Last night after work (and before the big game) I set out to stop at Bon Marché, a very old, very upscale department store in France. I had met Claire there last week, but didn't have much time to really look around before it closed. I wanted to go back as it is sale month in France. The bad news is that, this time, the store was fully closed when I got there. The good news is that La Grande Epicerie Paris, Bon Marché's upscale food market, was still open. Oh, what a joy it was.

I can't honestly think of a food store that could compare, in NYC at least. Sure we have our Dean & Deluca's and Balducci's. But, more often than not you come out of those stores feeling like you have been robbed in the name of high quality food. Plus, they don't have the lighthearted personality, the "joie de vie", of La Grande Epicerie. Whole Foods, which certainly has beautiful food and is a little more fun, lives more on the "green" side. And while we now have a Trader Joe's, with its quirky specialty foods, it is more value-oriented than upscale (a different experience all together). Fairway is great- with its reasonable fresh food- but very rational; you are in and out of there (once you make it past all of the little old ladies with the shopping carts).

Bon Marché makes shopping for gourmet food fun. It makes you feel good about over-spending, because each little item it sells is wrapped up and presented just so. You feel as if you are buying beautiful little gifts for your stomach. Which, I think, is very much fitting the way the French approach food and life in general. C'est la vie--- it is meant to be savored.

Click here for a taste of Bon Marché food porn: http://picasaweb.google.com/alexandra.pulver