More Food

The other day I was walking across the city, heading for an art store, but when I arrived it was near 1:00 pm and they were closed for lunch.  Many of the businesses in the city are closed for two hours around lunchtime as the French take great pleasure in their meals.  I had seen an interesting small restaurant called Saladbar Green a few streets away.

 It is a small place seating about 15-18 people and they make custom salads.  You pick the lettuce/spinach types you want and then you get to add four toppings of your choice.  It's similar to places in the US, a smaller version of Mad Greens for the Boulderites. It is a franchise that only serves lunch Monday through Friday and also has stores in Paris, New York, and London according to the napkins.  They stress natural foods and green earth friendly packaging.

My lunch was a bed of spinach, tomato, bell peppers (yellow and red), an apple & pear mixture, and curried chicken.  I added a citrus vinaigrette.  It was a huge salad that took me quite a while to eat.  I sat at the window watching people and Tram 1 pass along rue Servient and rue Vendome near Place Guichard. 

They had jazz playing in the background and the workers are all in their 20's and very friendly.  After finishing my salad, I asked about the desserts in the display.   Between my broken French and their broken English, I selected a parfait: cinnamon brown sugar crumble topping over fromage blanc with applesauce and chestnut puree.  Fromage blanc is kind of a cross between sour cream and cream cheese.  Tangy but not sweet.  Combine it with the flavorings and it provides a luxurious coating for the tongue.

Now I am hooked.  At the market I regularly buy the fromage blanc with citrus flavor and pour it over strawberries.   

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The other night I stayed late at the lab.  It was after 9pm when I started walking home.  I had not eaten dinner yet and there is a Subway right across the street from my apartment.  I stopped.  I made it over a month without resorting to American food, but it did taste good. Slightly different, but there were juicy and spicy jalapenos. Man, those I miss.  And ICE in my drink.  I don't think I have had an ice cube once before this.  Here I was able to get a whole glass of ice.  I miss that too.

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There is a McDonanld's a few blocks away and probably 9 or 10 others in the city.  There are lots of Subways, almost as many as in US, some just around the corner from one another.  This is just like the Starbucks that are on every corner and they are popular here as well.  Kentucky Fried Chicken is also an American import in Europe, but there are only a couple in the Lyon area and not very close to where I am, though one of the post-docs from Germany has a car and they all pile in and go there.

I'll admit that I am going to stop in a McDonald's soon because I can smell those fries and the thought of a drink with ice will soon be too much to pass up.

Although I have been eating at Subway every other week,  I did make it three months before heading to McDonald's.  I was out walking around the city on Wednesday May 1st.  It was the Labor Day holiday where everyone stops working.  All the transportation was shutdown and most of the businesses were closed.  I, of course, worked that day and when I went out, only the evil US corporations were still open.  So I headed in to get my fries and a coke.


The counter area of McDonald's is similar and the intent concentration of the kids is the same everywhere.  The two McDonald's that I have seen here in Lyon are both two stories.  The interior is anything but familiar.  Here the atmosphere is more fitting a cafe.  They don't have the normal uncomfortable plastic seats.  It is a place that the college students like to hang out on a holiday Wednesday afternoon. Maybe they are even doing their homework!?