Best bakeries

Ron -- you've got it!

You're doing as many native French do. Tourists can and want to eat out all of the time.
Natives can't afford to !

I'm a big fan of Gerard Mulot. Last May, my friend and I would head to
Les Editeurs in the evening for a drink or two (great for people
watching on the terrace), then go around the corner to Mulot and pick
up a sandwich, torte, etc., buy a bottle of wine and have a picnic
in our hotel room. After a big lunch at a favorite bistro or cafe,
we were not really up for a three hour dinner unless it was somewhere
special we had read about.

Minette - the mustard most probably from Dijon - or was a wanna-be. A little wine and vinegar and it sets it apart from French's ...

As for Gerard Mulot on rue de Seine! - be still my heart ...

We're on a roll. I want to hear about EVERYONE's discoveries.

Oh! Gerard Mulot on rue de Seine! Everything looked so good there I really struggled with a decision. Went twice. Large selection of breads and the pastry selection and presentation is killer. I'll never forget a chocolate tart I had. Soft chocolate hidden under harder dark chocolate in an amazing, buttery crust. Beautiful arrangement of macarons -- bought a few, excellent, but I still think Laduree wins best of the best for those. Great selection of prepared foods for every budget -- I took away dinner from there one night along with dessert(s)!

Karen - I was simply echoing your sentiment that Paul on rue de Buci is very good! :-)

I looked up the name of the bakery I mentioned on rue de Gravilliers (#52) with the amazing mille feuilles. It is Aux Petits Pains Chauds. Found it in Les Pages Jaunes. In addition to the gorgeous pastries, I took away a "sandwich" one day, the basic small baguette with cheese, very thinly sliced ham, tomato and lettuce... it was the best I've had, so very fresh. I only wish I knew what it was seasoned with and what kind of mayo was used ... delicious!

Minette:

Please don't get the impression you can't get a lovely meal/snack at Paul. You can -- and I have. I was referring more to some of its stand-alone bakeries. Some are definitely better than others.


More suggestions please ... ;=)

I had a wonderful lunch in Paul's at rue de Buci. I'm no expert, but it was sooo good! In fact it was so good, I tried to duplicate my meal two nights ago and I was sort of successful. You really can't duplicate the "rue de Buci" part though! Anyway, it was a crepe with chevre and tomatoes. I used chevre purchased at fromagerie 31. Chabichou!

In my daily trips to umm, several, ok, many bakeries, I found the best mille feuille (after having tried many from various bakeries) at at bakery on rue des Gravilliers heading east off rue Beaubourg. DIVINE. Heaven. Carmale with caramel cream. When i go back to Paris, I will go there, directly and quickly, first day. Seriously.

I've been somewhat disappointed by Paul's since it's opened so many branches. The boutique on the Rue du Buci is certainly one of the best. Whatever you do, NEVER buy a baguette in a metro or in a train station. I bought one in anticipation of having a good piece of bread. How wrong I was... Never again.

Have any of our readers discovered new bakeries??

We have not been to the one Karen mentioned, but have visited Paul on rue Buci which we have found to be reliable and very popular.

Have any of our readers been here? It's a find - -and you can even have a meal.

Plan on waiting but it's worth it.

http://www.breadandroses.fr/en/index.html

The owner said who needs anything other than BREAD and ROSES and she has a point!

I find it most difficult to go to the place where piles of mail are awaiting me.

...and where I need to do the laundry. I'm lucky and sleep both ways en route.

If one has the patience to do a BP search on the topic of Jet Lag you will find that over the years there are many threads on this subject and everything said now is a repeat performance.

I have always said it is easier to go west to east to adjust to jet lag and as Ellen has said ...going thru the day with an early dinner and early to bed does the trick. When I was traveling on business I had no option but to go directly to work sometimes brefore checking in at the hotel. I always had my jet lag problems for a couple of days after getting back to NY.

Ellen, yep! Coming home, I was exhausted and not quite myself for about two weeks. And I didn't go near a bakery for about six weeks, until Christmas, and haven't been since. It's just ... not the same

There's not doubt that the adrenaline kicks in. I normally get only a couple hours' sleep on the trip over, but I'm able to stay up all day, through dinner, just because I'm so excited to be there. I get a good night's sleep the first night and voilà, no jet lag. And as you said, Minette, when you have only a week or so there, I think the adrenaline level remains pretty high. It's a different story coming home; I always hate to leave and it takes a week or more to get over the jet lag.

I think that because I only had a week in Paris, my metabolism was in high gear. I woke up almost every morning at about 5am without an alarm! And I went to sleep after midnight every night. And after all the pastries and chocolate, cafes and other fun foods, I was wired and ready to WALK! I brought three pairs of shoes and had to buy two more!

That's absolutley right. I definitely became less likely to walk as much the longer I stayed in the city. Even though I had dreamed about my trip to Paris for a long time, eventually I began to feel less like a tourist. Although I often ventured to other parts of the city, I rode the metro more and walked less because I was not as wide eyed as when I first arrived. Life began to get a little more 'normal'. I certainly would love to have the chance to walk down a few random streets in Paris right now! Oh well, c'est la vie!

I think it's that everyday life catches up with us. When I'm a tourist, I walk. When I'm not, I go about my daily life which unfortunately is somewhat sedentary unless I force myself to exercise. And let's face it, as the years go by, that's harder and harder to do!

Sigh ....a fact of life! You'll lose it though. EVERYTHING in moderation....
or so we hope!!

That's consistent with my experience too. The first two weeks I was there I lost 4-5 pounds even though I thought I was eating alot. I was walking alot too, of course. Eventually, I gained it back plus 10 more.

That's what happens to tourists. For those of us who live in Paris, we don't have the same metabolism. Sign me sad.

Unfortunately, my favorite bakery in Paris was just about every single one that I stopped in -- and that would be about 4 per day over 5 or 6 days. They were all phenomenal compared to the @$%& I typically find at home...
But there was a "stand-out" of the phenomenals... A bakery on Rue Mouffetard - oh my - there was a pastry I bought, it was rather large and might have been called a "St. Severin...?" Unbelievable. But the nice young gal who wrapped it in that funny triangle shape for me practically gasped when I asked her for a sac or box of some sort as I was taking back with me on the metro. She did box it -- taking her time adding fancy bows, ribbons and decorations. (But no bag...

Maybe she misunderstood.

Maybe I need more French lessons

I think I had 25 different pastries that week from 25 different bakeries. Fortunately, most of my all-day travel was on foot so I could see a lot. And I lost 2 pounds! Swear!

That isnt it, but it is very close by. I used that link to find it. I think the address is 15 rue de Meziers, where it intersects rue de Rennes. The windows are painted black with boulangerie, viennoiserie, etc painted in gold lettering. Thanks for looking it up. That link is pretty neat. It lets you see pictures of each address as you move up and down the street on the map.

Give this bakery a try. I often ate the 'parisian' sandwich while I was in Paris and this bakery's were my favorite. They also had tons of other good stuff.

Is it the Boulangerie de Rennes?

I found that by going to the Pages Jaunes and searched for boulangeries near metro St. Sulpice.

You're right that the names aren't always very conspicuous. A lot of times I have no clue unless they put my purchase into a bag with their name and logo on it.

I may be a little late to this thread but I had to add my opinion. My favorite boulagerie in Paris is in the 6th on rue de Rennes. I am not sure of the name because it does not seem to be posted on the storefront anywhere. It merely says 'boulangerie, patisserie'. It is just south of the St. Sulpice metro on the east side of the street. Its wonderful. Does anyone know its name or where it would be on the outside? I have noticed that lots of boulangeries dont seem to have proper names posted anywhere conspicious.

Also, I really enjoyed a little bakery on the rue des deux ponts on Ile St. Louis. It has a brown storefront. It is on the end of the street closest to the Marais on the western side of the street. I highly recommend the croissants with ham and cheese inside and cheese melted on top. They were wonderful. I only found a few other bakeries that made croissants this way, and was surprised how poor they were at some of those boulangeries. You would think that anything with that much butter, cheese, and bread would have to be very good, but apparently not always! That is why i recommend this one. I think it is closed on wednesdays and thursdays.

Kayser and Boulanger de Monge get my vote. We will have to try La Flûte Gana and Boulangerie Bechu.