When I am too wired to sleep in Paris, I slip out of my hotel to follow the labyrinth of cobbled streets to Café Les Editeurs (“The Publishers”). Mannequins stare silently from darkened boutique windows. A man waits for his poodle. A couple stumbles past me arm in arm.
I follow the zigzagging alley to a triangular plaza lined with wicker chairs. I have reached the edge of Saint-Germain-des-Près, a neighborhood littered with bookstores that was once the heart of the city’s publishing industry.
It's always time for a coffee at Café les Editeurs.
The glow of the art deco lamps coaxes me inside. I take a seat at one of the lipstick-red leather chairs and order a half-dozen oysters and a half carafe of dry white wine much as Hemingway did after completing a rather difficult bout of writing.
My friend, François, first invited me to Les Editeurs “to swallow a coffee.” He wanted to show me the 5,000 books lining the walls given to the café by various publishers. I had met François smoking on the windowsill at a friend’s party. I knew we would be fast friends when, after I had complained to him that I was experiencing a literary dry spell, he suggested I read the humorous (and highly French) novel, The Bathroom, by Jean-Philippe Toussaint.
A couple enjoying lunch at the café Les Editeurs in Paris.
François recently visited me in New York and became very confused about our café culture. “I ordered an American coffee that took a very long time dripping,” he said perplexed. “And, then they handed it to me in a paper cup!” “Blame the hipsters!” was all I could say. “You do not have cafés,” he said, indignant, “You have additional offices where you pay the price of a coffee to work!” “Have you never been to a Starbucks in Paris, François?” “Of course not,” he told me, haughtily. “It is the place where teenagers get a milk shake in their espresso.”
Next time, I’ll give you a few tips about enjoying French café culture.
In the meantime, sign up for our Papa’s Paris Tour slated for June 17-25, 2017, by November 30 and save $1,400. You will thank yourself!
The café La Rotonde in the Montparnasses area of Paris.