Fishwives of Paris

What actually is a bistro, and why does Paris seem to have a different word for every type of restaurant?

In this episode of Fishwives of Paris, Emily Monaco and Caroline Fazeli break down one of the most misunderstood concepts in French food culture. From cafés to brasseries to bouillons, the lines between these establishments used to be clear, but today, they are anything but. Along the way, they debunk the persistent myth that bistros were invented by Russian soldiers yelling “bystro,” and instead trace their real origins to waves of migration from the Auvergne into Paris.

The result is a story that has less to do with tablecloths and steak frites, and more to do with community, labor, and the evolution of French comfort food. Follow us on socials for more content on our top bistro picks in Paris.

What You’ll Learn
What a bistro actually is, and why most people use the word incorrectly
The difference between a bistro, café, brasserie, bouillon, and restaurant
Why the Russian “bystro” origin story is a myth
How migration from the Auvergne shaped Parisian food culture
What “bistronomy” is, and how it changed the modern bistro
Why many “bistros” today are no longer cheap or working-class
What to look for when choosing a true bistro in Paris

French Dining, Explained

Bistro
Small, casual, cozy
Historically no reservations
Focus on community and quick service
Now often a mix of tradition and reinterpretation
Brasserie
Originally Alsatian, beer-focused
Open all day (continuous service)
Larger, often more formal setting
Can range from beautiful to very average
Bouillon
19th-century working-class establishments
Early “chain restaurants” in Paris
Cheap, fast, efficient meals
Often with shared tables and paper tablecloths
Café
Primarily for drinks (coffee, wine)
Social and cultural institutions
Historically key “third spaces” in Paris
Restaurant
More formal dining
Fixed service times (lunch and dinner)
Higher-end than the categories above

How to Spot a Bistro (Visual + Cultural Clues)
While not definitive, classic signs include:
red and white checkered tablecloths
chalkboard menus with daily specials
small wine glasses
zinc or wooden bar
tiled floors
close, convivial seating
But remember: today, these are aesthetic signals, not guarantees
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In this episode of Fishwives of Paris, Emily and Caroline unpack the real story of Marie-Antoine Carême, the ambitious pastry chef who rose to cook for diplomats, emperors, and tsars, and helped shape modern French cuisine.

Beyond the dramatized version, Carême was a master of image and storytelling, even spreading myths about his own life. While he was not a spy, he was deeply connected to power, using food as a tool to impress and influence Europe’s elite.

We explore how Carême’s work helped define French cuisine as we know it today, from early sauce classification to his belief that pastry was a form of architecture. He played a role in shaping iconic desserts like the croquembouche, eclairs, and the modern Charlotte, and helped elevate pastry into an art form built on structure, precision, and spectacle.

The episode also looks at his more modern ideas, including seasonality, balance, and a shift away from heavy spices toward fresh herbs, as well as his role in defining the image of the professional chef, including the creation of the chef’s hat.

In this episode:
Why Carême lied about being an orphan
What the Apple TV series gets wrong
How he categorized sauces before Escoffier
Why he believed pastry was a form of architecture
The origins of desserts like the croquembouche, eclairs, and Charlotte

What did Carême actually create and influence?
Codifying French cuisine
One of the first to organize recipes at scale
Early system of “mother sauces” before Escoffier (Velouté, Espagnole, Béchamel, Allemande)
Wrote influential cookbooks and his own carefully curated life story
Elevating pastry
Treated pastry as architecture, building elaborate edible structures
Created dramatic dessert displays using choux, marzipan, and spun sugar
Helped bring spectacle into fine dining
Iconic pastries
Popularized the croquembouche
Expanded the use of choux pastry, including éclairs
Shaped ladyfingers (biscuits à la cuillère) for dipping and desserts
Transformed the Charlotte into the cold dessert we know today
Created early versions of vol-au-vent
Chef identity and kitchens
Invented the chef’s hat (toque)
Evolved from pastry chef to full culinary authority (officier de bouche)
Helped define the role of the modern chef
Modern food philosophy
Advocated for seasonality and peak ingredients
Focused on balance and how food makes people feel
Shifted French cuisine from heavy spices to fresh herbs
Luxury and ingredients
Helped introduce chocolate into pastry beyond drinks
Cooked with luxury ingredients like champagne
Worked during the rise of sugar use in France
Dining and presentation
Worked during the shift from display-style dining to courses
Created grand banquet experiences for political elites
Helped define food as both visual spectacle and social power

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Potatoes are one of the most iconic ingredients in French cuisine today. But for centuries, the French refused to eat them.

In this episode of Fishwives of Paris, Emily Monaco and Caroline Fazeli uncover the strange and fascinating story of how the humble potato went from feared outsider to beloved staple of French cooking. Once thought to cause leprosy and plague, potatoes were even banned in France for a period of time before a determined pharmacist named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier began campaigning to change public opinion.
Through a mix of clever marketing, royal influence, and a staged "potato heist" at Versailles, Parmentier helped transform how the French viewed this Peruvian import. Along the way, Emily and Caroline explore how potatoes traveled from South America to Europe, why the French were so suspicious of them, and how they eventually became the foundation of classic dishes like pommes puree, gratin dauphinois, and hachis Parmentier.

This episode reveals how culinary myths are created, how food traditions evolve, and how one clever campaign helped change the course of French cuisine.

Places Mentioned in This Episode:

Père Lachaise Cemetery (Paris)
This famous Paris cemetery is the final resting place of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier. Visitors sometimes leave potatoes on his grave as a playful tribute to the man who helped introduce them to French cuisine.

Versailles (Chateau de Versailles)
Parmentier famously planted potato fields near Versailles and staged a fake theft of the crop to spark curiosity and convince the public that potatoes were valuable.

Dishes Mentioned
pommes puree (buttery mashed potatoes)
gratin dauphinois
hachis Parmentier (French-style shepherd's pie)
French fries (possibly introduced to American diplomats at one of Parmentier's potato banquets)

🎧 Fishwives of Paris
Hosted by Caroline Fazeli and Emily Monaco
📲 Instagram: @fishwivesofparis
🍷 Goguette affiliates: https://bit.ly/goguette_FWOP
💌 Press & partnerships: [email protected]
Watch full episodes in 4k on Youtube

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mexican food in France is often treated as cheap street food, but chef Carla Kirsch is challenging that narrative. In this episode of Fishwives of Paris, we sit down with the Mexican-born, French-trained chef behind Alebrije in Lyon to talk about bringing Mexican cuisine into the French fine dining world.

We dig into why French diners expect Mexican food to be inexpensive, why spice still scares people in France, and how many core French ingredients originally came from Mexico and the Americas. Carla also shares what it takes to source Mexican ingredients in France, from dried chilies and tomatillos to masa made from French corn, and what it’s like to open a restaurant in France as a foreign woman.

Places & Institutions Mentioned in This Episode
Alebrije (Lyon) – Carla Kirsch’s fine dining Mexican restaurant
Milpa (Lyon) – Carla Kirsch’s more casual taco shop
Institut Paul Bocuse (now Institut Lyfe), Lyon – where Carla trained in classical French cuisine

🎧 Fishwives of Paris
Hosted by Caroline Fazeli and Emily Monaco
📲 Instagram: @fishwivesofparis
🍷 Goguette affiliates: https://bit.ly/goguette_FWOP
💌 Press & partnerships: [email protected]
Watch full episodes in 4k on Youtube

Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our Facebook group.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is beef bourguignon really a rustic Burgundian peasant dish? Or is it one of France’s greatest culinary PR successes?
In this episode, Emily Monaco and Caroline Fazeli dig into the surprisingly modern (and non-Burgundian) origins of beef bourguignon, how it became a symbol of “traditional” French home cooking, and why the version most of us recognize today owes a lot to Parisian restaurants, Escoffier, and Julia Child.
They unpack how French beef has historically been used (working animals first, dinner later), why slow-cooked stews became central to French cuisine, and how the romantic idea of French “peasant food” often hides a much more complicated and urban reality. Along the way, they break down what actually matters when cooking this dish at home, and which rules are worth ignoring.

In This Episode:
Why beef bourguignon is not actually from Burgundy
How a Parisian fast food chain helped shape the dish
What “à la bourguignonne” really means
Why French beef is different from American beef
How Julia Child helped codify the modern version of the recipe
Caroline’s no-fuss tips for making beef bourguignon at home

What the Fishwives Recommend:
Wine to cook with (for the stew):
You do not need Burgundy wine. “Bourguignon” refers to a red-wine style of preparation, not the Burgundy region. Use an affordable, drinkable red wine. Do not waste expensive Burgundy on cooking.
Cut of beef to use:
In the U.S.: Chuck (or any hardworking, collagen-rich stew cut)
The goal is a tough cut that benefits from long, slow cooking
Wine to drink with boeuf bourguignon:
Skip Burgundy here, too. The dish is rich and beefy, so it pairs better with a fuller-bodied red:
Syrah
Cabernet Sauvignon
Northern Rhône (like Saint-Joseph)
Extra Bits You’ll Hear:
Why marinating the beef is optional (and often unnecessary)
Why French home cooks don’t obsess over pearl onions
How this dish reflects how French people actually entertain (low-stress, make-ahead, lots of leftovers)
What to do with leftover sauce
If you’ve ever been confused about whether you’re “doing it wrong” with beef bourguignon, this episode is your permission slip to relax, save your good wine for drinking, and stop taking French food myths so seriously.
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