I found Le Temps d’un Burger by accident. I took a wrong turn on my bike and wound up in an industrial park in Pantin, a suburb of Paris. Just as I was about to turn around, I saw a pink food truck among the shipping containers and cargo bays. I figured I would try to make the best of my faulty sense of direction so I decided it was time for a burger.
Feriel, the owner of Le Temps d’un Burger, does a great job of putting a unique French twist on an American classic. The Miss Betty, for example, is a clever cross between a barbeque bacon cheeseburger and a croquet madame. He uses smoked turkey bacon and barbeque sauce while also adding emmental cheese and a fried egg, two hallmarks of a croque madame. For the Miss Lolly, Feriel includes a potato galette (think extra crispy latkah) and bleu d’Auvergne, a strong blue cheese which gives the burger a heavy French influence. Similar to adding an onion ring, the potato galette provides a nice crispiness to the burger.
In addition to originality, something that really sets this truck’s burgers apart is Feriel’s choice of buns. Baked in a boulangerie just next to her home, these buns are fresh and soft while not falling apart. Le Temps d’un Burger uses the same high-quality buns for the hot dogs (but in a different shape, of course), and she tops the artisanal poultry sausages with bits of fried onion, which adds a great crunch. As much as I enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs, the dessert was the best part of the meal. Feriel bakes the brownies and white chocolate chip and pecan praline cookies herself, and they are particularly buttery delicious.
It’s obvious that Feriel takes great pride in her truck, and the level of care really shows in the food. Whatever she doesn’t make from scratch is carefully sourced from local producers. From the beef to the buns, she doesn’t cut corners on the quality of any of her ingredients. Her mother owned a food truck in France for about thirty years, and Feriel does a great job of following in her footsteps while blazing her own path. Even though I only found this truck because I happened to wind up in an industrial park in Pantin, Le Temps D’un Burger frequents various locations throughout Paris and the surrounding suburbs. Check the website for the schedule so you don’t miss out on a food truck that’s worth getting lost for.
– Guest Contributor, David Martin Cohen
