Tell Me About Your First Meal in Paris: A Little Assignment with a Lovely Prize

UPDATE: Since I published this post, many of you wrote me about great stories of your first meals in France. I collected the stories from Facebook, Instagram, and this site, and combined them all in one place for a fabulous read. Enjoy!

If you’re lucky enough to have traveled to Paris, you can likely remember your very first meal there. My first meal, at the age of 16, was a simple roast chicken at Chartier restaurant, a place my best friend Cindy and I stumbled into alone when we got separated from our chaperoned group of school kids.

On my first-ever night in Paris, my friend Cindy and I got lost from the group and found ourselves on the streets of Paris, wide-eyed, 16, and alone. A kind stranger in a metro station told us to go to Chartier Restaurant (above). It changed my life and made me a France-lover forever.

Julia Child’s first meal in France was sole meunière; more than five decades later, she rhapsodized about the unforgettable dish in her lovely memoir, My Life in France.

And what about you? Where did you eat your first meal in France? Even if you don’t remember exactly what you ate, perhaps you remember those other things: the musical clatter of silverware against china in a casual brasserie, the hushed murmur of contented diners in a splurge-worthy spot. The way the waiters looked serious and venerable—more like philosophy professors than the youthful restaurant crews you were used to back home.

What do you remember most?

Or perhaps your first meal didn’t go so well, as on my second visit to France when I ordered what I thought was a a fat and savory grilled sausage, but turned out to be a stenchy andouillette, a notorious sausage made from pork intestines. Few people make that mistake twice!

Whatever your experience, good or bad, I’d love to hear about it. Where did you eat? What do you remember most? Whether you want to offer a few words, a quick impression, or tell a sustained story, go ahead! I truly want to hear about it!

Part travelogue, part restaurant guide, with charming line illustrations throughout, A Table in Paris would make a great gift for any lover of France.

And just for fun, I’m giving away away a prize! The winner will be chosen randomly among all the responses on Facebook, Instagram, and here.

The prize? A new book, A Table in Paris: The Cafés, Bistros, and Brasseries of the World’s Most Romantic City. Published just this year, the charming 237-page tome has the most evocative little line drawings of well-known and obscure places alike. Part travelogue, part dining guide book, this book includes great storytelling as well as compelling dining narratives and insights from Ruth Reichl, Melissa Clark, the New Yorker’s Lauren Collins, and others who either live in Paris or travel there frequently.

Frankly, I think it would make a great Christmas gift to anyone who loves food and France.

So … tell me about your first meal in Paris, either here or on my Facebook page. And, because writers need deadlines, your deadline is December 8, 2021. Tell me in the comments section, below, on Instagram, or on my facebook page. [UPDATE: A winner was chosen via a “random number generator.” Gary wins the book! Thanks to all who contributed their stories.]

Even though the contest has closed, I’m still interested to hear your stories! Feel free to post.