{"id":1032,"date":"2012-04-06T15:19:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T15:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thedowntownproject.com\/?p=1032"},"modified":"2012-04-06T15:19:28","modified_gmt":"2012-04-06T15:19:28","slug":"eloisas-french-afternoon-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/eloisas-french-afternoon-in-new-york","title":{"rendered":"Eloisa’s French Afternoon in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paris is like New York in that one can do wonderful things with little money, or one can splash out in a magnificent way.\u00a0 My idiosyncratic guide falls into the latter: a voluptuous immersion in French luxury, in the midst of New York city.<\/p>\n

1. Begin by transforming yourself into a flaneur<\/em>, a detached, observant stroller of the city streets (there is no equivalent word in English).\u00a0 Walking through the Jardin de Luxembourg, you\u2019ll find the French strolling, pausing to kiss, sharing a bottle of wine and talking for hours at the little caf\u00e9 in the middle of the park.\u00a0 I\u2019d like you to follow suit.<\/p>\n

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1. Stroll through Central Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stroll through Central Park<\/strong> <\/a>until you are in the center, level with 69th<\/sup> street.\u00a0 Start your French afternoon with a Belgian lunch at Le Pain Quotidien<\/a><\/strong>. LPQ\u2019s wooden tables, organic meals, and delicious cheese plates have won over the hearts of working New Yorkers in the last few years, for good reason.\u00a0 Have a glass of wine and an excellent salad: gossip, laugh, and just watch everyone around you.<\/p>\n

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2. The Fantastic French Products from Caudalie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Then walk back through the Park and exit at 5th<\/sup> Avenue.\u00a0 Your next stop is a splash, and you need a reservation, but it\u2019s worth every penny.\u00a0 My favorite French skin company, Caudalie, has opened a Caudalie Vinoth\u00e9rapie Spa at\u00a0The Plaza<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Caudalie fashions their products from grapes and grape-seeds: they smell wonderful, and they\u2019ll make your skin soft as butter. I recommend starting with the crushed Cabernet scrub and then getting a massage.\u00a0 You will drift out the door happy, buffered against the world\u2019s miseries.<\/p>\n

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3. Lanvin’s Crisscross Ankle-Wrap Espadrille at Bergdorf’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Take your newly beautified self to a store that\u2019s not obviously French\u2014Bergdorf Goodman<\/a><\/strong>, housed in the great Vanderbilt mansion next to the Plaza.\u00a0 In fact, Herman Bergdorf was an immigrant from Alsace, and to this day BG offers a fabulous, curated collection of famous and little-known French designers. I\u2019m not suggesting a full-on shopping expedition: you don\u2019t want to lose that honey glow from your spa treatment.\u00a0 Instead, stop off at the designer shoes on the 2nd floor<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0BG even has a shoe app<\/a><\/strong>!\u00a0 Take a special look at the collection of Lanvin shoes, which are exquisite\u2014and, even more important, incredibly comfortable.\u00a0 One day I went to lunch at Le Bernardin in high Lanvin wedges, then ran to my university and taught a 3-hour night class, all without a complaint from my feet.<\/p>\n

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4. LeBernardin for Something Special<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. I\u2019ll leave dinner to you.\u00a0 Le Bernardin<\/a><\/strong> is an obvious possibility\u2026but I\u2019d also suggest a humbler French cousin, La Mirabelle<\/a><\/strong>, at 102 W 86th Street\/Columbus. \u00a0La Mirabelle is a lovely little restaurant, not too cher,<\/em>and serving excellent food at quiet tables, with the occasional singing waitress.\u00a0 It has a passionate following among upper west side New Yorkers, so be sure to make a reservation.<\/p>\n

For more on Eloisa, click here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paris is like New York in that one can do wonderful things with little money, or one can splash out in a magnificent way.\u00a0 My idiosyncratic guide falls into the latter: a voluptuous immersion in French luxury, in the midst of New York city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[7,8],"class_list":["post-1032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destination","category-nyc","tag-midtown","tag-parks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanasanko.com\/downtown-project\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}