s why Caffe Giacosa was a must-see on my list.
 

Nestled in Florence’s famed fashion district centered around Via Tornabuoni (the boutiques! the bags! the Pucci prints!), Giacosa is part coffee house, part salon, and 100 percent famed Italian designer Roberto Cavalli.

Cavalli, a Florentine by birth, saved and re-imagined the spot that was the former location of an antique shop turned cafe. 

NARRATIVE CONTINUES TOMORROW -- JULY 19