This past Friday night I met up with Duncan, who’s studying music in Paris for the year.

When I first got in contact with him, I was a bit apprehensive about meeting up. He was at best a friend of a friend (or rather, several friends), an aquaintance I’d see at Jonny’s house, but with whom I’d never had a real conversation. I figured “why the hell not?� and met him for a drink in the Saint Germain des Pres area. We started off at an expensive place on a main street and quickly wised up and headed out to find a less faux-trendy older crowd bar. Luckily, he knew about a couple of places and we ended up going first to Le Piano Vache [�The Piano Cow� …I dunno why either].

After the jump: Two great bars

This place had a great CBGB feel to the decor and played punk music. Beer was reasonable and the ambience was relaxed. One thing I was happy to see was that the crowd was French. It was likely that we were the only Americans in the bar and it was cool to be in a place that young French people go to, instead of tourists. By that point, Duncan and I were getting along famously, really getting to know each other, and I was glad I’d called him. I have to call him out though, because he wanted a cigarette but punked out of asking the girls sitting next to us for one.

We left LPV and walked a bit further to another place he knew: Le Crocodile. This place had a similar decor, though instead of punk music we heard a sort of oldies mix with an emphasis on motown (�let’s get it on� played soon after we’d sat down). This place specializes in cocktails, but just saying that doesn’t do it justice. The menu is a little booklet of pages upon pages of alphabetized coctails: some classics, but many you’ve never heard of… 312 in all. Drinks were cheap, as far as cocktails go, and not skimpy on alcohol. I had a “Tintamarre� [Not sure exactly what that means… google turns up references to a Dutch island] which included absinthe and litchi liqueur, plus a third ingredient I can’t remember; it was quite good, the litchi didn’t come out as that weak artificial sweetness as I find in some desserts at Chinese restaurants. Duncan had a “Jacard� [I’d assume someone’s name], which turned out to be a girly drink (though fairly strong with the mezcal they put in it) in a margarita glass that was a bit tart when I had a taste. This place, too, was full of French people and I was glad that Duncan was such an insider.

All in all, we had a great time and I was happy to find two bars to which I would definitely return. Duncan of course had his status upgraded from “aquaintance� to “friend� (he’ll receive his certificate in 6-10 business days) and we agreed to meet up again soon.

-Vic