After discovering The Bird in Berlin, I didn't think it was possible for burgers in Europe to get any better. But after our latest trip to Paris, there might another serious contender: Le Camion Qui Fume, or 'the truck that smokes'. Still only a couple of years in operation, the brainchild of California chef Kristin Frederick, has amassed quite the following - literally. Parked at two different locations for the lunch and the dinner crowd, the line for such coveted American burgers can run upwards of an hour. That is, if they don't run out before you reach the truck.

Ordering the barbeque-bacon burger, I was picturing a dripping mess. Instead I found my burger packed all the same flavor as the often over-loaded American counterpart into a nicely wrapped and not terribly saucy alternative - a nice realization considering brown bagging it means eating over your fashionable Parisian clothes. The burger meat was excellent, if not a close second to that of The Bird, but it was really the brioche bun that stood out. The fluffy-soft and sesame-d bun was perfectly suited to a burger, although not surprising in a country that is known for its obsession with good bread. I know preference around French fries is a terribly personal thing, but I must admit that if it's a potato and it's fried, I'm pretty happy to be eating it. That said, I did think these thinner-cut fries were pretty fresh and fantastic. The only downside to the take-out system is that the steam gets trapped in the bag and the fries can become soggier than they're meant to be if you don't eat them immediately. Again, not usually a problem for me.  

While the dinner wait can be a bit of a killer - a fight almost broke out when someone slyly tried to cut the line - our stop for a lunchtime burger on the way out of town proved very quick and painless. My advice: arrive as close to opening as possible. But if you do have to wait, just know that a little piece of authentic, American burger goodness waits for you at the other end.





Le Camion Qui Fume
five-six days a week, lunch and dinner service
times and locations updated online
also check Twitter for updates

Candelaria is easily one of 'our' places in Paris. We go, usually multiple times, every visit. Whenever we hear of anyone going to Paris, we always recommend it - especially if they are American, and especially if they are expats. When you grow up on Mexican food, moving so far away from it - not to mention so far away from anyone who even knows what it's really supposed to taste like - is tough.

I first learned about Candelaria via Lindsey of Lost in Cheeseland last year while researching places to eat for an upcoming trip and immediately put it our must-go list. We were so smitten with it, that we went three times that weekend. Not only is the food like the best taco truck offerings you've ever tasted and the establishment itself a cozy, no-frills cantina (blink and you'll miss the nondescript exterior and barely legible name scrawled in marker on the front window), but the folks running the place are some of the warmest and friendliest you will meet. The flurry of English, French and Spanish inside only adds to the worldly atmosphere.

The menu is short and sweet, but you are never left wanting something more. There are always a couple of tacos and tostadas, sometimes quesadillas. It's simple food that is easy to fill up on when you can't stop eating it, with options like tinga de pollo, al pastor, beans with queso blanco, and don't forget the chips and guacamole! Add in the house margaritas rimmed with spicy salt or any number of Mexican beers and you have the perfect meal. But if you do find yourself craving more, it's easy to add on to your order with this easy-going kitchen - just be prepared for the exasperated looks from the line of people waiting on the wall for one of the ten or so seats.

After eating, or after some late-night clubbing, the bar in the back is a necessary stop. Going through what looks like a broom closet door next to the kitchen, you are transported to this warm, slightly rustic and much larger space that looks nothing like its eatery counterpart. If the inviting atmosphere doesn't make you want to stay there for the rest of the night, the unique cocktails sure will. The hipster-y bartenders and their arms of steel will shake and muddle and blend your drink with the care and precision of a chemist, making the €10-12 you plunk down for it feel like a bargain.

Until next time, Candelaria...









Candelaria
52 Rue de Saintonge
75003 Paris
info@candelariaparis.com

Ahh, Paris... Those ornate Metro signs. Those iconic grey roofs. Those winding, leaking underground tunnels of public transportation. Paris was the first big European city where I spent time during a summer study program in high school, which only fed my Francophile fire. Even in my sad, suburban clothes and surrounded by our rambunctious middle-school traveling companions, I could feel the magic of this city and knew it was a corner of the world where I felt, at least in part, that I belonged.

Host to a very eventful (read: boderline disastrous) engagement and a few road trips from our not-so-new home in Germany, Paris has become a regular in our travel rotation - something this California native couldn't have even hoped to imagine on that first trip all those years ago. So when we got invited to a friends' wedding in Bordeaux, we knew it was a required stop on the way. Sometimes, you just need a couple of days in Paris.

July being peak tourist season, we didn't even bother with the usual suspects, but instead just wandered, hit up some of our favorite spots and finally got to try that authentic California burger truck. Paris isn't always the Champs-Élysées or the Louvre. It's also finding new, hole-in-the-wall places to eat, enjoying the beauty in your favorite Metro stations and being surprised by nightly free concerts a block from where you are staying. I didn't even see the Eiffel Tower this trip, save a few glimpses of it peeking out from behind various city architecture. But that's OK, there's always next time. Because Paris is always a good idea.