Text by Lindsay Wolf*

Inspired by the arm candy that Spartacus sported back in the day, the leather cuff is making a sexy, sophisticated comeback thanks to Owen & Savary, an independent leather accessories brand based in Paris and London.

Painters with a passion for perfect accessories, Kira Owen and Valerie Savary started the company together back in late 2008. “We’re both very much inspired by our travels,” says Owen. “We love to discover new lands, new customs, new people.” This may explain the designers love for exotic animal skins, but why the cuff?

A classic accessory for centuries, the challenge was to create an original, versatile design that leaps off the wrist while blending in with any wardrobe.

“The cuff has been around since the age of gladiators,” Owen explains. With their adjustable clasps, luxurious materials, trademark royal blue linings and artisanal fabrication, Owen and Savary have succeeded in giving the simple strap a thoroughly modern makeover.

Designed to spruce up your jeans by day while adding a kick to your evening attire, they blend with just about anything. Whether you’re wearing the classic Julia (narrower), the Salome (wider), or the Maximilien (for men), the cuff gently molds to your wrist without feeling restrictive thanks to its impeccable design and artisanal fabrication.

Each cuff is made in an atelier in Besançon where leather craftsmen build each piece to order out of an unusual range of colorful exotic skins, from metallic copper lambskin and camel ostrich to midnight blue stingray

The cuff’s genius lies in the clasp’s adjustability. Outfitted with a magnetic center, it’s a cinch to slip on and off. The original design is made from a laser machine to create the sharply cut look of the edges. While this process is more expensive than using a mold, the self-proclaimed perfectionists wouldn’t have it any other way.

In addition to their ready-to-wear collection that can be found at JNSQ and Galerie Kara in Paris, you can order a bespoke cuff by contacting the designers directly through their site. From there, they will work with you to configure the perfect piece to suit your style. The moment the order is submitted, it takes about 3 weeks to produce and receive your cuff.

What’s on the cusp of the cuff? Owen and Savary are busy working on a small series of handbags, chokers, ankle cuffs, key chains and watches.

Prices: 200-1200EUR, depending on choice of material.

Guest writer Lindsay Wolf divides her time between NYC and Paris. For commissions, feel free to contact her at lindsayawolf@gmail.com

Check out my review of artisan umbrella maker Michel Heurtault in the current spring issue of T Magazine.

I heard from Michel earlier today that he’s already been flooded with calls from all over the USA, including Texas curiously enough. I can’t think of anyone who deserves the attention more.

Congratulations Michel! In case you missed it, you can read the full interview with Michel here.

The mission was something out of Alice in Wonderland: take a train to a hamlet in the south of the city, walk along cobblestone streets past tempting little shops, turn left on a street called “hope,” look for a window filled with fine linens and warm light and if the adjacent door is propped open, come on in.

My destination was just as dreamlike and quaint as the journey it took to get there. Located in La Butte aux Calles, an adorable, totally remote neighborhood dense with lovely little treasures, La Clarière is a wonderland of hand-printed linens produced in limited series on site.

But if you’re looking for precious chichi motifs with elaborate affect you’ve got the wrong address, La Clarière’s linens are clean compositions of color, shape and weave that blend romance and rusticity. Be they elegant arabesques on rough-hewn army linen, or austere silver moons on buttery-soft cotton, unexpected juxtapositions of material and motif give a light, modern freshness to the designs. Would you expect any less from an interior designer mentored by Andrée Putman?

“The overall effect is unmannered because of the contrast between the patterns and fabric,” says Canadian-born owner Sharon Macdonald who worked for twenty years creating interiors for big-name architecture agencies in Paris before launching La Clarière in 1997. “When I do my work, I cut the fabric into individual pieces and then stamp it as a composition. It’s like its own little world,” says Sharon.

“The idea is to create an atmosphere that if you framed and magnified would becomes like a work of architecture.”

From bed lines and children’s bibs to tote bags and nightgowns, Sharon prints everything on site using a special supply of hand-made stamps crafted out of un-precious materials such as corks and potatoes. It’s a technique she first discovered as a precocious and crafty kid that she’s perfected over the years.

Since most of the fabric Sharon uses is found at the nearby flea market at Vanves, all of her designs are either unique, or available in limited edition. So if you fall in love with that hand-dyed pillow with the green cloverleaf print, or the A-frame nightgown with the rustic red pattern, you should probably pick it up on the spot. Sharon retires colors and patterns until she finds that right support for it again.

But if that’s not special enough, Sharon also does bespoke creations on demand.

Atelier/shop: 8 rue de L’Epérance, 75013, open Wed & Sat from 2:30pm-7pm, or by appointment
Prices: From 12E sachets to 250E duvet covers

Text by Alison Culliford*, illustration & photos by Fabrice Fortin

In a world of crashing bottle-banks and traffic noise, where we cocoon ourselves in our i-Pod bubbles, the revelation of superior sound can be a doors-of-perception experience.

When a stereo-buff friend took me to La Maison du Haut Parleur promising an extra-sensory treat, a visit to an opium den would not have had a more profound effect. We sat in the sweet spot on two directors’ chairs, and Monsieur Gest delicately placed the needle on a record. An oboe began its plaintive song; a cello answered and as the orchestra swelled the music resonated in our very bones.

Closing your eyes, you are not just in the best concert hall in the world, but in the instrument itself.

Bruno Gest is a self-deprecating man, so much so that he would not be photographed for our feature. He has run La Maison du Haut Parleur for 34 years and is soon to retire, handing the business over to his associate Christian Robert and young employee Romain Aubry.

Inside the inconspicuous shop, a mass of boxes and electrical gubbins fills the front. At the back are examples of their speaker kits. Essentially they provide the boomers and tweeters, which they have sourced from the best manufacturers, and will put you in touch with a cabinet-maker who will construct the box around them. “Or if you’re into DIY you can construct it yourself,” says Gest. “Both options enable you to have a far better speaker for your budget that if you bought it from a major manufacturer.”

They also sell speakers from French specialist companies such as Focal and Atohm, and have a repair workshop recently patronized by a “very famous French actor,” though discretion prevents these gentlemen from divulging his name.

But it is the sound theater downstairs that makes this place unique and is where the Blakean moment can be had. With Monsieur Gest’s large desk on one side, it has a Doctor No’s lair feel about it. The secret weapon kept down here is the Aeria Système, two huge speakers with a monumental 1930s look, whose 85cm high bass block is topped by a hand-turned acacia wood horn reminiscent of a vintage gramophone.

“The form sweeps the sound outwards and the wood eliminates all resonance. It’s completely neutral,” explains Gest, who spent 18 years developing the system. This is true up to 120 dB, and led the tech-head critics of the review Prestige Audio Visuel to declare its rendition of a concert piano “belle à pleurer.” Its beauty is considerable, but it’s the sound that counts.

“Like everyone, we are just looking for the thing that pleases us. The MP3 generation has a different outlook, but there will always be people that appreciate this quality of sound.”

The problem is that once you’ve been transported by the Aeria System nothing else is good enough. It takes you to another world, conjuring dreams of a loft apartment with a single Le Corbusier chair from which angels will serenade you. If you have one, you can join the 1000 or so people in the world who have crossed the threshold into perfect sound.

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Prices: Kits (from 78€), Aeria Système (6,000€)
Delivery time: 1 month.
Contact: La Maison du Haut Parleur, 138 Avenue Parmentier, Paris 75011

*Alison Culliford is a freelance journalist based in Paris: alison.culliford@gmail.com

Quickened pulse, dilated eyes, a desperate desire to touch and try. The setting was cold and depressing but it happened nonetheless—I fell head over heels in love.

Wandering among Who’s Next, the stadium-sized fashion and accessories fair this week in Paris, my heart gave out in front of the colorful panoply of Swedish Hasbeens clogs. These were the shoes of my childhood fantasies brought (back) to life. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that the pair of sky-high lipstick red peep toe clogs on display were torn off of Olivia Newton John’s feet during the dance finale of Grease!

Based on a treasure trove of clogs found in the basement of an old Swedish factory, Swedish Hasbeens pick up where the 70s left off. In addition to the classic clogs and t-strap sandles are modern models like belted ankle boots, lovely lace-ups, sexy knee-highs, and sophisticated loafers available in a kaleidoscopic range of colors.

Handmade in Sweden, the chunky-heeled footware is made from sustainably-sourced wood and naturally-dyed grain leather to leave as small of a carbon print as possible. Gotta love those Swedes!

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Prices: $200-400
Availability: Click here to shop online, or here for an international shoplist.

Snugly stylish sweaters are the most wanted items in a wardrobe. Without them, you may as well spend the winter in bed. That’s why I dream not of sparkly jewels or wads of cash but of owning an army of grannies who send me a steady supply of gorgeous handmade knits from November through March (yes, it’s that cold in Paris).

Turns out my fantasy isn’t all my own. Sylvia Toth, a Columbian designer who moved to Paris eight years ago, dreamed up a way to battle the bitter winter months by hiring a gang of knitters from her homeland. Lucky for us, she shares the handcrafted gems through WARMI, her artisanal fashion label.

Launched in 2008, WARMI is a Franco-Columbian brand that blends contemporary style with indigenous craftsmanship. Each collection is designed by Toth in Paris then produced in a remote mountainous village in Northern Columbia by a cooperative of women weavers. Though you’d think the name was just a funky new diminutive for “warm,” WARMI means “woman” in Quechua, one of the last living indigenous languages of the Andean region.

“The artisanal traditions in Columbia are very rich,” says Toth who discovered her knitting dream team at a native crafts festival during one of her habitual trips home. “Working with these women brings me back to my roots and builds a link between the two cultures,” says Toth who travels to Tausa several times a years to knit with the women and soak up the local color and traditions in order to feed it back into her designs.

Her whimsical animals motifs, for example, pay homage to masks worn during the annual Carnaval de Barranquilla. Inspired by their wild colors and  graphics, she invents new species for her women to stitch, infusing her knits with a playful, folklore wonder.

In addition to her meticulously stitched graphics are sculptural works that blend art and fashion. “I think of the designs as objects, not clothes, because my background is in design, not fashion,” says Toth who layers organic forms, like leaves in her Eva Bolera, or waves in her Capeline Pauline, to build irregular shapes and volumes.

From complex stitching and embroidered detailing to intricate assemblage, each woman in the cooperative has her own particular strength. Toth not only designs with each woman in mind, she also encourages them to flaunt their personal style, resulting in a collection ripe with charming irregularities and individual quirks.

In additional to their subtle stylistic signatures, each baby angora, naturally-dyed design is tagged with the knitter’s name and the number of hours she spent making it. So when you get compliments on your one-of-a-kind, handmade knit you know exactly who to thank.

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Prices: €50-500
Stocklist: click here for list of boutiques where WARMI is sold
Special Orders/Bespoke: ParisBAO can organize a visit to the WARMI showroom in Paris to commission a bespoke creation. Contact me for more details.

I write about some pretty unusual talents on this blog, but couture umbrella maker just might be my rarest find yet. That’s why I’m letting Michel Heurtault, owner of the fabulous umbrella shop, Parasolerie Heurtault, tell the story behind his flabbergasting art.
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“I’ve been obsessed with umbrellas from the time I was three. I have no idea why, but I could spend hours breaking them apart and studying how they opened and closed. I collected all of the umbrellas I could find, and by the time I was eight I was repairing them for people in my neighborhood. Needless to say, my parents thought I was nuts.

I moved from Toulon to Paris when I was eighteen and began working as a costume designer. I eventually opened my own company, Art ‘Scene, where I made costumes and corsets for film shoots, theatre productions as well as fashion houses such as Dior. I poured the most luxurious elements into my costumes.

Throughout the same period, I devoted all of my free time to making umbrellas and parasols. I didn’t want to make them in polyester and plastic like everyone else, so I started researching ways to waterproof and UV-protect noble materials, like lace, cotton, silk and linen. Anyone can put fabric on an umbrella, but my signature is to use only the finest materials, experiment with the cut, and handcraft the finishes so that it become a striking object with a soul.

I use an 18th century machine to cut my fabric into eight panels and then bend and shape them to create the curves and silhouette of the umbrella. The fabric needs to be as taught as possible. The sound of the umbrella when it opens, the stretching and tightening until it springs into place is a sign of quality. The more the fabric flutters the more it catches the wind like a sail, causing the umbrella to shake and break.

I do all of the detail and finishing by hand. I pad the ribs and smock the runners with fabric for aesthetic and practical reasons. It unifies the color of the design, prevents rusting, and helps the umbrella open and close more easily

I consider the umbrella to be a fashion accessory. Not only is it a beautiful item to carry in your hand, it gives you instant attitude and allure. I’m always shocked by the number of people who spend a ton of time and energy on their ensemble, but then ruin it with a revolting umbrella.

Instead of a cigarette, you have an umbrella to play with. It’s the final touch to a chic silhouette.

So many women come to me and say that they’d love to carry a parasol, but that it’s not really fashionable. And I tell them, ‘it’s not just about fashion, it’s about personal comfort.’ When you’re under an parasol you don’t sweat as much, you’re makeup doesn’t drip off, you’re not oppressed by the sun, and of course it’s great for protecting your skin.

Umbrellas have been vulgarized as disposable objects. We throw away 10 million per year in France and 33 million in the USA. During your grandmother’s era an umbrella was a luxury object, you bought one every year and when it broke, you had it repaired. I’m not obsessed with the past, I’m just thinking about a future that’s ecologically chic.”

Shop and Atelier Address: 91 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012, Paris
Price: Starting at €300

Photos by Fabrice Fortin for Paris By Appointment Only™

You’d think that gorgeous paper goods would be extinct by now. But one of the amazing side effects of our plugged-in lifestyle is a renewed craving for objects that are pleasantly tactile and reassuringly permanent.

No better sign o’ the times is the rising success of Intaglio, an independent printing press based in Paris.

A couture paper company with the friendly appeal of a neighborhood candy store, Intaglio (which means ‘engraving’ in Italian) is owned by Stephan Le Sauter and his wife, Anne. Together the affable duo has turned the rare art of foil stamping (an inkless printing process that permanently presses pigment into paper using weight and heat) into stationery so sophisticated and stylish you wonder how you’ve ever lived without it!

“Our designs are really influenced by the technique,” says Stephan, who learned the tricks of the trade while working at a printing press in San Francisco after college. “My roommate got me a job taking care of the paper stock. After a couple of months I was doing my job in three hours. The rest of my time I spent learning how to engrave,” explains Stephan, who returned to Paris after three years in California to round out his education with three French master craftsmen.

Unlike his tutors, Meilleurs Ouvriers de France committed to perpetuating classic French graphics, Stephan decided to combine age-old techniques with modern typography for a twist on tradition.

“An attractive letter, printed on 100% cotton paper by foil stamping is really one of the most beautiful things. It’s small, but its impact is huge.”

Instead of classical curlicues and frou frou detailing, he proposed chic, understated fonts and designs on luxurious, impeccably printed paper. From the second he placed his inaugural card (his son’s birth announcement) in his shop window in 1996, he realized he had tapped into something. “One mother came in, then another,” remembers Stephan. “And I realized that I could do it the old-fashioned way and become a printer for everybody’s needs.”

His flagship, offices and printing press now take up an entire street in the quiet corner of Paris’ 17th arrondissment where he and his family live. While a second shop, located near the Luxembourg gardens in the space that APC used to occupy, opened last fall.

From wedding invites and birth announcements to business cards and thank you notes, every Intaglio design is made-to-measure. After you choose your typeface, layout, paper stock, and letter pigment, a magnesium foil stamp die (carved metal plate) is made with your design. The plate is then hand finished and placed in an original Heidleberger machine where it seizes, heats and depresses pigment, producing a permanent de-bossed lettering without the use of any ink. If you’d like an embossed detail added, Intaglio has a battalion of hand-engraved stamps to choose from, too.

In addition to their custom products, Intaglio also sells ready-to-wear collections of artisanal cards, notebooks and paper towers at both of their Paris locations. But be warned: one visit to their shop and every other paper thereafter will pail in comparison.

That’s why my order’s on its way.

Intaglio: 3 rue de Fleurus, 75006 and 91 rue Lemercier, 75017
Prices: Greeting Cards (€3/piece), Business Cards (€150 for 100), Birth Announcements (€300 for 100 w/envelops) Wedding Invites (starting at €5/piece)

Illustration by Fabrice Fortin for Paris By Appointment Only™

Before you head to the shop to pick up some bottles of bubbly to fête the New Year, check out this alternative list of champagnes compiled especially for ParisBAO by blogger extraordinare and private wine consultant, Sharon Bowman.

Text Sharon Bowman, photos courtesy Thomas Iversen, Brooklynguy and Gourmet Traveller

One of the greatest pleasures in daily life is something that allows us to slip outside of daily life. Champagne transports us in a way that still wines do not. The distinctive sound of its cork popping, heard across a city courtyard or a bustling wine bar, immediately turns heads and piques desire and appetite. It conjures up images of pleasure and sparkling indulgence. But why leave the bottle in a neighbor’s flat or some other carouser’s glass? It’s the holiday season, and is now the time to start (or continue) a happy little habit that brings joy festivity.

Honor bubbles by forgoing the easy route, of course. Because taste and quirk are part of delight, there is no reason to stop at the glaring, well-known names on mass-market shelves. Here is a hand-picked selection of champagnes from today’s best new guard of growers. Alchemists of the grape, they turn pure chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier into sparkling gold.

1. NV Jacques Selosse Rosé – Rethink your thinking about rosé champagne. Far from light and frivolous, this vinous beauty from renowned vigneron Anselme Selosse is both deeply marked by the terroir it harks from – the chalky, chardonnay-laden lands south of Epernay – and deepened by a gourmand streak brought in by the small amount of Ambonnay pinot noir added to it for color and a different type of depth. Mellow and full, this is a wine for swooning. Which, come to think of it, is appropriate to its color, after all.

2. NV Tarlant “Cuvée Louis” – One thing always to remember with champagne, and which is very often proved in talented hands, is that champagne is wine, not some “other” form of beverage. What better honor to pay to its grapes, then, than to make a bubbly that is unabashedly vinous in style? A blend of two older vintages with as many younger ones makes up this rich yet spirited offering, further rounded by the judicious use of some old oak barrels.

3. NV Jacques Lassaigne “Vignes de Montgueux” – Champagne, however, is also about quick, sparkling refreshment. Here, you could not find a more apt vignette of that ideal. A spirited bubble with a quick, mineral liveliness on the palate and the unparalleled finesse of the chardonnay grape (the sole one used in this cuvée) make for a dazzle of white fruit and flowers that will open your guests’ palates immediately. Plan on having more than one bottle on hand.

4. 2002 Diebolt-Vallois “Fleur de Passion” – Aging is an interesting phenomenon in champagne, which is often (correctly) seen as something sold ready to consume and not in need of further cellaring. But bottles with the stuffing to go the distance reward the patient wine lover, and the 2002 Diebolt-Vallois “Fleur de Passion” is one of them. While already offering irresistible command and raciness, this will open with time, developing deeper and headier tastes. Hold. Then drink.

5. 2004 Prévost “La Closerie” – The exciting thing about this young producer, who has only been making champagne for a decade, is that each year, he produces just one bottling. The climatic and other differences from one vintage to the next are a strong reminder that wine is a living, changing element. After tasting through the past five years of this single-vineyard, all–pinot-meunier offering, my heart was caught by the 2004, a lovely year which is currently drinking beautifully, with notes of quince and marzipan and a lushness that boldly treads without any unneeded sugar.

6. NV Vouette & Sorbée Blanc d’Argile – Off the beaten track can be said both of Bertrand Gautherot’s location, near Troyes – far south of the bulk of the Champagne appellation, with its hubs around Reims and Epernay –  as well as his soil, here including clay (argile), and methods of production. The mix of clay in with the traditional chalk of Champagne terroir gives a kind of earthy roundness and lushness to this wine, while organic farming canted slightly toward biodynamics make for lively and quirky fare.

7. 2006 Chartogne-Taillet Pinot Meunier – Lucky Alexandre Chartogne, to inherit a parcel of old-vines pinot meunier planted on their own rootstock*. And doubly lucky us, for this rich offering by a talented young grower working in tiny quantities we should all be lucky enough to taste.

8. NV Drappier Brut Nature Sans Soufre – The trend in grower champagnes these days is more toward bucking the trend. Gone are the age-old shibboleths of mixed vintages (with the resurgence of single-vintage fare), blends of parcels and grapes. In a similar vein, Drappier has, for this bottling, done away with a key element for the stabilization – and some would say, sterilization – of champagne (and still wines): sulfur. Though much more sensitive to appropriately cool storage conditions and unapt to age, the Brut Nature Sans Soufre is vibrant with life on the palate; especially instructive is to taste it side-by-side with its sulfured twin (the same bottling, only with sulfur) to see exactly what complexity unfurls when not tamped down by that additive.

9. 1999 Veuve Fourny Faubourg-Notre-Dame – Terroir is nowhere as in evidence as in single-parcel wines, and this is one of my favorite. From Vertus, the southernmost village on the aforementioned Côte des Blancs stretching south from Epernay, this champagne is utterly of its place. A tiny parcel just next to the Fourny family estate, and vinified with care. Lovely, and particularly rooted in its land.

10. 2002 Huet Pétillant – Our tour of uncommon finds would not be complete without straying even farther from the straight and narrow. Here, we have in our hands (and in our glasses, if we’re lucky) a sparkling wine not from Champagne, but rather from Vouvray in the Loire Valley. One-hundred percent chenin blanc, with reserve wines from the best of Huets timeless cellars, this is gorgeously spicy, bready, complex, and age-worthy. Hands down the best bubbly not from the hallowed bounds of Champagne.

*Phylloxera 411: in the 19th century, a root louse destroyed the vineyards of France; ever since, all vines are grafted onto American rootstock, which is resistant to the beastie. A few daring vignerons have since replanted own-rooted vines without grafting. These are still susceptible to the louse – a sort of Russian roulette, which nonetheless pays off when it works, as the wines made from nongrafted vines often have a different sort of depth to them, as well as a different aging curve. Chartogne’s vines are own-rooted, amusingly enough, not from some early pioneering desire to get back to tradition on the part of his forebears, but because in the 1950s, it was cheaper to plant away with meunier – considered the poor cousin and “blending grape” in Champagne – and risk losing the vines to phylloxera, rather than shelling out for pricy American rootstock.

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Suppression demandée ()Restauration demandéeModifié – –

Paris Stocklist: Augé, 116 bd Haussmann, 75008; Bacchus & Ariane, 4 rue Lobineau, 75006; La Dernière Goutte, 6 rue du Bourbon le Château, 75006; Lavinia, 3 bd de la Madeleine, 75008; Legrand Filles & Fils, 1 rue de la Banque, 75002; Les Papilles, 35 rue Daguerre, 75014a

A Florida expat with spitfire spunk and a Southern drawl as thick as molasses, Wendy Lyn is not your typical Parisienne (hallelujah to that!). What she is, however, is every foodie’s fantasy come true. For an inside taste of Paris, join this culinary go-to-gal on one of her fabulous food walks.

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When Wendy Lyn moved to Paris twenty years ago she found herself living out a foodie version of the book series, Eloise. Instead of the Plaza hotel, she had the famous Paris bakery Poilâne as her delectable dominion. With the luscious scent of buttery pastries as her alarm clock, she’d run down from her chambre de bonne on the top floor of the bakery to pick up apple turnovers or sourdough country bread fresh out of the wood-burning ovens.

Often she’d be invited to join the owners and staff in the adorable dining room behind the shop for breakfast under a bread chandelier. Call it crazy, call it fate, call it freaking unfair, this mouthwatering set-up sparked Wendy’s incurable passion for food—its origins, its producers, its purveyors and its best Paris addresses.

Today, Wendy’s got the city’s culinary circuitry running through her veins. With the speed of a 1920s switchboard operator she can plug you in to the latest hotspot, make an impossible reservation, or have your sipping Champagne with a three-star Michelin chef. When she’s not doing all of the above for her international clientele of gastronomic journalists, professional chefs, and restaurant owners, she’s leading lip-smacking food safaris and wine crawls through Paris.

So on one of the coldest days of the year, I bundle up to meet Wendy and a family from Chicago (I blamed them for the weather) for a winter wonderland tasting tour through St. Germain des Près. Leading us on a side street passed a bagel stand that I, the New York native, had never heard of (!!), we arrive in front of Wendy’s first apartment above the Poilâne bakery. Standing there, she gives us a primer on the history of the site, explaining that it was originally a 17th century monastery before it was purchased by the Poilâne family in 1932, and that during WWII hungry artists nearby would barter paintings, many of which are on display in the secret dining room inside, in exchange for a steady supply of fresh bread.

Once inside, we’re led down a stone staircase to the ancient wood-burning ovens to see how the famous miche bread is made. “Every time you eat piece of Poilâne bread, you’re tasting a part of history,” says Wendy, explaining that not only the recipe, but also the starter is the same as the first batch of Poilâne loaves from 1932.

Light dusted with flour, we take our appetites upstairs to pick up some shortbread punitions before heading down the street to another benchmark in edible history: Debauve & Gallais, the first chocolate shop in Paris. There, Wendy tells a brilliant behind-the-scenes story about how Dr. Debauve, the royal pharmacist to Marie Antoinette, was asked by her doctor to hide the Queen’s meds in something sweet (she did marry at fourteen, remember).

He “started goofing around, putting medicine in chocolate along with rose petals, earl grey tea, honey, orange blossoms and rolled them into shapes,” says Wendy. They were such a hit at Versailles that they had to be hidden in hollowed out books in the library to keep the staff from stealing them. Which lead to another problem: them melting together. So, the chocolate box as we know it today is actually the pillbox of yesteryear: a way to keep the Queen’s gout and flu medication separate. Go figure!

Skipping ahead two centuries in chocolate history, we enter the cutting-edge kingdom of master chocolatier Pascal Caffet with his hot pink eclairs, single origin, single bean, single plantation Venezuelan bars, and salted caramel, chocolate-covered crispy treats that Wendy appropriates declares “as good as sex!”

After a quick stop into the Ladurée’s secret gift shop, we’re ready for a savory salve to all those sweets. Within minutes we’ve got the most delicious mulled-wine I’ve ever tasted warming our insides while we speak with the purveyors at the delectable oyster and Champagne stand at the annual St. Sulpice Christmas fair.

We’re told to save our appetites for something that’s going to knock our socks off: a fresh stack of Ibaïona ham croquettes made-to-order by Wendy’s friends at Yves Cambdeborde’s hot new wine bar, L’Avant Comptoir. Crispy, gooey, sinful and addictive, they’re the perfect finish to our expertly-led edible escapade.

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Tour length: 3 hours
Prices: 80E/person, 300E for 4 people, 460E for 6 people (tastings along the way included)
Reservations: Through Wendy’s online food-magazine, The Paris Kitchen™