All Wrapped Up

Some of the best things come wrapped. Like food. Not wrapped-hidden, more like wrapped-swaddled. Packaged (sometimes precariously) to prevent the un-preventable: drips, oozes, and messes that afflict anyone who is truly enjoying their food (you could even say that deliciousness is directly proportional to how much of a mess you make eating, despite frantic efforts to keep clean.) So I guess it's fitting that the best food I've had in Paris has been precisely this sort of wrapped-up sloppy goodness: caramel-melting ice cream cones, tahini-dripping falafel wraps, and chocolate-oozing crêpes.

The scoops of salted-butter caramel ice cream came from Berthillon, a Paris landmark that has almost 70 different flavors of ice cream and sorbet. From a tiny little window on Rue Saint-Louis en l'Ile you get handed a perfect scoop in a sugary cone, along with a frilly white napkin and a "merci beaucoup!"

The stuffed-to-the brim pita bread came from L'As du Falafel, apparently the best of all the falafel places in the old Jewish district of Le Marais. It didn't disappoint — and was probably made even better after the the 5 mile adventure walk we took looking for the place.

And then there were the crêpes. The street vendor crêpes are like mini challenges against the clock — you need to be finished eating before the flimsy wrapper is soaked with butter and too hot to hold (this can be managed with high heat tolerance or a hungry friend). Then there are the sit-down deluxe crepes that come filled with anything from roquefort cheese and spinach to stewed apples and whipped cream, making you wonder why every meal doesn't come in a pancake. These kinds of crepes we got at Josselin's, one of literally dozens of crêperies on Rue du Montparnasse in the 14th arrondissement.

So here's to wraps... and eating!