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Café Life Paris
Book Review - Excerpt 1
Continued from page 1
General information about Paris cafés
The following excerpt is taken from the six-page introduction to
Café Life Paris:
"In our time people meet at cafés to read, drink coffee,
beer, wine, or soft drinks, to talk, flirt, haggle, relax, study, and, more
frequently now, to compose on their laptops. A dog may be patiently waiting
alongide. Cafégoers log on to the Internet and read the news from their home
cities of Boston or Tokyo. Tourists write postcards. We've even seen some
people doze off.
"The coffee served in most cafés is basic expresso. It's a
dark, rather bitter and thick brew that many people find is an acquired
taste. Visitors to Paris often prefer to order it allongé--diluted
with hot water, referred to elsewhere as 'café American'--and sometimes
deca--decaffeinated.
"There's an arcane system of pricing in most cafés. If you
stand at the bar, the price wil be a fraction, often half, of what your
drink will cost you if you sit at a table. If you sit outside on the
terrace, the price may be still higher. There's a good reason for the
difference: café owners have to pay higher taxes on drinks served at tables
and terraces than at the bar.
"The old corner café, where little was available but drink
and a simple demi-baguette sandwich or croque-monsieur--the
traditional toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich--has largely disappeared. To
survive, many café owners have had to hire a cuisinier and offer a
lunch formule, or menu. It's not unusual to see a small café with a
blackboard outside featuring the day's specials. If all you wish is a drink,
you may decide to avoid the café at peak hours--12 to 2:00 p.m. for lunch,
7:30 to 10:00 p.m. for dinner--or to look for the few tables that are not
obviously set for a meal."
Read Excerpt 2:
Café Flore profile
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