Saturday, March 25, 2006

Another monument: the baguette!


Why on earth are all these people queuing at La fournée d'Augustine, 96, rue Raymond Losserand, 14th arrondissement) ? Well, simply because Pierre Thilloux, the baker, won the best baguette award for 2004. And believe me, I tasted it (it's on my way back home from the office), the guy really deserves his prize. Mind you I did not try the most recent winner (Jean-Pierre Cohier – 270, rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, 8th arrondissement) nor the one of last year (Eric Sana, 3 rue du retrait, 20th arrondissement). Who knows, they might even have better bread...

29 comments:

  1. My travel tip for anyone in France - find the baker where the nuns are queuing!

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  2. j'ai eu l'occasion de travailler avec un boulanger qui preparer la meilleur baguette (lors de mon séjour au affaires étrangére au quai d'orsay ) déguster le paim de chez ponjouran a savoir a cette époque il etait considérer etant le meilleur boulanger de paris ainssi lors d'une telle renommé le boulanger ce voit servir ministére, palais de l'elysee et autres ambassades

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  3. When I was in Paris, I failed to visit La fournée d'Augustine and I regret it since learning baking was the reason I was there - and I knew that this boulangerie had won the prize. Nor did I make it to the other two either, though they were both on my list.

    I very much like the pain au levain of Basil Kamir of Moulin de la Vierge on rue Vecingétorix 14 ème.

    Very nice photo, Eric!

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  4. I enjoy your blog very much and want to see "all" of Paris, again and again. I was in Paris in 2004. I will visit it again! Thanks for sharing your many photos. Great site!

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  5. A warm baguette with salted butter and a slice of Cantal cheese on top sounds so good right about now. I'll have to seek this place out soon.

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  6. My apartment last summer was only a couple blocks away, but (zut!) I never made it to this particular boulangerie.

    Thanks for the pictures, Eric!

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  7. Yum! I agree with Michael. But a baguette with butter is only surpassed by a bagel with cream cheese ;-)

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  8. Bonjour Eric. I have been watching a webcam over the past few months that holds endless fascination with me - it's a camera in the oven room at a boulangerie on rue d'Auteuil. Perhaps your visitors might like to see it too:

    http://www.siteparc.fr/bonneau/Webcam.htm

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  9. Great colour in the last couple of pics -love them

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  10. Emily - thanks for the link should be interesting

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  11. Bonne baguette, peut-être... Mais photo excellente, c'est certain! Well done!

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  12. Cream cheese?!!! Oh, non!!!! Baguette with camember is a much better deal! And why don't we throw in a glass of wine with it for good measure?

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  13. Emily, the webcam is cool. How on earth did you find this? You must be a real baguette lover!

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  14. On my travel last year(2005), I have been visited here :) ! It was very close to my hostel. Baguette and Tarte are the best, I have them brunch everydays~

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  15. Oh, what I would give for a fresh Parisian baguette! Eric, could you please pick one up and send it to my home?

    Emily, the webcam site is very cool.

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  16. I never even knew this competition existed! Right, I'm off on my bicycle round to the 14th and I'll give Augustine a visit!
    Thanks!

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  17. I love good bread. It's actually not easy to find the perfect baguette!

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  18. Gotta love an entire comment thread about bread products! This is making me very hungry for some breakfast. I wonder if we have any "french" bread around here.

    By the way, my husband and I went to see The Pink Panther last night! Oh lord I couldn't stop laughing. Steve Martin is too funny in it, but Jean Reno was just too fantastic! And I loved seeing all the beautiful Paris scenery that I'm gonna see again in May when The Da Vinci Code comes out!

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  19. Great angle!! I never really had a great baguette here locally but since talking to a clerk at a Parisian boulangerie (near Rue saint-Honere and Rue Coix-des-Petits-Champs) I now know what to look for. I have since found a few bakeries here that make great baguettes.

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  20. I love that this photo shows that, in Paris, a good baguette is a great equalizer! Everyone is willing to stand in line - from young hipster dudes, to well-to-do ladies in fur coats.

    Excellent.

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  21. I just love that baking bread is a serious business France. It's just as it should be. How can you not enjoy the right baguette, with the right amount of crispy crunchiness on the outside and soft and warm on the inside...This is making me hungry. Eric, thanks for the great shot and for sharing the info on the best places to get delicious baguettes in Paris.

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  22. Bonjour Eric!

    Thanks for your comments!

    I love your photos of Paris. I've never been there, but I plan to visit someday. Your pictures make me want to go even more!

    I'll be coming back here often to see your visions of Paris! Take care!

    Richard

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  23. it's great that you've captured people's movements...

    Two things I miss, great bread and great sausage...

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  24. Non! Une baguette avec chèvre! C'est le mieux.

    I love PDP. I will also take bonus pictures of Chartres, if you make it that way ...

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  25. C'est ma boulangerie de tous les jours !
    Il est vrai que la baguette est bonne... les sandwichs aussi...
    Il ont une ficelle roblochon-gruyère qui n'est pas mal non plus...

    Maix bon.

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  26. salut magnolia,
    on partage les mêmes blogs!
    jm

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