14.13 - Allez, Hop ! Au Resto: Inside French restaurant culture, with a tasty little slice of...
Join me in welcoming new Contributor & former New York restauranteur, sommelier, event specialist... now living in Paris with much to share about her life in France. + French Film, French villages...
This is your FREE le Bulletin, the weekly newsletter of MyFrenchLife™️ Magazine
Bonjour, I’m thrilled that you are here reading le Bulletin newsletter.
This is a long read, so if you’re reading this as an email, rather than on the App, then please press ‘download entire message’ in the email or the three dots at the base […] as it may be truncated Or, you can read the post directly here.
Merci. Judy - 6.4.24
1. This Week’s Featured Contributor is Karen Bussen who has just joined MyFrenchLife™️ Magazine.
Please help me welcome Karen Bussen as we publish her first article.
Karen introduces herself as:
Love led me from New York to Paris, where I live and write about food, wine, my French language journey and exploring l’hexagone with my husband. WSET level 3 in Wines & Spirits. DALF C1 diplôme en langue française.”
2. Allez, Hop ! Au Resto: Inside French restaurant culture, with a tasty little slice of my former life← by Karen Bussen
This article appears in full in MyFrenchLife Magazine - read it there.
I believe everyone should have to work 'au resto' at some point. You know, kind of like military duty? It’s the best school ever for lots of key life skills, from getting organized to dealing with stress, from learning how to serve and sell to mastering the delicate art of turning around a difficult situation (or customer) and getting to a win.”
Au resto: A slice of my former life
“Not everyone knows how deep my love for restaurants runs, or how important it has been to my life and career,” says Karen.
“When I first moved to New York City, I needed a job, and my friend Lara from acting class (yes, I took acting classes) got me a gig at a weekend cabaret in Soho called Upstairs at Greene Street. I didn’t know anything about anything—didn’t know how to open a bottle of wine, didn’t know the names of any cocktails or what was in them. To give you an idea, I was offended the first time someone ordered a Virgin Mary because I hadn’t a clue and it sounded rude.
The biggest perk of that job (and I didn’t even realize it till years later) was that I saw some of the most talented performers in New York City working on their craft when they were coming up, on the brink of stardom. Jon Stewart would come and do standup sets, and no one knew who he was... yet. Same with Chris Rock, Joy Behar, Mario Cantone (most famous for his role as Charlotte’s friend on Sex and the City), and many more.
After that job, I worked for years in many spots, from wine bars and diners to the hottest haunts in the Big Apple. Pino Luongo’s Le Madri in the early 90s, anyone? I mean... I waited on Don Henley from The Eagles and he was on a date!
And oh yeah, #humblebrag I was on the team at the original Union Square Cafe when Danny Meyer had only one eatery (he owns something like 18 now, plus he’s the mastermind behind the global hamburger chain Shake Shack). He remains the biggest influence on my attitude toward service, and I’ll always be grateful.
“Eventually, as one does, I met a chef and shacked up with him right before he decided to open his Italian place near Manhattan’s Madison Square Park. When his planned partner, who was supposed to be in charge of the 'front of house', backed out at the last minute, I put my college plans on hold (again) and jumped right in. I helped grout the floors on my hands and knees before we opened, I took reservations, and I was the gatekeeper at the door on busy nights when cool celebs (Frances McDormand! Eric Stoltz! Julie Andrews!) would come in for the admittedly delicious Italian food.
Against my better advice, The Chef had named the place Follonico, which in a pre-Google era was not a great move since no one could pronounce it well enough to ask the telephone operator for the phone number (that’s how we got phone numbers in the olden days) to make a reservation. One famously pithy and powerful critic even compared the restaurant’s name (an homage to a hill town in Tuscany) to “an act of love.” Cringe! But she still gave us a great review, as did all the critics. We were well-loved by chefs, wine people, and real restaurant folks.
Au Resto: The Benefits of Working in Quality Restaurants…”
This is a snippet, a teaser—read on—This article appears in full in MyFrenchLife Magazine - read it there ←
3. MyFrenchLife™️ Magazine: even more new articles
Stay in touch by reading the new articles & don’t forget there are >3000 fascinating articles in our archive - this sounds like an amazing immersion opportunity to me - a rainy day and a chance to get lost in France.
a) Le Tignet – Life in our new village← by Jacinta Bayard
I vividly remember the first morning, the “coooo coooo co” of the tourterelles (turtledoves) to begin the day. Excitedly opening the wooden shutters, the first light revealed a magnificent sky, a canvas streaked with deep orange, yellow, and red feathery wisps behind the clouds…” says Jacinta.
This is a snippet—read the entire article here←
b) French Film Review: Iris and the Men←
by Cynthia Karena
This film looks to be a winner and many people including myself will see it purely because it stars the charming Laure Calamy (‘Antoinette in the Cévennes’, ‘Call My Agent’). “ writes Cynthia.
You can read the entire article here ←
5. MyFrenchLife™ French Book Club #bookclub - RSVP required - online ZOOM EVENT 27 April.
'The Postcard' by Anne Berest has been our Spring read. It's been recently translated by Tina Kover and was first published under the French title 'La Carte Postale' in 2021.
We will continue reading through April and have scheduled our online ZOOM Discussion EVENT for Saturday 27 April 2024← make a note.
*If you intend to join us RSVP on the form here← Closer to the date those who have completed the RSVP form will receive a Zoom link for the EVENT. No link no attendance. You know how it works.
6. Merci mille fois
Thank you for subscribing, and reading le Bulletin, the luscious immersive newsletter of MyFrenchLife Magazine. I’m glad that you found us - you’re very welcome here. I appreciate your engagement.
Merci
Judy
Here’s how you can stay in touch & personalise your experience:
Like this le Bulletin newsletter of MyFrenchLife.org Magazine? Forward it or Share it with a friend. Surprise them and help us grow.
Loved a story? Disliked it? Drop me a note or just write to say ‘bonjour’.
Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up to get le Bulletin newsletter weekly.
You can personalise your le Bulletin. If you’d like to be sure you GET or NOT GET posts/emails about our French Book Club, you can personalise your account→toggle ON or OFF —do it now.
Recently Substack has acknowledged that a few random email newsletters were not been sent out. If you feel that you may have missed some you can check & test your account here. You can also find all newsletters here.
And… finally, you can immerse yourself in the archive of le Bulletin Newsletter here & the MyFrenchLife Magazine archive of >3000 articles
Welcome to the MyFrenchLife Contributor Team Karen. You're in good company here.