Art and Food Pairing™: Galerie Cinq Diamants and Botequim

For two years now, I’ve walked past Galerie Cinq Diamants and burned with curiosity about why this little shop, filled with African art and artifacts, sprang up just two blocks from my apartment in an out of the way neighborhood in the 5th arrondissement where no other art galleries exist. Last week, I had the opportunity to find out.

Galerie Cinq Diamants
© Discover Paris!
Zoran Smolovic, a citizen of the former Yugoslavia (the area now known as Montenegro) and long time Paris resident, owns and operates the gallery. When I met him several months ago, soon after he opened, we only had time to exchange a few words. Last week, our schedules finally coincided such that his shop was open when I had time to stop in. I got to sit down and Zoran got to tell me his story.

Zoran Smolovic
© Discover Paris!
Zoran is a journalist, a lawyer, and a photographer. Two days after moving to Paris over 30 years ago, he came across a collection of African art at an antique fair in the 17th arrondissement and fell in love with it. He began collecting at that moment and has never stopped. When his apartment became so full of art that his wife began to complain, he decided to move his treasures into a commercial area and opened the gallery in an office space formerly used by his wife.

Much of what Zoran displays is masks. His business card (which is actually a glossy color photograph) features an Igbo mask from Nigeria that hangs in a corner of the gallery. Other masks and sculptures are made by the Punu and Fang tribes of Gabon, the Baoulé of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Dogon and other tribes of Mali. Zoran obtains his works from African art dealers who transport pieces directly from Africa. He favors works made traditionally – those that are hand carved – but he does carry a few “mass-produced” items as well. He does not deal in antiques, but he only selects works that he feels are “magic.”

Igbo Mask
© Discover Paris!

Galerie Cinq Diamants business card
© Discover Paris!
For 24 years, Zoran worked for Radio France Internationale in Paris and covered the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and France. He left their employ only two years ago and now spends most of his time at the gallery.

Galerie Cinq Diamants is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 noon to 3 PM and from 4 PM to 7 PM. Depending upon circumstances, it may be open as late as 11 PM. If you want to call (see telephone number below), note that Zoran speaks Serbo-Croatian and French, but no English.

Literally a stone’s throw away from Galerie Cinq Diamants is my favorite Brazilian restaurant in Paris – Botequim Brasiliero.

Botequim Brasiliero
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Botequim Dining Room
© Discover Paris!
Everything I’ve ever eaten here has been excellent. After experimenting with different items on the menu in the past, I’ve come to anticipate selecting my favorites on the menu – panaché Botequim as an entrée and Feijoada as the main course - each time I come.

Panaché Botequim consists of fritters containing shredded chicken and spices (Coxinha), cheese (Risole de queijo), and minced beef (Kibe). The crust for each variety of fritter is always crisp and delicious – never soggy or oily. And the fillings provide a marvelous burst of flavor in every bite.

Panaché Botequim
© Discover Paris!
Feijoada is Brazil’s national dish. It is a stew of sorts, made from black beans and pork – pork belly, pork rib, and sausage. The meat in Botequim’s feijoada is remarkably lean, even though pork belly and sausage are naturally endowed with fat. The absence of liquid pork fat (or grease, as we call it in the southern U.S.) on the surface of the beans and sauce is the perfect testament to this.

Part of what makes this dish so appealing is the way it is served. Botequim always presents its feijoada in a gleaming copper pot with a ladle. The accompaniments – steamed rice, fresh orange slices with thin ribbons of young green cabbage, and manioc flour – are always served in terra cotta ramekins. If they are not already on the table, the server presents you with the obligatory containers of hot sauce. Then you can get down to the business of dining!

Feijoada
© Discover Paris!

Oranges and greens
© Discover Paris!
As for beverages, I always order Caipirinha, Brazil’s national cocktail. Made from cachaça (fermented and distilled sugarcane juice) and lime, it is a potent and tasty beverage. I believe that Botequim makes the best ones in town, and enjoy them both as a cocktail and along with my meal.

After feasting on all this, I forgo dessert. The selection consists of industrially-made frozen desserts and home-made puddings and creams, none of which is sufficiently tempting for me to voluntarily overeat. I always leave feeling that I’ve “done the right thing” because the entrée and main dish are totally satisfying!

Galerie Cinq Diamants
72, rue Claude Bernard
75005 Paris
Telephone : 06.87.67.81.19
E-mail: zorans@hotmail.fr
Metro: Censier Daubenton (Line 7)
Hours: Tue - Sat: 12 noon - 3:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Botequim
1, rue Berthollet
75005 Paris
Telephone: 01.43.37.98.46
Metro: Censier Daubenton (Line 7)
Hours: Mon - Sat: 12:00 PM - 2:30 PM, 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM
Sun: 8:00 PM - 11:30 PM

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Art and Food Pairing™: Le Livre à Venir and Le Barracão

Le Livre à Venir is a bookstore located in the heart of the Oberkampf district of Paris’ 11th arrondissement. Specializing in old and rare books, it also boasts an impressive collection of African masks and statues. Some of these are placed prominently in the window at the front of the store, alerting passersby to the fact that this is not “just another bookstore.” Many more pieces are on display along both aisles and at the rear of the store.

African statuary at Le Livre à Venir
© Discover Paris!
The shop is the manifestation of owner Jean-Jacques Pankeshon’s passion for books and for African art. Pankeshon fell in love with African art at the tender age of 16, when he bought his first piece at a brocante (secondhand market) in Paris. He has been collecting ever since. The items that he displays at his bookstore represent only about a third of what he owns. He does not stock paintings because of lack of space, but he has steadily expanded the number of masks and sculptures that he displays over the years. He sells originals and copies of these works, which he sells at prices ranging from 100€ to 1000€. (He defines copies as items that have never been used for their ritualistic purposes and says that his original pieces are generally less than a century old.)

In his tiny office at the back of the store, Pankeshon has an impressive personal library of books on African art, including editions on the Dogon, Fang, and Songye traditions. Interestingly, he does not sell books on African art to the general public. The books that he does offer feature topics such as psychology, religion, and social sciences. There are even a few English-language publications for the rare Anglophone who wanders in looking for reading material.

Jean-Jacques Pankeshon
© Discover Paris!
Le Livre à Venir has been in the same location on rue Oberkampf for ten years. The boutique is only open in the afternoons – Pankeshon reserves his mornings for scouting the markets for new art to purchase and for other activities.

Just a couple of blocks up the street from Le Livre à Venir, Le Barracão serves up Brazilian cuisine. My husband Tom and I dined at this long, narrow restaurant on a Friday evening and were warmly greeted and seated by a young man who would also be our server. He took us to the back room of the dimly lit establishment so that we would not be disturbed by the merriment of a group that occupied the middle dining room. A video of a Brazilian music concert was projected on the rear wall, where a large Brazilian flag was displayed.

Le Barracão
© Discover Paris!
We ordered caipirinhas (the classic Brazilian cocktail made from cachaça, lime juice, and sugar) and sipped them as we perused the menu. I decided ahead of time that I would not order dessert because I knew that an entrée (first course) and a main dish would be too copious to allow me to enjoy a third course. Even then, Tom and I decided to split one entrée – Coxinha de Galinha – to be sure that we could finish our main courses.

Coxinha de Galinha is basically deep-fried chicken dumplings. But what tender, delicate, flavorful dumplings! The breaded crust forms a tear-shaped morsel that encases shredded chicken seasoned with parsley, coriander, and green onion. A small green salad, a mayonnaise-based condiment, and a wedge of tomato and lemon were served alongside.

Coxinha de Galinha
© Discover Paris!
For the main dish, I chose the traditional national stew called feijoada because it had been highly recommended by a colleague. I was not disappointed to receive a copious serving of black beans, morsels of sausage, and generous slices of what I believe was pork shoulder. A large mound of rice, a slice of orange, and a tomato wedge were served with the dish, while a ramekin of manioc flour and a small pot of Brazilian pepper sauce were placed on either side of my plate. There was no trace of fat in the dish. The beans and meat were perfectly cooked and the rice was the perfect accompaniment. I added a touch of pepper sauce to a couple of mouthfuls of food, but found that it was not at all necessary as flavoring – the stew was perfect on its own.

Tom chose Xinxim de Galinha as his main dish. This is a traditional Bahian recipe composed of three large pieces of chicken (dark meat) cooked in peanut sauce flavored with coconut milk and tiny shrimp. Green peppers, tomato, and green peas were served. The obligatory mound of rice also accompanied this dish. Tom cleaned his plate, endeavoring to consume every drop of the delicious sauce!

We both decided to forego having wine with our meals, ordering another round of caipirinhas and a carafe of tap water instead.

For dessert, Tom chose the Antistress du chocolat et coco, a chocolate cake flavored with coconut. He was not satisfied with this dessert, saying that it was bland and that it lacked sweetness.

Overall, we were quite satisfied with our meal. We paid only 65€ for everything, including the drinks, which made us happy as well.

Le Livre à Venir
88, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01.58.30.95.43 / 06.88.78.34.94
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday – 1 PM to 8 PM; Sunday and Monday – 2 PM to 8 PM

Le Barracão
108, rue Oberkampf
75011 Paris
Telephone: 01.43.55.66.06
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday 5 PM until 2 AM. Closed Mondays.

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Art and Food Pairing™: Galerie Intemporel and O Corcovado Restaurant

Go Gourmet with Discover Paris! We can show you the best of the city’s pastry and chocolate shops, arrange a private wine hop, organize a dinner in an authentic Parisian home prepared by a private chef, help you plan your Paris picnic…

To learn more, visit our gourmet itinerary page at www.discoverparis.net/gourmet.html or send a message to info[at]discoverparis[dot]net. Click here to access our free Paris Insights restaurant reviews!

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Several months ago, I was contemplating my never-ending quest to increase my food and wine pairing skills when the idea sprang to mind that I could pair art and food in a similar fashion. I had been exploring museums and galleries that display African or black Diaspora works, and wanted to couple the visual experience at these venues with a gustatory experience at a nearby café or restaurant. Thus, the concept of Art and Food Pairing™was born!

Today, I present the vibrant exhibition Acqua at the Galerie Intemporel (http://www.galerieintemporel.com/) coupled with a dining experience at O Corcovado in the Marais.

Galerie Intemporel was founded by Laurence Choko in 1998. It is located in the heart of the Marais, only a few blocks from the Pompidou Center. The gallery’s mission is to expose modern and contemporary works of select artists of the African Diaspora and other countries.

Choko is particularly supportive of artists from Cuba. The Galerie Intemporel Web site lists no fewer than eleven Cuban artists, most of whom are painters. But Choko shows works from artists from other nations as well, including her native Martinique, Haiti, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Iceland, and Australia. She also shows works by U.S. photographer Frank Stewart at the gallery.

During the 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach show, Choko opened a temporary gallery where she presented sculpture by Barbara Chase-Riboud and a portrait by Beauford Delaney alongside the works of many of the artists that she normally supports. She eventually plans to show selected works by these American artists in the Paris gallery.

The exposition Acqua features the paintings and sculpture of Cuban artist Arturo Montoto. Most of the works are paintings – aquarelle still lifes to be exact. Having grown up on a farm on the outskirts of Pinar del Río city, Montoto developed a passion for fruit, and most of the works shown at Intemporel depict them in exquisite color and form. Curator Choko has chosen a couple of powerful, bronze sculptures that feature fruits for the exposition as well.

Painting: Oro Caribe (2009) Oil on canvas
Screenshot from Galerie Intemporel Web site
Montoto was born in 1953. He graduated from the National School of Art in Havana, and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree at the State Institute V. I. Súrikov in Moscow, with a specialty in mural painting.

Click here to see the entire Montoto collection shown at the exposition.

Once your appetite is whetted by Montoto’s uncannily realistic portrayals of food items, take a five minute walk to the restaurant O Corocovado Beaubourg, one of two sister restaurants serving authentic Brazilian cuisine in the City of Light. (The other restaurant is located in Montparnasse.) You cannot fail to find this eatery on the short and barren rue Simon le Franc, only steps away from the Centre Georges Pompidou, because the arched entry is marked by a neon sign in the yellow and green colors of Brazil.

O Corcovado Entrance
© Discover Paris!
Walking into the restaurant, diners are immediately immersed in atmosphere. Samba, bossa nova, and other forms of Brazilian music play on the sound system. The bar and the walls are brightly colored, and a chandelier with multicolored lights boasts an artificial macaw on a perch. Paintings of Brazilian street scenes grace the walls amid kitschy decor. The restaurant prepares the non-alcoholic portion of its signature cocktail – the caipirinha – in advance, so that the bar is often lined with glasses containing sugared lime juice and wedges of lime. This makes it easier for the bartender to fulfill orders quickly by adding ice and Cachaça, a potent Brazilian liquor made from fermented sugarcane juice, and shaking vigorously to mix the ingredients. My partner and I each ordered one, and found the drinks to be fruity and refreshing. Our server assured us that the Vitamin C from the lime juice and wedges would fortify us against colds and flu!

The servers speak Portuguese amongst themselves, and several Portuguese speakers were among the diners the night that we ate there. Though the names of all dishes are presented in Portuguese, explanations are presented in French. English is spoken as well. Servings are copious, so be forewarned.

My partner and I elected to order a full, three-course meal. As an entrée, I had the six “petit-fours” – two were stuffed with beef, two with chicken, and two with cheese. These were actually crispy, crunchy fritters with a thick, lightly seasoned, bread-like crust. They were served with a sweet and sour sauce and minced onions. While they were quite tasty, they were so large that I feared I would not be able to finish my main course! My partner selected the crabe farci, which was a misnomer because the dish was not served in a crab shell, but rather, in a porcelain serving dish. However, this did not change the fact that he found it to be completely satisfying.

Feijoada
© Discover Paris!
For the main course, I chose the national dish of Brazil – feijoada. O Corcovado’s rendition is made from black beans, pork sausage, and beef morsels and ladled around a mound of white rice in the center of an enormous plate. Slightly steamed “new cabbage” and diced oranges are served alongside. This is a terrific meal to order on a cold day, as it is stick-to-the-ribs delectable! My partner chose the Xinxim de Galinha, two large chicken thighs stewed in a sauce made of peanuts, cashews, shrimp, and garlic. This was served with a side of white rice. He thoroughly enjoyed it, and I vowed to try it next time because the portion is more appropriately sized for me.

Xinxim de Galinha
© Discover Paris!
My partner ordered a blond Brazilian beer called Brahma to accompany his meal, while I remained faithful to the caipirinha.

Dessert consisted of a Pudim for my partner and a Quindim for me. Pudim is Brazilian flan topped with caramel sauce, and Quindim is dense coconut custard atop a cookie-like crust. Both desserts hit their mark, being pleasingly sweet but not too filling.

Galerie Intemporel
37, rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris
Telephone: 01.44.59.63.29
Metro: Châtelet
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 2 PM to 7 PM, or by appointment

O Corcovado
7, rue Simon le Franc
75004 Paris
Telephone: 01.42.71.52.07
Metro: Rambuteau (Line 11)
Hours: Monday through Sunday 7 PM to 1 AM (food service ends at 11 PM)

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.