A few years ago, I visited several Pineau des Charentes producers in a region of France known as the Charente, where Cognac is made. Legend has it that it was originally made by accident when a Cognac producer centuries ago added fresh grape to a barrel of eau-de-vie (a clear distillation of grapes), intended to be aged for Cognac. He let it rest, …

If anyone knows the cuisine of Nice, it’s Rosa Jackson, owner of Les Petits Farcis for over twenty years. Located in the sunny south of France, Niçoise cooking is known for its freshness and Mediterranean flavors, using ingredients that range from local olive oil and anchovies to vibrant vegetables, such as tomatoes, Swiss chard, and zucchini (and …

Can I tell you how much fun it’s been getting to know Jane Bertch over the years? I’m not exactly sure how we met, but it may have been when I was leading tours and brought our guests for a day-long market tour and cooking class at La Cuisine, her cooking school in Paris. Everyone enjoyed the day very much, including me, and over the years, we’ve s…

I remember when Deb Perelman, aka: Smitten Kitchen, came on the scene in 2006. A few of us had been blogging for a couple of years, doing our thing—when suddenly, a fresh new voice came out of the blue (and out of New York), that segued perfectly to the new way we eat, and cook—less rules, more fun, and how we write about food. If you’re anything l…

The first time I went to Win Son bakery and café in Brooklyn, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s billed as a Taiwanese-American bakery, and I’m not too familiar with Taiwanese baked goods. I ordered a few things off the menu that sounded good, and after I brought them to the table, I started tasting my way around the tray, and everything I ate blew…

Before I left for Tel Aviv this summer, I rounded up advice from friends who are chefs, cookbook authors, and seasoned eaters about where to eat. I’ve lived in food-centric cities most of my life, but Tel Aviv is in a class by itself. There are so many good places to eat, it’s hard to whittle it down to just a few. And if you’re there, and ask anyo…

I didn’t expect to be as captivated as I was by The New French Wine: Redefining the World’s Greatest Wine Culture. It’s an immense two-volume book spanning nearly 850 pages, exploring the lush vineyards and wine regions of France with profiles of 800 producers and notes on around 7,000 wines. I’m no wine expert, but as soon as I started reading the…

When it comes to style, I don’t think anyone is eager to copy what I wear every day, although I do know that some people covet some of the dishes and cookware that I pick up at flea markets in France. Fortunately, we have Ajiri Aki in Paris, who founded Madame de la Maison, a fabulous online resource for carefully curated French antiques and linens…

It’s always a pleasure to chat with Dianne Jacob of Dianne Jacob newsletter, food writing coach, teacher, editor, and author of Will Write for Food, which is the handbook for food writing, covering everything from how to break into the world of food writing, starting a blog or a newsletter, as well as valuable tips on writing recipes, what to know …

I had spectacular luck with I was in San Francisco and a friend suggested we meet up one morning at Kantine, a Scandinavian bakery and café. Arriving a little early, I was knocked out by the beautiful selection of pastries and breakfast offerings, which included open-faced smoked fish sandwiches on housemade sprouted rye bread, savory grain porridg…

When Phil Rosenthal, star of Somebody Feed Phil, comes to town, we did what we do best: Eat. Phil was in Paris recently on tour celebrating his book, Somebody Feed Phil, the companion to his Netflix series. The cookbook is a compilation of the most requested recipes from the show, which has become wildly popular, and we had a lot of fun catching up…

I recently sat down with my friend Heather Stimmler, of Secrets of Paris, to talk about tourism in Paris for my podcast. Often called “the most visited city in the world,” Paris has an admirable reputation, but the word “tourist” comes with negative connotations. Personally, I love to “play tourist” and spend a day hitting museums, sightseeing, or …

If you want to learn more about French cheeses, you can't do better than to sit down with Jennifer Greco, a French cheese and wine expert. Jennifer stopped by my kitchen with a basket of magnificent French cheeses which we sampled—and, I apologize in advance, but a few I swooned a little too much over. Yes, she knows her stuff! I hope you enjoy the…

Sarah and I bonded over our mutual bewilderment over square pillows (which perplex me since people move from side to side when they sleep - not up and down), as well as traversins, the odd cylindrical bed pillows in France that all but guarantee a sleepless night. So I was excited to attend her latest show, The Only American in Paris, a hilarious h…

Forest Collins of 52 Martinis, a website dedicated to featuring the best cocktail bars in Paris, stopped by my kitchen to shake, stir, and share a few of her favorite cocktail recipes with us, which use French spirits. There's a delicious 50:50 Martini, a Jack Rose, and a Sidecar to sip on. The recipes are posted in my newsletter at: davidlebovitz.…

France is well-known for its pastries and sweets, but the culture does have a bitter side, which includes bittersweet chocolate, dark and dusky chestnut and buckwheat honey, red currants, assertive gentian apéritifs, bitter almonds, amers like Picon, beers, and leafy salads tossed with bitter greens, such as frisée, roquette (arugula), and Belgian …

One of my heroes in Paris is Miranda Junowicz Bothe. We’ve been friends for many years, and thanks to her, I saved a bundle when buying my previous apartment; she got me through some of the rough patches that came up during the purchase, which were challenging, especially because I wasn’t familiar with the process of (and the cultural differences b…

How does a cookbook get published? What goes into creating a cookbook, and what makes a cookbook great? While the author’s job is to write the book and create the recipes, a good editor will nurture the book until it’s in its final form, ready to send to the printers, before it’s sent to bookstores and eventually lands in the hands of readers. What…

When I told a friend that when I’m in New York, I go out for drinks with Brad Parsons, she said, “Oh, he’s the holy grail of drinking buddies!” I was introduced to Brad via Ed Anderson, who photographed my books Drinking French and My Paris Kitchen, and he photographed all of Brad’s books. After shooting My Paris Kitchen, Ed sent me a copy of Bitte…

Who doesn’t love a great croissant? I certainly do. But I also love the other delicious treats that come out of the oven of Ali Spahr, pastry chef, and ace baker at Winner in Brooklyn. Ali studied baking in France at the esteemed Ferrandi cooking school in Paris, and when Daniel Eddy, the chef/owner of Winner (who also lived in Paris) decided to op…

One of the great things about writing a book about French drinks was going outside of my “lane,” so to speak. I was fascinated by the culture of French drinks, everything from Cognac to beer, and wanted to take a deep dive into the subject and share what I knew, and what I learned. The subject is vast and I couldn’t include an in-depth discussion o…

The baking world is a big, bountiful place, and there’s a lot of ground to cover. And French breads and pastries, of course, take up a lot of that space. I met Bryan Ford, the author of New World Sourdough, back in 2019. At the time, I didn’t realize (and likely neither did he!) that he’d be one of the bright spots of a global pandemic, teaching pe…

For this special podcast - my second! - I’m thrilled to have as my guest Quentin Chapuis, co-founder of the Fédération Française de l’Apéritif, otherwise known as the FFA. Founded by Quentin and two friends as a lark, the idea has grown into several excellent épiceries (food shops) and apéritif bars with several locations in Paris, and others in Li…

For my first podcast, I am thrilled to sit down with baker Renato Poliafito, owner of Ciao, Gloria in Brooklyn, New York. I first met Renato when he was the co-owner and co-founder of Baked, and now he has his own delicious venue, with pastries and baked goods that reflect his Italian and Italian-American heritage, which include everything from bre…