Wine glass in hand, the cafes and bars along the avenues of the hidden northern side of Montmartre are the perfect place to discuss the ritual's importance and debate its demise.
"It's a moment where we take the time to live," says François Simon, food critic for Le Figaro newspaper (where his influential columns can make or break a chef or a restaurant) and author of several books and a blog called Simon Says! "The apéro has a very soft and unctuous rhythm."
The keys to the rhythm are companionship, atmosphere, and a drink on the table, but curiously, there's no drink of choice.
"I'll have a glass of Pouilly-Fumé," says Simon, commenting on his favorite apéro. "I'll bring a bottle of white wine down to the garden. To spice up the conversation, I'll open a bottle of Asti Spumante" - in the homeland of Champagne.
Here, he touches on the most important part of the near-daily ritual. The apéro - a derivative of the Latin aperire ("to open") - is a consecrated time to talk, whether for an uninterrupted catch-up session with a friend or a flat-out flirtation.
Some say otherwise. "In Paris it has changed a little," says Simon. "The apéro seems to be disappearing - we're drinking less," adding that it is losing out to "work, other leisure activities, and people on a health kick."
This makes Simon a little upset. For him, the apéro is not just seduction, it's a bit of "rebellion."
Lending gravitas to a predinner drink in a way that only French philosophy can, Simon evokes Georges Bataille's philosophy of the "accursed share," where excess money is either squandered on luxury or channeled into bloodshed, to justify the small splurge of an apéro.
The man clearly prefers to make love, not war.
In the watering holes on and around the tree-lined Rue Caulaincourt on the hidden side of Montmartre, rebellion seems to be the winning choice. Here, starting in the late afternoon, work, to-do lists, and the stress of everyday life take a far back seat to devoting time to friends.
"It's an excuse to drink!" says a wide-smiling Georges Chaillot, giving his take on the apéro's social function to three friends who are soaking up some sun on the terrace of the Au Rêve café.
