Welcome to the Stone Fruit Diaries!
The explorations and enthusiasms of two américaines in Paris.
Your narrators are Jennifer Crain and Allison Kave, two américaines in Paris, the co-founders of Abricot (the best cocktail bar in town), serial entrepreneurs, and highly opinionated consumers and creators of cocktails, food, design, and culture.
Expect weekly musings on: our favorite secret spots, periodic recipes, conversations with our brilliant friends, travel diaries, and insights into the dreams and realities of living (and running a business) in Paris.
Who are we?
Jen says…
I first met Allison on a phone call brokered by a friend of a friend… he suggested I touch base with her to figure out the nuts & bolts of financing my crazy plant-based Paris resto scheme… (evidently he knew she’d have the patience for an under-qualified, over-ambitious dream ;)). At this point she owned and operated Butter & Scotch, the Brooklyn Bar-Bakery in Crown Heights, with a couple of cookbooks & a ‘Chopped’ appearance under her belt. She was incredibly warm & generous with her time, whip-smart without being stuffy. I hadn’t even tasted her cocktails or pies, but I could sniff out talent & synergies even over a blind-date phone connection across the Atlantic.
A few weeks later I proposed… business together in Paris! A cocktail delivery service, followed by a cocktail bar… & now a nascent hospitality group. To this day I’d say she’s one of the very smartest, most creative people I know, hard-working to a fault… she’s also a crazy witch-y empath (don’t tell her I told you.) Don’t mention astrology or your ‘belle histoire.’ Do invite her to dinner or drinks or travel - she’s the best companion ever. But I’ve got dibs. We’ve got to create content after all…
Allison says…
Jen is the epitome of an entrepreneur. Over the past 20 years she’s turned her passions into professional projects, from an acupuncture studio started out of her garage (that soon had a lengthy waiting list), to real estate (way before everyone and their mother had an Airbnb!), to personal development, she sees new opportunities on every horizon, solutions behind every problem, and never stops pushing forward in pursuit of her goals. Her aesthetic sensibility is on point, she has the courage of her (very strong!) convictions, our palates are in perfect harmony, and her work ethic rivals my own (which I frankly didn’t know was possible!)
Brought together by the thin threads of cross-continental social ties, we set out on an adventure I never could have envisioned. Through Covid confinement with our cocktail delivery biz Izzy’s Paris, into the new world order, and navigating the hellscape labyrinth that is French bureaucracy to finally open Abricot, Jen's tenacity and creativity kept us going, and inspired me to believe in myself, and our joint vision.
Why are we doing this?
Being an American in Paris is a tale as old as time, but being two American entrepreneuses with a vegan cocktail bar in the land of wine, cheese, and time-honored traditions gives us a unique, and occasionally irreverent, cultural lens.
We love Parisian café culture, and we also want great coffee (with oat milk!). We love classic and artisanal, but we don’t want things too uptight. We love natural wine. We really miss rainbow sprinkles. And we work seven days a week, but appreciate the French joie de vivre and penchant for a good meal and long holiday.
What’s next?
First up, our tips for an easy, last-minute apéro (including recipes and a pantry checklist). Then look out for our guide to the best spots in town for Mexican food and ingredients (plus the recipe for our crushable Pueblana cocktail) just in time for Cinco de Mayo!
Why subscribe?
We’ll always offer fun stuff via free subscriptions. Also, it turns out that opening a cocktail bar in Paris isn’t the most lucrative business decision we’ve ever made. Paid subscriptions help us keep serving you crushable cocktails and content (and you’ll have access to more behind-the-scenes stories, recipes, and secret spots - plus our landlords will thank you)!
Bisous,
J&A
Yay!
Pleasure to meet you both Jen and Allison 🍸