On Friday evening, unassuming diners at Paris restaurants Le Carillon, Cafe Republique and Le Petit Cambodge were attacked by shooters, resulting in more than three dozen deaths. The violence was part of a coordinated terrorist assault on Paris that resulted in at least 130 deaths and more than 350 wounded.
Dining out in Paris is "a total way of life," said Matthew Ridgway, executive chef for Atlanta restaurants The Southern Gentleman and Gypsy Kitchen , and who has trained in French kitchens. "There are a million brasseries, a million cafes. People are always drinking, having a cup of coffee."
Ridgway lived in Paris in 2001, working at George V, a Michelin three-star restaurant in the capital city. He also worked in the kitchen at Le Relais Sainte Victoire in Aix-en Provence, France. He returns to Paris as frequently as possible. His most recent trip to Paris was this past June.
Ridgway thinks that because some of the terrorist attacks occurred at restaurants, dining in Paris will be affected. “I think tourist-wise, people will be more reluctant to go out of the circle of the First, Second and Third (arrondissements). You cross that dividing line on the Avenue de la République and you are in a different sect of working class. People might not go out where it is off the beaten path.”
But while tourists in Paris might shy away, Ridgway thinks locals will support the city's restaurants and that any decline in dining will be short-lived. “I think they are always going to be busy because (dining) is more of a cultural thing.”
Michael Gropp, co-owner of Petite Auberge in Toco Hill , holds similar sentiments.
“Paris has a dining culture unlike any place I have ever seen. Life revolves around dining,” said Gropp, who said Atlanta is adopting similar habits. “‘Where am I going to eat?’ It’s very important to them.”
Gropp lived in Paris in 1987, working at Brasserie Mollard, a restaurant located in the Eighth Arrondissement that has been in existence since the 1870s.
“There was a string of bombings shortly before I went there – nothing of this magnitude," Gropp said. "I remember being there and the city being on edge. I can see the same thing happening in Paris now. Your whole M.O. of life and culture is not going to change, but short term, you don’t feel right. You don’t feel whole.”
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