Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France
Craig Carlson
2016, 305 pages
Nonfiction
Craig Carlson had a difficult childhood and lived in a working class neighborhood growing up. He found himself working for Disney in California and wanted a career in film. But he fell in love with Paris and with food. The one thing that Paris didn’t have was a real American diner, with a big American breakfast. Craig decided that this was his dream, to open an American diner in Paris.
Craig had never owned a restaurant or even worked in one. And he had never had his own business. He had no idea how to start a new business, especially an extremely difficult business like a restaurant, or how to start one in France! Craig had to build his diner, work with antiquated electricity and plumbing, muddle through French labor laws, and find “exotic” American ingredients like bacon and bagels. He had to teach the French that a “diner” didn’t mean that they only served dinner and that American coffee could be good. He has spectacular disappointments and troubles, but also wonderful strokes of luck and good friends to help him.
It’s a funny and frank story of how he pursued his dream, a dream that could easily have been destroyed so many times. You’ll have to read it to see if you can now get American pancakes in Paris!
Robbin BaileyConcord Public Library
Visit CPL at concordpubliclibrary.net.
