On social media, images of Paris number in the millions—and likely beyond. Perhaps it’s because the City of Light has always been beguiling, especially for those of us afflicted with wanderlust. Certainly, the phrase “Paris is a good idea” is never lost on me every time I land at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel extensively in France several times a year and, as an American in Paris, I’m frequently the person bringing small comforts from across the Atlantic, unavailable in France, to expats here. Recently, however, it’s locals who’ve given me a taste of home.
On a recent trip to the French capital, my friend Jane Bertch—founder of La Cuisine Paris cooking classes and author of an upcoming memoir, The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time—introduced me to a Parisian bar where cocktails with discounted prices flowed. I was pretty shocked. Could this be… happy hour?
Bertch had stumbled upon the spot and a few others like it by happenstance and is now a regular. “The concept of happy hour is an American transplant into Paris,” she says. It’s fundamentally different in spirit than bars that offer apéro, an early-evening ritual observed nationwide. “While happy hour in the United States seems to be more focused on enjoying a drink of some sort”—with slashed prices, of course, because Americans love a deal—“the apéro is more about the ceremony of pre-meal time… people here will always enjoy an apéro and we don’t need a discount to do so.”
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Cocktails, in fact, are still somewhat of a recent phenomenon. “When I moved here at the end of 2005, places that served cocktails were novel and few and far between!” Bertch explains.
But, it turns out, Parisians may not be so different from Americans after all. How else to explain a growing preponderance of cocktail-swilling establishments with wallet-soothing prices? Personally, I’m drawn to this Americanized interpretation of apéro, where I can imbibe extra-dirty vodka or gin martinis at a fraction of their normal price. At these bars, I don’t need to choose between wine—the stereotypically Parisian choice—and a complex libation with what the French might consider too many ingredients. The latter, of course, might risk me seeming too American—a sin among sins for the well-traveled.
Tanisha Townsend, the Paris-based American wine educator behind the social media account Girl Meets Glass and host of the Wine School Dropout podcast, perhaps best sums up the appeal of this growing trend.
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“While you do come to Paris for a French experience, it is comforting to know you can get a happy hour deal this far away from home,” she says knowingly. Here are some of my go-to Parisian happy hour spots.
Le Fumoir
Image Courtesy of Le Fumoir
This Scandinavian-influenced restaurant features a weekly-changing menu and bar slinging classic and new-school cocktails, including a mean dirty martini. Between 5 and 8 p.m., drinks are a couple euros cheaper—an excellent excuse to enjoy the 1920s-influenced decor and central location near the Louvre.
Objectif Lune
Image Courtesy of Objectif Lune
A nightlife standby in the Bastille, this spot offers the expected mixed drinks—think mojitos and white Russians—with steep discounts that last late into the night. The decor is kitschy and the lighting neon, but sometimes that’s exactly what you want in a happy-hour establishment.
Monk La Taverne de Cluny
Image Courtesy of Monk La Taverne de Cluny
More than just a bar, Monk is a Latin Quarter brasserie that also hosts live French jazz. A happy hour lasts from 4 to 8 p.m. and features deals on both beer and cocktails, the latter including apéro-appropriate sippers like the Negroni Sbagliato and Campari spritz.
Red House
Image Courtesy of Red House
“It’s the rare Paris establishment where you can enjoy a classy cocktail while wearing Chucks and ripped jeans and still feel totally at home,” reads the Facebook page for this spot, which can only be described what happens when you plop a Texas saloon in the middle of the Bastille. Happy hour, which runs from 6 to 8 p.m., features discounted beer and cocktails. Don’t skip the taco special, which changes weekly—in late April, it was the “Black & Green,” which featured smoky black beans, salsa de aguacate, vegan queso fresco and cilantro.
Le Grand Cerf
Image Courtesy of Le Grand Cerf
Happy hour runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at this great gem near Les Halles. There are lowered prices for a range of cocktails, which include libations like the gin-spiked Navy Tea and effervescent St-Germain Spritz. We wouldn’t blame you for wanting to stick around for dinner, which features French classics like beef tartare and American-adjacent specialties like a bacon cheeseburger with fries (here called the bacon cantal burger frites maison, of course).
Julia Coney is a Washington, D.C. and Houston, Texas-based wine writer, wine educator, speaker and consultant. She was the recipient of Wine Enthusiast’s 2020 Social Visionary Award Winner for her work in writing and speaking on diversity, equity and inclusion in the wine industry.
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