The beloved Eric Kayser, need more be said? If you are not familiar with the Paris or NY bakery scene, then lets get you filled in. Anything from an Eric Kayser bakery is divine. Whether you are stopping in to pick up a simple baguette on your way home from work, or tucking in first thing in the morning for a bag of his pastries, like apricot-custard danishes, pistachio-chocolate rolls and brioches, here you cannot go wrong. The French tend to reserve quiches for their midday meal, but here they can be a good a breakfast option as well, if you find you have an appetite for eggs and a bit of bacon in the morning. Several of the locations accommodate dine-in seating, namely the location near the Louvre and this location near St.-Germain.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: His range of breads is superlative. And now he even offers gluten-free breads, four different kinds, including chickpea bread.
Paige's expert tip: This baker lets his creativity, along with his expertise, reign. One of the best ways to discover Kayser's range of breads is to indulge your whim and buy several of the specialty loaves : olive, hazelnut, rasin-walnut.They go perfectly with France's wonderful cheeses, patés and preserves.
Frédéric Lalos, the baker, is considered one of France's finest. And the great thing is that if you don't make it out to his bakery here in the 16th arrondissement, chances are you might still get to taste some of this delightfully passionate baker's breads since they are served at many of Paris' best restaurants and hotels. Even as a young teenager he was determined to pursue baking as his career goal. This is a man born to be a baker and he had the wisdom to honor that instinct and follow through on it. When he was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France distinction, he was the youngest baker, at the time, to be accorded it. "Dough is a marvellous material," he says, "it lives and breathes."
Recommended for Boulangeries because: This is the baker who provides bread to many of Paris' top tables and hotels. He is widely considered one of the very best.
Paige's expert tip: This is a man whose passion for bread baking took hold of him even as a young teenager. Determined to become a baker, he defied his parents' wishes for him to train for another occupation and trained instead as a baker.
Apollonia Poilâne certainly inherited her late father, Lionel's, knack for baking. What's more, the time and energy she puts into her breads always leave her customers pleased. Her "pain poilâne" is sold all across Paris as "tartines au pain Poilâne" (a kind of sandwich made with just one slice of bread, typically covered with ham or cheese, but countless variants exist now). In fact, all other breads have to measure up to Poilâne's. She also makes unbelievable sweets. Some of the more popular are the bakery's golden butter cookies and apple tartlets. This location, just near Place Saint Sulpice, makes it an oh-so-convenient stop off on your way to a picnic lunch in the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: Very different from the baguette, the rich, dark, brown bread, tangy with sourdough, has become a bread staple in France.
Paige's expert tip: This dark, big, dense and heavy brown bread has now become its own brand. Served throughout the city as the basis for the open-faced sandwiches you'll see on people's plates in cafés at lunchtime, this is the bakery that originated the bread.
"It is the soul of a baker that creates his bread," says Basile Kamir, baker at this longstanding favorite, especially the location on rue St. Dominique. At Moulin de la Vierge, you'll find a rich array of breads and pastries to suit your fancy. Among Monsieur Kamir's most popular items are a scrumptious sourdough, a delicious golden country bread, and fougasse (a bread with a crispy shell stuffed with luscious fillings). The house's signature baguette is the Parasseuse which boasts a creamy crumb and a crunchy crust. You must sample the pastries too, including canelés, that Bordelais speciality, which are small, caramelized batter cakes.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: The philosophy here is simple is best; And just like your grandma made. Of course, the caveat is if your grandma was French.
Paige's expert tip: The Paresseuse is their signature baguette. That name translates to "lazy" which is an odd name for a loaf of bread that the baker was up before dawn to bake. The name actually takes itself from the longer than normal amount of time the chilled dough takes to rise.
One of the house specialties of baker Christophe Vasseur's is his Friendship Bread ("pain des amis") whose distinct flavor and crusty, browned bottom come from being formed by hand, or so this bakery's fans would have you believe. More likely the organic flour he uses to make it also plays a part. Morning is the best time to come because that way you can delight in the house made morning pastries like the five different kinds of raisin roll, « l'escargot » (the traditional morning danish that looks like a cinnamon roll) : l'escargot made with honey nougat and lemon, another made with pistachio and chocolate chips, a third made with fresh cassis, yet another with bits of praline and then finally the raisin danish made with rum-soaked raisins. Once you're finished with those, be sure to buy some loaves (of bread) to take home with you.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: Parisians have been known to make pilgrimages from their own cosy little 'hoods to buy bread from this bakery. That's unheard of.
Paige's expert tip: It's good to know where delicious quick bites can be found when sightseeing around Paris. This bakery is located away from the regular tourist path and has a cult following for baker Christophe Vasseur's breads.
Boulangerie Murciano serves up delicious pastries and café items in a warm and welcoming seating in the heart of the Jewish quarter in Le Marais district of Paris. It is worth centering your whole visit to this delightful little neighborhood in the beloved Marais district around finding that perfect Apfelstrudel. This bakery is a good bet but it's understandood you will likely be tempted by at least several of the surrounding bakeries nearby, too, all specialized in kosher, Jewish baked goods and specialties. At this address, 16 rue des Rosiers, there has stood a bakery for at least 100 years.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: If it's a bakery that gets you to visit this quarter then so be it. It is one of the most charming areas of Paris.
Paige's expert tip: The apple strudel made here, and at many of these little Jewish bakeries in this quarter, are just like you'd find in Brooklyn or in Tel Aviv. They are full of baked apples and have just that very thin struedel crust lining the top and bottom.
People can't seem to say enough good things about Philippe Gosselin's baguettes. The gifted baker takes special care to make each loaf perfect, and the same attention goes to his rye and white breads too. If you require a sweet fix, Gosselin offers a selection of chocolate and fruit cakes that is simply mouthwatering. Their recipes are all family ones and the artistry of bread baking is one that has been passed down from father to son over the years. Also, in the winter they offer deliciously warming homemade soups, too. For dessert indulge in their proprietary cake, the L'Eventail. It's an almond flour cake with cherries and a vanilla-cherry meringue on top, garnished with fresh strawberries. It almost looks to good to eat, until you bite into it, that is.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: Their beautiful storefront on the Boulevard Saint Germain belies an artisan boulanger inside, whose baguettes, warm and crusty, satisfy that bread craving to a tee.
Paige's expert tip: This is the place to indulge in a baguette...or half a dozen. In recent years, twice Gosselin has pulled in the distinction of the top five baguettes in Paris, in the citywide competition held each year to designate Paris' best baguette.
Highly demanded breads are baked in a wood oven built in 1890. The baker's day starts at 5am, and he concentrates on producing top-quality baked goods for eager customers. Among the favorites are the sourdough baguettes and the St-Fiacre, a special white bread. The location here means that this bakery is surrounded by office workers either going to or coming from home. It has a loyal following especially for the morning pain au chocolat which you can enjoy on premise with a café — not something that many of the other traditional bakeries offer as most of them are set up as a sort of cash-and-carry operation.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: The wood-fired oven that bakes beautiful loaves of hot sourdough baguettes in the morning and evening is one of the unique things about this bakery.
Paige's expert tip: This bakery has been baking baguettes and its renowned pain au chocolats here at this location since 1896. It is worth a pilgrimage even if just to stand in line with everyone else in the morning so you can take your sourdough baguette home with you for lunch.
This is more than one of those favored neighborhood bakeries, this is a local Passy institution. Passy, of course, is that posh enclave of the already upper-crust 16th arrondissement, so you know that the clientele here is not just discerning but perhaps even a tad bit tough to please. So when you see lines out the door on Sunday mornings and people walking with their pretty little bow-tied boxes of cakes and pastries on the weekends as far as Trocad�ro and La Muette, you can be sure this is the best bakery within the immediate surroundings. It's also one of the few places in all of Paris where you'll find a type of baguette called Le Passy. It costs a few centimes more than the regular baguette but is worth its posh price.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: This is a terrific option where to buy your baguette or croissants and head over to Trocadéro to watch the sun rise over the city.
Paige's expert tip: One of the specialties here is the Passy, a sort of baguette unique to this bakery in this neighborhood. It's a bit crispier on the outside a bit softer on the inside. In other words, most definitely one of the best baguettes in town.
This is one of those humble but popular, meaning by word-of-mouth popular, Paris bakeries. True, its location near the Centre Pompidou makes it ultimately convenient but also puts it smack in the middle of lots of competition. Fans of this bakery tend to like it either for their morning danishes and pastries which substitute chocolate chips for raisins or add pistachios where there were none. Or people like it for their lunch offerings. The noon day meal, when eaten on the run, is often grabbed at a bakery where sandwiches and quiches prevail. Here the sandwiches, and quiches, are made with a generous hand, so lots of fillings along with that good bread or crust.
Recommended for Boulangeries because: When you see a line out the door in the mornings and at midday, you start to understand why they call themselves "creators of pleasure."
Paige's expert tip: What they excel at here are the fresh twists on basic French morning pastries. Example: the traditional raisin roll is made with chocolate and pistachios. Their quiches, popular at midday, are full of the filling, meaning heavy on the chèvre cheese, the tomatoes, the bacon — all the good stuff.