Higuma

You might say, why would one eat Japanese food while visiting the City of Lights? Well, when you've lived in Paris for many months, visited there for over 26 years and layover for work in Paris more times then you can count and sometimes more than once a week ( like me ) then eating food other than French is just a normal way to live.

Do you eat a Hamburger in the US everyday?

How about Wienerschnitzel in Germany over and over? Not so much!

So when I get that urge for good, filling, tasty and inexpensive food, I usually grab a few friends and head to Higuma. After waiting in their quick but consistent line, you can escape with stomach and pocketbook full at around 12 euro tops, 17 with beer...;)

This is a typical Japanese place, very similar to the places I've frequented in Narita. You select between lamen (noodle), donburi (rice) or itamemono (saute) bowls with your choice of meat and veggies. The sets come with salad, miso soup and pickled veggies. Big bottles of their only available beer, Asahi, are a must.

For authenticity go to their rue Ste Anne location and for modernity, the Palais Royal location. Both serve identical menus and please the palate, every time. Arigato!

Voglia di Pizza

Voglia di Pizza near Campo di Fiori in Rome was truly a pizza dream come true! Whether you eat gluten free or not, the two brothers from Sardegna have really gone out of their way to please all lovers of pizza and haven't forgotten those of us needing to eat gluten free!

I had to ask them three times if they were sure that my Capricciosa pizza was really gluten free because it was as good if not better than other pizzas that I have eaten in Italy. I can't imagine how good there regular pizza dough must be! The pizza was akin to the fabulous thin crust yumminess that I've experienced at my former favorite hole in the wall pizza joint: Pizzeria da Baffetto.

I sat facing out onto the busy walking street of Via Giubbonari where the place is located and thoroughly enjoyed myself while washing down the delicate flavors with a tasty Spanish gluten free beer: Estrella's Daura. Which by the way was also the best gf beer I've ever tasted....so overall I am so happy to say that I can live a normal and pleasing existence even when in Rome....I am doing/eating as the Romans do and can!

La Opera - Ciudad de Mexico D.F.

La Opera Bar and Restaurant, was highly recommended to me by a very good friend and his suggestions are always right on! In the center of Mexico City between the Reforma area and Zocalo, I was pleasantly greeted into this historically intriguing eatery. (see the link above)

I ordered the Carne Asada Tampinquena and was completely satisfied. The meat was perfectly medium and the accompanying side dishes made for a delicious meal. I created my own tacos amidst the varied selection of ingredients on my plate: fresh made tortillas, nopalitos, guacamole with cotijo cheese, mole sauce (that smothered a side enchilada), marinated onions, jalapenos, verde salsa and limes. Don't forget the Indio beer for refreshment.

Satiated, I rolled out of the decorative and calming ambiance into the festive 80+ degree streets of la Ciudad de Mexico, ignoring the protesting groups marching to loud speakers, by the omni-present machine gun clad guards, drooling past the window displays of the multiple pastelerias and back to the comfort of my layover hotel to rest before my 4 am wake up call and another 14 hour duty day in the sky.

Beer Fix in Roma

Another weekend with beer on the brain and surprisingly this time, I was in Rome! Open Balandin is a new bar/restaurant featuring 38! micro brews on tap and 100+ in bottles! The beers definitely rival those of microbreweries that I frequented in my college days. I tried a great Pale Ale and was very pleased. I literally ran into this place while galavanting around the Campo di Fiori area. I'd been wanting to check it out and was glad that I did. The people that work there are lovely, the ambiance is fun and modern and for a kitschy feel go upstairs to the rooms decorated like the homes of Romanian gypsies, interesting fun and so euro-rustique ( new word? ). Yes I did continue the evening with a lovely glass of red wine in a small quaint bar before my habit of thin pizza consumption, yet it is fun to think outside the box now and again and try something new. I think the Italians know what quality means when it comes to literally everything and now I can add beer to that list. Stop by on your next trip to Rome and coming soon to 57th street in the N.Y.C. in June 2010.

(Recently visited in November of 2010 and the "birrificio" is on Via degli Specchi, although the website will guide you to Piazza Luglio which is frequently missed on a map...)