Iโm always on the lookout for new bakeries and pastry shops that have opened in Paris. Although to be honest, itโs hard to keep up these days! The number of new boulangeries and pรขtisseriesย that are focusing on everything from artisanal grains to organic flours, are spreading like wild yeast across the city. Iโd met Alice Quillet a few years back, when she, and her partnersโฆ
From the outside, Compagnie Gรฉnรฉrale de Biscuiterie is a low-slung place, resembling a workshop of some sort, rather than a pรขtisserie, located on the way up to Sacrรฉ Cลur, in Montmartre. I made the trek up there to check it out because I was interested in the one thing the low-key place makes: cookies. The French use the word โcookiesโ primarily to refer to chocolateโฆ
UPDATE: Panifica has closed and a new bakery (thatโs good!) has opened in its place. I used to cross Paris to buy a loaf of bread. That was when I was more of a dรฉbutant and kept a list of bakeries that I wanted to visit, and Iโd make it a point to check off as many as I could, to try their bread. Butโฆ
I snuck my way into the workshop of master Paris chocolatier Jean-Charles Rochoux. When asked which is the best chocolate shop in Paris, itโs hard to pick just one, but his boutique is at the top of my short list. Each chocolate is hand-crafted in the kitchen just below the shop, where a small team of chocolatiers and Monsieur Rochoux dip, sculpt, mold, and enrobeโฆ
[Update: Mon รclair closed in the spring of 2018.] I was recently part of a panel on France24 television toย debate the subject: โThe argument over French cuisine.โย Rather than being a debate, though, it was more question-and-answer session once the cameras were rolling. But beforehand, the four of us on the panelย had a very lively discussion in the lobby about the subject, which at one point,โฆ
When people ask me โWhy did you move to Paris?โ Iโll usually stop, point to the nearest cheese shop or bakery, and let them figure it out for themselves. There are a lot of pastry shops in Paris, over a thousand of them. But the first was Stohrer, which opened in 1730 by pastry chef Nicolas Stohrer, the pastry chef forย Louis XVย of France and hisโฆ
ย ย Not longย after Iโd arrived in Paris, I met Jacques Genin. At the time, he was working out of a small workshop deep in the 15th arrondissement. Inside, he and his team of five or so worked in a very tight space: A large table where they worked sat in the center of the room, taking up probably 90% of the space, enrobing machinesโฆ
[UPDATE: As of September 2022, after 46 years, Madame Acabo has retired and closed her shop in Paris.] When a gas explosionย that happened in the basementย destroyed her shop, many couldnโt believe that one of their favorite chocolate shops in Paris was gone, including Denise Acabo herself. I visited her shortly afterward and she was in shock, missing her store โ but most of all, missingโฆ
Although people donโt hug in France, and to be honest, it kinda gives me the willies now, too โ there are some people who I just canโt resist giving the olโ wrap around to. (Which probably explains why a number of people back away when they see me coming.) One is a baker in San Francisco, who always seems to have a big smile onโฆ
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