Boulangeries

March 14th, 2018

I sometimes complain to my friends that we live in a bread desert because we have to walk at least 5 minutes from our apartment to get a decent baguette.  (We can get baguettes from our amazing convenience store a 2 minute walk away, Carrefour Express, but they do sell out pretty early and they're not fantastic quality.)  So what do we do?  The fact that we do not have a boulangerie on our block may make our Paris neighborhood a little unusual, but it also means that we have an incentive to explore the large selection of boulangeries in different directions that are a 5-7 minute walk away.  I read that the independent artisan boulangerie is becoming extinct in Paris (and maybe all of France), replaced by chains.  In fact, most of the ones we go to are chains, but I think that some of them are quite good.

La Parisienne is my favorite.  They have delicious baguettes, but they also have wonderful pain au levain baked in huge, crusty loaves and cut off in chunks to order.  They have an unusual bread, the seigle feuillete, which I would describe as a loaf-sized, almost spherical, croissant made from whole-wheat flour.  It is delicious but rather rich, with the butter-induced laminations like a croissant.  Kate likes a bread called something like pain d'amis, which is also baked in a huge, crusty loaf but has a softer and moister and whiter crumb than the pain au levain.  They also sell a large, very flat, chocolate chip cookie that is decent.

The two large and well-known chains that we go to regularly are Eric Keyser and Paul.  I remember really liking the baguettes at Paul when I came to Paris several years ago.  Now I think they seem uninspired and mass-produced---I don't know if they have changed or I have.  Paul is also always crowded, but we go there sometimes because it's open on Sunday.  Eric Keyser has a decent baguette, for sure, and their chocolate chip cookies are pretty good.  (They have big chunks of pecans, which I could do without, but otherwise they're very nice.)  Kate likes their ham and butter sandwiches.    

Poilane is Glenn's favorite place for croissants.  (They are famous for their pain de campagne, ubiquitous in Parisian stores.)  He stops there on his runs sometimes.  I have never been because it seems a little far to walk, but I really should go to check it out.  

Gerard Mulot is also a common stop for us, because it is open on Sunday and roughly on the way home from mass.  Kate loves a dense chocolate and berry muffin called Helena, I like a small brownie-like cake called Etna, and we all think that the croissants and baguettes are decent.

There is a boulangerie near work, Eva, where we often stop to get a baguette on our way home.  I like the baguette belle arome.  (I should say that most boulangeries have multiple types of baguettes, even within the category of standard white baguette without any seeds or whole grains.  Always buy the more expensive one---we are literally talking about something like 90 cents for the cheaper one versus 1.20 euro for the more expensive---it's worth it for the superior flour and yeast used.)  Eva also has a sandwich, le Sud-est, which I get regularly for lunch.  It has olive oil, lettuce, and braesola, and it is made on a small baguette with black olives.  The rather brusque employees have gotten to know me there and always greet me with an enthusiastic "Bonjour madame, le Sud-est aujourdhui?"  Overall, it is not a great boulangerie, but there is not a lot of choice or quality in Porte d'Orleans.      

Kate often stops at a boulangerie near school for an afternoon croissant.  She says that next year she'll miss both the croissants and the routine of going to the boulangerie after school with her friends.  We understand, of course, and I'm sure that's not all we'll miss.