In 1686
there appeared in Paris a real French adaptation of the Oriental coffee house.
This was the Café de Procope, opened by François Procope (Procopio Cultelli, or
Cotelli) who came from Florence or Palermo.
Procope,
a keen-witted merchant, made his appeal to a higher class of patrons than did
Pascal and those who first followed him. He established his café directly
opposite the newly opened Comédie Française, in the street then known as the
rue des Fossés-St.-Germain, but now the rue de l'Ancienne Comédie. It started as a café where gentlemen of fashion
might drink coffee, the exotic beverage that had previously been served in
taverns, or eat a sorbet, served up in porcelain cups by waiters
in exotic "Armenian" garb.
Throughout the 18th century, the brasserie Procope
was the meeting place of the intellectual establishment. Not all the Encyclopédistes drank
forty cups of coffee a day like Voltaire, who mixed his with chocolate, but they all met at
Procope, as did Benjamin Franklin, John Paul
Jones and Thomas Jefferson.
The
Café de Procope looms large in the annals of the French Revolution. Napoleon Bonaparte,
then a poor artillery officer seeking a commission, was also there. He busied
himself largely in playing chess, a favorite recreation of the early Parisian
coffee-house patrons. It is related that François Procope once compelled young
Bonaparte to leave his hat for security while he sought money to pay his coffee
score.
Café Procope was refurbished in 1988 to 1989 in
18th-century style. It received Pompeian red walls, crystal chandeliers, 18th
century oval portraits of famous people that have been patrons, and a tinkly
piano. The waiters were dressed in quasi-revolutionary uniforms.
It
occupies a three-story town house categorized as a historic monument. Inside,
nine salons and dining rooms, each of whose 300-year-old walls have been
carefully preserved and painted a deep red, are available for languorous
afternoon coffee breaks or old-fashioned meals. Menu items include platters of
shellfish, onion soup au gratin, coq au vin (chicken
stewed in wine), duck breast in honey sauce, and grilled versions of various
meats and fish. Every day between 3 and 6pm, the place makes itself available
to sightseers who come to look but not necessarily eat and drink at the site.
Bibliography:
wikipedia.com
sites.google.com
