Book Review by Cara Black
"Remembrance of Things Paris" by Ruth Reichl (Editor)

Ruth Reichl, doyenne of Gourmet magazine and arbiter of American's penchant for nouvelle cuisine, has assembled a tour de force in her book, Remembrance of Things Paris. Comprising articles and recipes culled from sixty years of Gourmet's dispatches from the City of Light the reader is invited to sit down with a glass of Pouilly-Fuissé open the pages and be transported to a meal at Prunier or delight in the multi-course menu for a Christening, French style.

As entrancing and evocative as these articles are they appeal not only to the taste buds but to le nostalgie, experiences of la grande cuisine at the luxurious Ritz Hotel restaurant in Place Vendome to a last look at Les Halles - the belly of Paris Zola called it - before the iron filigreed market bursting with fish, fruit and fowl disappeared to modern, sterile Rungis.

We spend an afternoon at the Police Museum, a favorite for me, with exhibits of police uniforms from 1800 to the present, read a letter from the Marquis de Sade imprisoned in the Bastille, to documents concerning 'the affair of the necklace' involving Marie Antoinette and Cardinal de Rohan.

We stop at the zinc-topped countered cafes for an espresso, reluctantly leave the crisp linen tablecloths littered with baguette crumbs and the rebirth of three-star cuisine. Join chefs in the steaming kitchens and sommeliers tasting each bottle and using ice buckets as spittoons. What's Paris without the cuisine?

But the characters in these stories linger in my mind; the flower seller in Place Lepine protesting the flower markets move 'mais, monsieur the flowers like it here,' to the gathering of of ancient Hungarian princes, aristos and Surrealists after a funeral at their local cafe to celebrate a 'last supper' for their fallen comrade. The chocolate shops, world famous Bertillon ice cream, an afternoon with Alice B. Toklas, the recipe for the perfect cassoulet and young chefs creating Nouvelle Cuisine - this book is all things Paris, a moveable feast and for anyone who wants to return where a warm pain au chocolat is waiting around every corner.