dine•o•crat

Ze Kitchen Galerie , as well as Les Bouquinistes to which it is practically joined at the hip in more ways than one, is situated around the Rive gauche or Left Bank of the River Seine in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. In the vicinity, you'll find a few of the famous bouquinistes—the booksellers, not the restaurant—along the Quai des Grands Augustins hawking their bookwares quietly. Lovers of French literature and history, as well as of French language in general, would do well to mark this as a stop, for it's a place to find relatively cheap used books that may be hard to get in a non-francophone country. I was even able to buy a book of Edgar Allan Poe short stories translated to French by Baudelaire. Not bad for 3€! Not very far is the famous Notre Dame Cathedral, which emits its mournful bell sound regularly. The closest Métro stop is St. Michel–Notre Dame a mere couple of blocks away. A city known for its variety of arts, Paris is naturally home to many a...

This is a scene of the River Seine during the day, around lunchtime, from the Pont Neuf. It's magnificent and expansive, but what may not be immediately evident is the cluster of autos on the street, on the Quai des Grands Augustins. Along the middle right side of the picture, a traffic jam, or embouteillage , as the French call it, which is a fact of life here, the quiet hum of running but non-moving cars punctuated by the occasional shrieking ambulance and the tolling bells of nearby Notre Dame Cathedral. Across the street,  Ze Kitchen Gallerie  offers a welcome respite from the interminable bustle, a place for a filling repast before you move on to your next touristic adventure. Chef William Ledeuil honed his craft at Les Bouquinistes, which abuts ZKG, before moving on to open his own place to showcase his playful culinary creations. A source of solidly prepared, delicious food along the rive gauche , ZKG is a grand gastronomic stop in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. ...