Eat local — Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain (part II), France

La Dernière Goutte wine shop is a very gracious host to tours from Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

With this blog post we are continuing our four-hour walking, tasting, eating and wine drinking tour of Saint-Germain-des-Pres led by Paris by Mouth.  [Part I of the two-part blog post is on the website just prior to this blog.]

 

Our “dining room” at La Dernière Goutte wine shop had excellent maps of the French wine regions along with some of the shop’s wine storage; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

The owner of La Dernière Goutte wine shop is a very gracious host to tours from Paris by Mouth, opening up a back tasting room for their small groups. We enjoyed some nice French wines with our bread from Poilâne bakery, the pâté from the MOF butcher at Marchè Couvert des Saint-Germain (the Saint-Germain covered market), and fromages (cheeses) from the MOF cheese shop next door to the MOF butcher’s stall at Marchè Couvert des Saint-Germain.

 

The fromages (cheeses) – all purchased at the fromagerie (cheese shop) run by MOF cheese maker Michel Sanders at Marchè Couvert des Saint-Germain (the Saint-Germain covered market) — were sampled with slices of whole wheat bread from Poilâne bakery and wine purchased at La Dernière Goutte wine shop; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

The fromages (cheeses) – all purchased at the fromagerie (cheese shop) run by MOF cheese maker Michel Sanders at Marchè Couvert des Saint-Germain (the Saint-Germain covered market) — were sampled with wine at La Dernière Goutte wine shop.  Our formage selection included: Laurenthym, Racotin, Abondance, Brillat Savarin, Reblochon, Brie de melon, Cabrioulet with Piment D’esplette, and Trou du Cru.  The wines we drank were Domaine Francois Crochet Les Amoureuses Sancerre 2014 and Domaine du Vissoux Les Garants Fleurie 2014.

 

Hand-made pâté — Vollaile en Gelee – by the MOF butcher at Marchè Couvert des Saint-Germain (the Saint-Germain covered market); Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

A shop window down the street from La Dernière Goutte wine shop publicized a very apt travel quotation from the 19th century American writer Mark Twain; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

The text on the store window authored by the 19^th century American writer Mark Twain reads: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

 

A bag of Caramel au Beurre Salé (salted caramels) at the shop of the chocolatier and candy maker who invented them – Henri Le Roux, down the street from La Dernière Goutte wine shop; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

Individual chocolates for sale at the shop of chocolatier Henri Le Roux; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

As we were walking around the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood, we came across a café with outdoor tables – note that is a standard practice (and legal) for dogs to join their owners at the table; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

 

La Maison du Chou is reputedly the home of the best pâte à chou in Paris; it, too, is run by an MOF baker, Manuel Martinez ; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France [See the text of our previous blog for the explanation of MOF –Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (shortened to MOF) — translated as One of the Best Craftsmen of France.]

 

We tasted several different flavors of hand-made pâte à choux, filled when they are ordered to keep them as fresh as possible; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

After our tour we walked to Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) to enjoy the gardens on a beautiful fall afternoon with a cappuccino; Paris by Mouth: Taste of Saint-Germain, France

 

As provided by our guide, here’s a list of places visited during our Taste of Saint-Germain food tour:

• Poilâne bakery at 8 rue du Cherche Midi, 75006 (bread, apple tarts, punition butter cookies)
• Patrick Roger chocolate 2-4 Place Saint Sulpice, 75006 (rocher, basil lemon, individual selections)
• Marchè Couvert (covered market) de Saint-Germain at 4/6 rue Lobineau, 75006
• La Dernière Goutte wine shop at 6 rue Bourbon le Château, 75006
• Henri Le Roux salted caramels at 1 rue Bourbon le Château, 75006
• La Maison de Chou pastry shop specializing in pâte à chou at 7 rue de Furstenberg, 75006 (pâte à chou)