Meet Paris Oyster

September 1, 2014
In her breezy and engaging new paean to the French way of living and eating well, Guiliano (French Women Don’t Get Fat) discusses one of her favorite foods and the tiny Paris oyster bar in the Sixth Arrondissement that’s become her home away from home: Huitrerie Régis (huîtres is French for “oyster”), which is barely big enough to accommodate 20 diners with seven tables inside and a few outside. It is run by the imperious but charming Régis, who bakes his own apple tart for the restaurant six days each week. It’s not the kind of place where everyone will call out your name when you arrive, and the small staff may be indifferent if you’re new. In fact, when Guiliano went for the first time, starving and ill-tempered, Régis made her wait 30 minutes for a table. As she learned later, his number one rule is “Nobody gives me pressure.” But her bad mood was quickly forgotten upon tasting the oysters, which are simply accompanied by a slice of bread with a thick layer of salted butter and a chilled glass of wine. Guiliano also provides lessons in how to open and eat an oyster (an expert shucker should leave the liquor in the bottom shell to avoid a dry, less flavorful tasting experience) and gives a brief but helpful overview of French oysters, including types, regions, and which wine makes for the best pairing.

Author-narrator Mireille Guiliano's enthusiasm is evident from the first few minutes of this short but informative treatise on oysters, which also includes stories about her friend Régis, a Parisian oysterman. Listeners can't help but be charmed by Guiliano's French accent and conversational approach to her performance. Moving past her lifelong love affair with eating oysters, she offers advice on everything from how to shuck the bivalves to how to order them at a restaurant and what to drink with them. Because this valuable resource introduces many technical terms (oyster species and appellations, for example), listeners may find it difficult to comprehend and retain the material from the audiobook; the practical information is better absorbed and reviewed in print. An accompanying PDF contains Guiliano's recipes. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine