Subway (the sandwich place) has been literaly invading Paris since, say, last year... They have good sandwiches, no doubt, but to the risk of sounding a little patriotic, I think nothing beats the genuine baguette/rosette sandwiches like the ones I almost fell for today in the boulangerie where I took this photo... Not to mention the tarte aux quetsches (from Alsace) next to the sandwiches... FYI, the French word for sandwich is Casse-croute (break crust) but few people use it.
I agree! I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the sandwiches in paris. First of all, they come on NICE bread. Plus, they put all the right stuff in it.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture today but it's making me hungry!
ReplyDeleteohohohohohoh....Subway's got nothin' on these babies.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmmm.....yummy.
ReplyDeleteSubway is in Paris? Seriously? Quelle dommage!!
my smile, reading you. Always.
ReplyDeleteThank you, very very deeply. I was said exactly pareil... Exactly!
How could the French let Subway enter the country?? Everything tastes better in France except American fast food. Hrumph!
ReplyDeleteSUCH a fabulous photo! I agree that there's no way Subway can even come close to making sandwiches like these, especially if they don't use good French bread. I'm with Suzy at being a bit upset that yet another American chain is invading France.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Paris sandwiches are the best, especially the ones with the really-bad-for-you fillings. Saucisson, jambon buerre....
ReplyDeleteWhat is a quetsche? It looks delicious.
Mrs. Vandertramp: it's like a plum, I think, or a prune. Tastes really similar.
ReplyDeleteLook here:
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/products/fruits/quetsche/
France gave us fine wines and cheeses and beouf bourgignon and we gave you ...Subway!!? Ick. That picture has got my gastric juices going. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteSubway? Bah! Give me a good old jambon et beurre on a baguette! Or to splurge, a sandwich from Cosi (the original on rue de Seine). Just got home & now I don't want anything but what I see here for my supper!
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought -- Wow - Subway's making some pretty nice sandwiches! So, not surprisingly, we go on to find out, well, no, they're not. May they make no inroads into the French market!! I'd hate to see these beauties disappear due to "sub"-par food!
ReplyDeleteJust found quetsche -- a shiny purplish blue Alsatian plum, usually with a frosted bloom. Sounds lovely, no. Bet they don't have anything like that at Subway!
ReplyDeletebut how do they turn golden? With heat?
ReplyDeleteHey, folks. First, I want to apologize for not congratulating everyone on the liberation day of yesterday. I'm sure it was quite moving.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I am working late due to union negotiations today and I am REALLY HUNGRY now. I'm out of here, to get dinner!
Felicitations, tout mes amis.
Your photo has my mind on food. :0)
ReplyDeleteN subway seriously. It's okay, but not great.
Croque Monsieur beats Subway hands down! Thanks, Eric. Your pic brought back fond memories of my first lunch in Paris. I've tried to make Croque Monsieur at home - and I came close - but nothing can match the ambiance of that first lunch on Rue St. Louis.
ReplyDeleteAaaaw how I'd love to bite into one of those... I miss rosette so much!!
ReplyDeleteDare I say, that tart is quite a quetsche!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Eric. I am a fanatic when it comes to French red wine, camembert and baguette. When visiting France the very first thing I do , is shop for those three items, bring then back to my hotel room. Using un tirebouchon open the wine, pour a glass of wine and fix myself un casse-croûte avec le camembert. Have to go now, I’m hungry !
ReplyDeleteaahhhhh what I wouldn't give for a baguette like this today!
ReplyDeleteSubway I have right in my neighborhood. Now, a typical french "casse-croute", malheureusement non!
;)
I agree! Nothing like the 'real' ones. Those pre-designed-imported-models are not for me.
ReplyDeleteSoo, instead of croque monsieur, instead of baguette et fromage, instead of rosette, instead of Subway, I went to the Mississippi waterfront and enjoyed French Pinot Noir and an all-American HAMBURGER and cole slaw! It's all good!
ReplyDeleteHey, Trocadero Monica, fun photo.
Ooh - those do look good!
ReplyDeleteYou are sooo right Eric! Ugh there is a Subway in every city in America and I suppose they are good enough but once you have a bite of the sandwiches that Paris has to offer well...nothing else will do. I am so homesick for Paris...the views, the bread, the macaroons. I suppose the grass is always greener but Eric I do envy you and thanks for taking us into your world!
ReplyDeleteI think Subway is gross. Soggy bread 'n all.
ReplyDeleteThose sandwiches make me drool! Never blog surf while hungry!
This has got to be a joke! Are you kidding Subway has the nerve and surely the French aren't actually eating them! Subway so SUCKS!
ReplyDeleteOh, those look much better than anything you can imagine purchasing in Subway. I do have to say I ate at the very first Subway in Milford, Connecticut over 20 years ago. I don't think their food has changed since.
ReplyDeleteNow, this, I would enjoy.
It's a tarte aux mirabelles (small and very sweet plums from Lorraine).
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabelle
Ok, I'll go out on a limb. I love Subway. There, I said it. I even have a card of frequent visitor stamps ready to turn in for a 6" BMT with everything on it.
ReplyDeleteBut...nothing beats a baguette-saucisse along the Seine with a nice bottle of brouilly either.
I agree with Carine, it's certainly a tarte aux mirabelles, which are yellow, while quetsches are "purplish blue", even when cooked ;-)
ReplyDeleteI don't know Subway, but malheureusement, we already have McDo, starbucks, and even KFC in France! So why not Subway... ;-(
When my wife and I last visited Paris in 2007, we forced ourselves to avoid all of the corporate eating places, like Subway and McDonalds. We did well until the very last morning when I succumbed and bought a Starbucks coffee. I just had to have that 'expensive slop in a cup'.
ReplyDeleteCarine, thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteI know I have to try it, I know it. I'm looking forward to sharing this with friends.
The crisper, the best!
Yeah Yummy ! My mouth is watering at the sight of these ;-)
ReplyDeleteBest stay away from Subway anyway. They put addictive chemicals in their ingredients.
ReplyDeleteOk Michael I'll share that seat with you; budge up a bit :) My son loves Subway so we too have one of those cards! he he.... These do look delicious though Eric, really yummy.
ReplyDeleteIn the UK, we wouldn't call this a sandwich at all. A sandwich to us is two flat slices of (square baked) bread with a filling. This to us is a baguette, the word stolen straight from the baguette-baking French. I liked learning the word casse-croute though - this is new to me.
How can you picture something like that????
ReplyDeleteSubway?? Quelle blague!
ReplyDeleteTomate..you can get a baguette sandwich like that at La Boulange for $5!! The Ham and Cheese or Salami with cornichons are the best!!
The plums are so good!! Perfect for an end of summer Clafouti!!! Mmmmm!
I never could have thought what these 'casse croute' would have been able to produce on me this day. My heart skipped a bit!!! Now I am starving and almost dying for one I could eat... Right now. Silly post :)
ReplyDeleteIt's apples and oranges. If you are enjoying Paris (visiting or otherwise) - order the culinary delights of the city. If you need a quick cheap reliable sandwich, head to Subway. It all depends on the customer and the day. I remember that a quarter pounder with cheese tasted wonderful in Switzerland when I had been away from home a little too long...
ReplyDeleteEric, you are spot-on....Subway does NOT beat a real Parisian Sammich (not a word, but I like it)! I'd trade all of my homemade sammiches (I'm a tote my lunch to work girl) for a week if I could have a yummy French Casse-croute for lunch today! ;)
ReplyDeleteI've never heard from sandwiches inside Japanese restaurants, even in France. Have you?
ReplyDeleteI remember when I learned a certain phrase here on PDP that started with "casse-toi". Its good to make the connection with the literal meaning of casse.
ReplyDeleteThib and Carine, mirabelles make more sense with their yellow color. And, Tonton, I'll be around for a taste of your lovely clafouti straight away!
I wonder about croute in the word choucroute, though. I just looked up choucroute in the dictionary to get the "crust" connection and it didn't say anything. Can anyone tell me why croute is in that word?
ReplyDeleteNo doubt that the sandwiches are a French national institution! I myself had lunch several times as the French, clutching a sandwich incredibly elaborate!
ReplyDeletePffff, ce sont des mirabelles ! Tu nous en fais une belle de quetsche, toi, tiens !!!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of all the times that I forgot to eat while roamning the streets of Paris. Usually lost. Those little boulangeries saved me from passing out from exhustion!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eric, dd
LOL nasty Reine Claude !
ReplyDeletequestche ou kestch ou sketch?!!
I do recommend to you the 'true Reine Claude'. Not any green prune or only RC! no, no, only the true ones at your local market. That is the season in France just now.
Very very good. Delicious. And a homemade tart with them, plus sugar, that's already sin;) Bon je sais dans Le rayon tarte, j'ai mes galons!!!!! Sigh!!
Scrumptious! I will take this "real" bread any day!
ReplyDelete@Carrie Not sure that the croute in choucroute has a meaning. According to Wikipedia, choucroute is a phonologically francophonic form of Alsatian Sürkrüt, c.f. German Sauerkraut. Choucroute sounds better than chouacide :) (sour cabbage).
ReplyDeleteUgh! Subways in Paris. How depressing. McDos, Starbucks and now Subways. More Jose Bovés are needed, clearly.
ReplyDeleteSubway is okay for America, but I can't imagine being in France and choosing it over a boulangerie! I love it when the French use butter instead of mayo!
ReplyDeleteClutching a sandwich, how exciting!
ReplyDeleteI won't forget that, count on me! :)))
Plus, making sandwiches is so easy! If everything can be so easy...
I still think Subway is a fad here in the States. (I am not a fan, especially not of the bread, and yes, have been told I am crazy by Subway lovers aka the rest of my family, most of my life). I first fell in love with Parisian (sp?) baguette sandwiches ala the Nicoise sandwich from Pomme du Pain way back in 1993. For Parisian to like it, in the wake of their own fabulous bread varities, I will chalk it up to Novelty.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Now I am seriously depressed. There are so many things from France you can find in the US, or at least a close imitation....but not the baguette’s you can get on virtually any street corner.
ReplyDeleteAlexa, I have seen plenty of Cosi shops in the US....is it really French, or an American firm that did a better job of slipping into the French market?
Anne, no one could confuse a Quarter Pounder with cheese and the wimpy little sandwiches from Subway!!!!
Sean
Carine - merci pour l'info - I would never have gotten that one figured out, but it makes complete sense! I love these kinds of linguistic trails. : )
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I just came back from Paris. I ate a jambon-fromage or jambon-crudités at every lunch except one (where I tried those hotdogs in a baguette with melted cheese) and I never got tired of the crisp baguette and the excellent Paris ham.
ReplyDeleteSubway could learn a lot from the french sandwich.
And the French sandwiches could learn a lot from Subway. Particularly this very special ingredient that grows so well in the States, I think it's called... marketing!
ReplyDeleteSo I get it, you like baguette LOL
And yes, I made a mistake, it was Mirabelle and not plums. OK, OK, same thing LOL
I did eat at a Paris Subway- quite good, by the way. However, I also ate at a McDonald's. It was the French version of the Big n Tasty; it was drippy, huge, greasy and aweful. I remember passing by a tradional French sandwich shop wishing I had had a ham and cheese sandwich (baguette.)
ReplyDeleteAs for Starbucks, after trying coffee everywhere my mother gave up and drank tea until we went to this expensive little taste of home. That was the only cup of coffee she enjoyed (and at 78 she should get what she wants!)
I wish there was a bakery, let alone a French bakery somewhere here in Central Texas. Another exuse to return to Paris!
Awful, Excuse The English teacher either cannot spell or did not proofread. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOoooh that looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteNever tried Subway in Paris - although I notice them springing up everywhere.
ReplyDeleteDiscovered them in Canada - great place to get a quick lunch and the cookies were to die for!
Have awful trouble in London - 'No I don't want cheese, no I don't want it toasted and yes I only want beef, onion and sweet onion relish'- they take it as a personal insult but the cookies are still pretty good.
But nothing beats a good ham and cheese baguette with butter - such a shame the Eurostar stopped doing fresh baguettes a few years ago - always felt like I was already in Paris even if I hadn't left London.
I know there is a 'Paul's' at St Pancras but it just doesn't taste the same - must be something to do with the additives that are obligatory in UK bread (and I am pretty sure they delete the € sign and stick a £ sign there instead).
Eli
x
"Casse-croute" = "sandwich"? That's news to me! To everyone I know, casse-croute is used to denote a "snack". Of course, generally any good snack does involve some "croute", i.e. bread! :)
ReplyDeleteVive la Rosette! Vive la simplicité!
ReplyDeleteEt oui pourquoi pas de temps en temps, c'est vrai ça!!!
ReplyDeleteMême si j'aime aussi beaucoup ce qui est raffiné et subtile ;)
La variété des plaisirs, y a que ça qui compte!!
you should also mention what "casser la croute" means...
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