La Chope des Puces

Tired of shopping for Art Deco furniture on Rue des Rosiers? Take a break and head down to La Chope des Puces, with its small «Stella Artois» sign haning out front.
Every Saturday afternoon, you can head down to La Chope and hear the music of Ninine Garcia and his father Mondine. Both excellent guitarists, they play a style of music known as Jazz Manouche. It’s a fun place to hang out, drink a beer or a glass of champagne, and chill out.
Americans like to use the ridiculous label «gypsy jazz» to describe this music. Keep in mind that they might try to emulate the sound, but no one can truly reproduce L’Esprit Manouche. The sound and the passion comes from the heart, not from the fingers.
Understand that the vast majority of gypsies don’t play jazz. The group of Roma that’s largely responsible for pushing jazz guitar as a lead instrument has been the Manouche.
You probably know the name of it’s most famous representative, Django Reinhardt, who played with Duke Ellington in NYC and jammed with Dizzy Gillespie and Coleman Hawkins in France.
He was largely responsible for pushing jazz guitar as a viable lead instrument.
Jazz manouche is still largely guitar-​based, although the Manouche in France are more open than their American followers to play with trumpets, saxophones, horn sections, drummers, and mixed instrumentation, and with a more diverse repertoire of songs than just Minor Swing and Dark Eyes.
The prices are a bit uneven at La Chope for some reason. A glass wine or Stella Artois is cheap but then a Perrier is like 6 Euro. Then again, Mexican food and Deli-​style To-​Go Chinese food is expensive out here, so what the heck do I know?
So stick with the Stella, and save the rest of your coins to tip the musicians.
Laurent the bartender comes around every once in a while with a basket so you can pop in some money to support the players of this wonderful music.
La Chope des Puces has a menu for some bites to eat like sandwiches, frites, and pâté.
The weekend music lasts from 2pm till 7pm.
Also, if you’re sensitive to cigarette smoke this place might not be for you.