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| Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City's 102 Best Restaurants | 
 enlarge | Author: Alexander Lobrano
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $5.98
You Save: $10.02 (63%)
New (38) Used (7) from $5.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 8176
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0812976835
Dewey Decimal Number: 647.9544361
EAN: 9780812976830
ASIN: 0812976835
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Finally, a Paris dining guide that has integrity and is actually a great read May 10, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Paris is an easy mark for all the hacks in the world. I know, I lived in Paris for 20 years, and read countless
"guide books" that were nothing more then re-cycled press releases and re-hashed blurbs stolen from other
guide books. But this author, Alec Lobrano, is the rare combination of a great food and restaurant expert and a great writer. Though it has lots of up to date practical information, this book's real pleasure is as a bed-side literary journey into the heart and soul of Paris' foodie culture. It's the real deal, and I'll bet even Alec's anglophone French readers would agree. Even if you're not planning a trip to Paris, well worth the read for any
Francophile day-dreamer. It leaves me hungry for more, and I'll be looking for Lobrano's next book, no matter what the subject.
I loved this book! May 10, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I loved this book, and recommend it to any food lover who is either planning or dreaming about dining out in Paris.
Alec Lobrano is a superb writer and a well-seasoned gourmand, who shares his love and knowledge of delicious French cuisine and great chefs in his own inimitable style. He takes you on a first-class tour inside the best restaurants in Paris as if you were his dinner companion, and lets you taste and experience, albeit vicariously, its finest French and international cuisines and the perfect wines to enjoy with each sampling. .
This book reads like a autobiographical novel, filled with charming, and often amusing, short stories chronicling this world famous gourmet's earliest memories of "eating anything specifically described as French, - the eclairs my mother bought at the A&P supermarket in Westport, CT,... long soggy pastries shaped like hot dog rolls" and "heat-and-serve" frozen croissants, to the canned Vichyssoise , French toast, and beef burgundy stews she made at home, to his savory descriptions of his first experience at age 11, in a real French restaurant, Le Charles V, on the east side of Manhattan, which made him "rabidly anxious to get at some more French food."
Lobrano chronicles his first trips to France with his family and his adolescent awakening to the gastronomic joys of French cuisine, - and the development of his palate as he "ascended the pyramid of French gastronomy and discovered some spectacular food at its higher altitudes," and finding in the end - or at the top of his list - that "it is bistro food, or rustic cooking with deep roots in the various regional kitchens of France, that remains the blessedly eternal bedrock of the French kitchen."
Like a chef, Lobrano describes the ingredients, the preparations, the cooking and serving of the most favored, and simplest, meals of the French people, and also takes us out to dine at the most expensive, moderate, and least expensive restaurants where good French food is always served. His stories about chefs and French celebrities are written with an elegant style of one who has been invited to all the best parties in Paris.
Hungry for Paris is not just a guide book for dining out in Paris, but a veritable masterpiece on the history and culture of French cuisine,
This is a classic!
Well done! May 30, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having been to Paris recently, I was curious to see how the author would treat certain of the restaurants I had visited. However, the reading became much more than that as I took great pleasure in reading about many restuarants that I had heard of but did not actually have time to visit.
The author has some clear preferences which become clearer the further one goes into the book. I found that I agreed with most of them from the standpoint of food choices and quality, service and overall ambience.
The coverage of restaurants is very good although some of the neighborhoods are probably too far out of the way for many visitors.
My biggest regret was that the book ended.
I really didn't want to put it down.
indispensable guide April 16, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City's 102 Best Restaurants
fresh views on familiar places and new discoveries on and off the beaten path distinguish this well-written, informative and thoroughly enjoyable guide. a great read and highly recommended.
You can't afford not to buy this book! May 14, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I just returned home from Paris and went to three recommended restaurants. They were all great and reasonable despite the sinking dollar. I liked trying the house wines which were a great cross-section of wines I didn't know and now I do! I also stopped ordering bottled water. Loved Astier, Bistro Paul Bert, Le Petit Pontoise. Alexander has a website where he reviews Parisian restaurants www.hungryforparis.com. Check it out, because it's also a great resource.
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