75017 – France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France

Paris Crowns Best Baguette Baker of 2020

Gary Lee Kraut — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 21:37:12 +0000

Every Paris neighborhood has at least one bakery making an excellent baguette, so Parisians are unlikely to travel a substantial distance for a fresh stick of bread in the French tradition. Nevertheless, you might want to walk a few extra meters to try what a jury of local connoisseurs considers la crème de la crème of that delicious and deceptively simple staple of oven-fresh fare in Paris.

The winner of Paris’s Best Baguette in the French Tradition for 2020 has just been announced, and the prize goes to… Taieb Sahal, an artisan baker at Les Saveurs de Pierre Demours, 13 rue Pierre Demours in the 17th arrondissement. He receives 4000€ and the honor of supplying the Elysées Palace, official residence of the President of France, for one year.

As each year since 1994, when the annual event was first held, competition was tight between the 210 fresh baguettes that were entered this year. So you can’t go wrong by breaking bread bought from any of the nine runners up noted below, nor from the bakeries of previous winners also noted here.

Held annually since 1994, the Grand Prix de la Baguette is organized by the City of Paris in partnership with the Greater Paris Bakers Union. The jury of 17 was comprised this year of baking professionals and six Parisians randomly selected though an online application system. The jury spent the afternoon of March 5 tasting all of the baguettes entered into the competition.

Entries, deposited fresh that morning, had to measure 55-70 centimeters (21.7-27.6 inches), weigh 250-300 grams (8.8-10.6 ounces) and have a salt content of 18 grams per kilo of flour (just under 1.5 teaspoons per pound). They were judged on appearance, baking, smell, crumb and taste.

Winner Taieb Sahal, age 26, is of Tunisian origin. You’ll note below that a significant percentage of past winners have names of African, particularly North African, consonance.

2020 Grand Prix de la Baguette

WINNER – Taieb Sahal of Les Saveurs de Pierre Demours, 13 rue Pierre Demours, 17th arr.

2. Baptiste Léauté of L’Essentiel Mouffetard, 2 rue Mouffetard, 5th.
3. Liman Tigani of Boulangerie Martyrs, 10 rue des Martyrs, 9th.
4. Laurent Demoncy of Au 140, 140 rue de Belleville, 20th.
5. Antonio Teixeira of Aux Délices du Palais, 60 Boulevard Brune, 14th.
6. Khemoussi Mansour of Aux Délices de Glacière, 90 Bd Auguste Blanqui, 13th.
7. Ahmed Ounissi of Boulangerie Lorette, 2 rue de la Butte aux Cailles, 13th.
8. Thierry Guyot of Boulangerie Guyot, 28 rue Monge, 5th.
9. Giovanni Bianco of Giovanni boulangerie contemporaine, 49 rue Chardon Lagache, 16th.
10. Jérôme Leparq of Maison Leparq, 6 rue de Lourmel, 15th.

Recent previous winning bakers and bakeries

2019: Fabric Leroy of Boulangerie Leroy-Monti, 203 avenue Daumesnil, 12th.
2018: Mahmoud M’seddi of Boulangerie 2M, 215 boulevard Raspail, 14th.
2017: Sami Bouattour of Boulangerie Patisserie Brun, 193 rue de Tolbiac, 13th.
2016: Florian Charles of Boulangerie La Parisienne, 48 rue Madame, 6th.
2015: Djibril Bodian of Le Grenier à Pain, 38 rue des Abbesses, 18th. (A two-time winner, he previously won in 2010.)

The bread shown above did not win the Grand Prix de la Baguette, but those are nevertheless the best traditional baguettes in the author’s neighborhood – bakery at 58 rue de Lancry, 10th arr..

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Citéco: New Paris Museum Examines the Economy

Corinne LaBalme — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 14:32:52 +0000

While a museum dedicated to the economy may sound geeky from the get-go, the hi-tech Citéco in a faux-Renaissance palazzo near the Parc Monceau is a whole lot of fun.

For fans of architecture in both its purest and kitschiest forms the fun begins with the exterior façade. In 1878, richissime banker Emile Gaillard hired up-and-coming architect Jules Février to build a Parisian mansion modeled on the late 15th-century features of the Château de Blois in the Loire Valley. The Monceau quarter was favored terrain of the banking class at the time—the Rothschilds, the Camondos, the Perrières and others also built mansions in the area—and is still home to many golden boys and girls.

Ironically, the Hôtel Gaillard is a picture-perfect illustration of a real estate fiasco in fiscal terms: It took six years and 11 million francs to build but the Banque de France was able to scoop it up in 1919 for a mere two million. That change of hands merely ratcheted up the site’s eclectic charm since the Banque de France augmented the already over-the-top décor with the Art Nouveau and Art Deco elements popular in its day. However, for some delightfully curious reason, the directors went all medieval when they decided to protect the safety deposit vault with a moat.

Yes, they dug an actual moat and filled it with water. (BTW, not a single break-in before the bank closed its door to private customers in 2006.) Today’s visitors can walk over the (now-tiled) drawbridge that led over the moat to the coffers.

While the museum’s “function’ is devoted to economics, it’s not macro and micro economics in its stuffiest, textbook form.

Citéco is all about the money: how it’s made, lost, spent, printed, squandered, stolen or saved. All exhibits are well translated in English and Spanish.

Displays showcase currency made from silver, gold, bone seashells, and intricately braided raffia. A home-made, home-grown toaster constructed by British artist Thomas Thwaites (nine months to assemble; nine seconds to melt down) illustrates the need to trade in both skills and materials.

Interactive exhibits make economics even more personal. A bank-balance game flashes a monthly salary, then fast-forwards through possible expenses. Pull a lever to evade the exorbitant 150 € cable/internet charge and the screen politely reminds you that you signed a monthly contract.

The 9-player boardroom game is a lesson in negotiation. Visitors can explore the domino theory with real dominoes, put a pair of jeans through a TSA-style radar check to trace its manufacture and materials, and even design their own paper money.

Don’t worry if you get a little seasick from the walk-in exhibit of the sub-prime crisis. It was specifically designed to make spectators feel queasy. Recover (or not?) by sitting in on an imaginary conversation with John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman.

Citéco: La Cité de l’Economie. 1 Place du Général Catroux, 17th arr. Metro Monceau or Malesherbes. Open Tuesday to Friday from 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday until 7 pm. Tickets: 12 € (general admission); 9 € (ages 18 – 25); 6 € (age 6 – 17); under 6 free. Happy Hour: 6 € from 4:30 pm Monday through Friday (except holidays); 8 € on the first Thursday of each month from 7 to 10 pm.

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Paris Parks & Gardens: Ratatouille’s Extended Family

Corinne LaBalme — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 17:26:22 +0000

“Maman, Papa ! C’est Ratatouille!” screeched a delighted child as a furry little creature scampered across the Square des Batignolles’ playground in the 17th arrondissement. It wasn’t an isolated sighting. This jewel-box park, a prime example of the English style of carefully disordered urban greenery that Paris adopted in the 1860s, was rapidly becoming a vermin sanctuary. I’d had several brushes with rats on my daily strolls, so when posters announced a town meeting dedicated to the lutte contre les rongeurs I saved the date. If my neighborhood was engaged in a “battle against rodents” the rodents appeared to be winning.

District Mayor Geoffroy Boulard’s rat meeting. Photo C. LaBalme.

Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the district, opened the October 4th reunion at precisely 7:15pm and introduced the keynote speaker, Doctor Sylvie Petit of the Paris Service of Environmental Health (SPSE). During the rowdy Q&A that followed her presentation, the expert admitted that no one knows exactly how many rats are roaming around the city. (The often-cited four million rodent figure is not based on scientific analysis.)

However, Dr. Petit did confirm that the rodent population is indeed exploding. Full-bellied rats reproduce at a fast and furious rate, and Parisian litterbugs provide them with a moveable feast. Summer’s 24/7 park openings may have aggravated the situation as midnight picnickers are less likely than others to bin their leftovers.

The Square des Batignolles, thanks to the breadcrumbs that children scatter around the duck pond, is the rat pack’s answer to a Las Vegas buffet. The infestation was proclaimed so serious that the park closed for one month in late September so that the city could plug up nests, cover sewer gratings with fine, rat-resistant mesh, and yes… distribute poison.

Temporary closing of the Square des Batignolles for deratization. Photo C. LaBalme

The p-word provoked a vociferous reaction from the defenders of rodent rights who accused the SPSE of committing vicious acts of ratricide. This is not a small group either: An on-line petition circulating since last December, Stoppez le génocide des rats, has garnered over 20,000 signatures. “Cats carry more disease than rats,” argued a vet to a round of applause. “Why not kill all the kitties?”

“Why not use birth control?” (Because, Dr Petit explained patiently, the rats need to take the pills every day.) “Our tax dollars would be better spent fighting international terrorism instead of mice!” shouted someone from the back row.

That was a prescient remark since international terrorism has contributed, albeit indirectly, to Paris’s present-day vermin invasion. As far as rodents are concerned, the flimsy trash bins installed as part of France’s anti-terrorism plan called Vigipirate simply plastic-wrapped restaurant meals. Experimental rat-proof bins have already been installed in the 17th arrondissement’s Martin Luther King Park.

But for now the battle’s raging and to the victors go the spoils. And since rats actually LIKE spoils…

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Paris Hotels: 7 Secret Garden Bars

Corinne LaBalme — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 15:28:24 +0000

From a glamorous hotel to a hip budget hideaway by way of an elegant BnB, here are seven Paris inns offering unexpected oases, notable whether you’re lodging there or just looking for an open-air bar away from car fumes.

(Updated April 2016)

1. Hotel Saint-James

Two metro stops west of Etoile, the site of the glamorous 4-star Saint James was once far enough away from the central Paris to serve as a launch pad for hot air balloons. While tall buildings have sprouted in the area, the lush private garden of this luxuriant refuge, accented with fanciful balloon canopies (photo above), remains intact and serves as an open-air bar during the fine-weather months. Like its classy library bar and Michelin-starred restaurant, the open-air bar is reserved for hotel guests and club members during the day, but all of them are accessible to visitors after 7pm.

Hotel Saint James, 43 avenue Bugeaud. 16th arr. Tel: 01 44 05 81 81. Metro: Porte Dauphine.

Judicaël Noël head bartender at the Hotel Saint James. Photo GLKraut

2. Regent’s Garden Hotel

Napoleon III liked his private physician so much that he built him a delightful townhouse with an enclosed garden on the western edge of Paris just beyond the Arc de Triomphe. This year the 4-star hotel has made its private garden an even greater draw with an outdoor exhibition of bronze and ceramic sculptures by Mickie Doussy on view through September 30. Beyond breakfast, when open only to guests, the garden bar/tea salon is open to visitors on reservation.

Regent’s Garden Hotel, 6 rue Pierre Demours. 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 74 07 30. Metro: Ternes.

Regent’s Garden Hotel. Photo Charles Bah.

3. Villa du Square

Tucked between Le Corbusier townhouses in the residential 16th, the Villa du Square (open since September 2015) is a B&B offering five luxurious bedrooms in a 1920s mansion lovingly decorated by art collector hosts Marie-Victoire and François-Christophe Gicqueau. The garden—200 square meters of urban Eden shaded by centenary pines—has enough secluded ‘corners’ that guests won’t trip over each other while they smell the roses.

Villa du Square, 26 rue Raffet, 16th arr. Tel: 01 71 72 91 33 Metro: Jasmin. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

4. Hotel des Marronniers

The secluded garden behind this 3-star Left Bank hotel is open to the public from 2pm until 11pm for tea or drinks.

Hotel des Marronniers, 21 rue Jacob. 6th arr. Tel: 01 43 25 30 60. Metro: Mabillon.

Hotel des Marronniers. Photo Christophe Bielsa.

5. Villa Montabord

Villa Montabord. Photo Corinne LaBalme

The Cité des Fleurs, a one-block pedestrian street in the Epinettes district on the northwest edge of the capital, is one of Paris’s original gated communities. The guidelines laid down by the developers in 1847 mandating at least three flowering and/or fruit trees for every garden are still observed. Thus, the four-room bed-and-breakfast that Isabelle and Jérôme Sciard opened in their 19th-century home has a pocket-sized private garden within a garden community. Expect fluent English (Jérôme is a former submarine commander who was stationed in Newport, RI for a year) plus large, luxurious bathrooms, WiFi and television.

Villa Montabord, 3 Cité des Fleurs, 17th arr. Tel: 06 14 88 74 06. Metro: Brochant. The garden is only open to overnight guests.

6. Hotel Eldorado

This hipster enclave in rapidly gentrifying Batignolles is one of the last places in Paris where budget-minded visitors can get a double-digit priced room with facilities “down the hall,” in a decor that mixes fake leopard skin throws and real cat-hair from resident felines. The hotel may have two stars but its popular Bistrot des Dames restaurant/wine bar, nestled in a pleasant but not-overly-groomed garden, goes by its own standards and is open to the public.

Hotel Eldorado, 18 rue des Dames, 17th arr. Tel: 01 45 22 35 21. Metro: Place de Clichy.

Hotel Eldorado

7. Novotel Paris Les Halles

With a giant, custard-colored canopy hovering over the Châtelet shopping center, catching ”a patch of blue” in Les Halles is as rare as it was for Oscar Wilde at Redding Gaol. Given the forbidding façade of the Novotel Les Halles, it’s a triple-fine surprise to find a delightful, tree-shaded garden terrace-bar nestled within its walls. An oasis of calm in a chaotic neighborhood.

Novotel Paris Les Halles, 8 Place Marguérite de Navarre, 1st arr. Tel: 01 42 21 31 31 Metro: Châtelet.

Novotel Paris Les Halles. Photo Corinne LaBalme.

Updated April 2016

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On the Rising Edge of Paris: The View from Batignolles

Corinne LaBalme — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 20:53:40 +0000

Journalist Corinne LaBalme, a resident of the Batignolles Quarter of Paris’s 17th arrondissement, puzzles over the construction of a 525-foot glass tower that will house the Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI), the centerpiece of a 123-acre development on the northeastern edge of the city.

* * *

A former New Yorker, I moved to Batignolles, a district due west of Montmartre, ten years ago. To a Manhattanite, Batignolles is the Lower East Side with fewer croissant options. It’s a formerly dowdy enclave where unpretentious tenement buildings have gentrified at the speed of light.

Batignolles had a rare asset: an abandoned trainyard once earmarked for an Olympic Village. Right now, like everyone in this tiny neighborhood, I’m trying to adjust to the 123-acre construction zone a few blocks away. (By the way, 123 acres is an area roughly equivalent to ½ of the second arrondissement.) Already, 24 of its acres have been allotted to parks and recreation, which everyone likes. And 3,385 new apartments are scheduled and who can argue with housing?

However, the 160-meter/525-foot-high skyscraper for the Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI) designed by Renzo Piano, soon to become France’s tallest (if not highest) law court, is a little less popular. For one thing, in town meetings, we are continually bludgeoned with the idea that a skyscraper will give “an identity” to our quarter. Frankly, we thought we had one, but we’ll have to check in with the people living under the shadow of the Montparnasse Tower on that.

There are, however, larger problems with the glass-sided TGI skyscraper that was signed into existence at the last gasp of the Sarkozy administration. From the start, the TGI has not been presented as “just another glass tower” but as a Very Symbolic Glass Tower embodying judicial glasnost. And that’s a bit frightening because the last expensive architectural project in Paris that got funded purely for its cute concept was the François Mitterrand National Library. The four-building complex, designed to look like airy glass book-ends, ended up flash-frying a good bit of French literature because no one asked any librarians or antique dealers how paper fared when served under glass.

The first, and very vociferous, group to protest the TGI was an organization of lawyers called La Justice dans la Cité who, very into symbolism themselves, posited that law is best dispensed in centuries-old courtrooms on Ile de la Cité. They also pointed out there were many cost-conscious alternatives to a new skyscraper, namely relocating existing archives and annexing adjacent empty space.

These were sensible suggestions because the TGI’s sticker price – 2.7 billion euros – is staggering in a recession economy. That’s just the tip of the iceberg too. There’s also a 27-year lease (90 million euros/ year) plus maintenance fees (12.8 million euros/year) to consider.

When the government changed, the new Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira, professed her shock over the costs as well, but after some delays, former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault confirmed the contract. Perhaps he didn’t have much of a choice since it’s reported that the original contract promised developers big bucks whether or not the TGI was built.

The official video of the project showcases an extremely attractive (light-filled! symbolic!) building with modular aspects that are likely to prove useful in the future. After that, it places all its emphasis on the beatific panoramic views that lawyers and magistrates will enjoy from the offices and the glass elevator.

I daydream about whether French tax dollars might have been better spent on far-reaching social improvements with an eye to lowering crime instead of a site to prosecute it more glamorously. However, that train of thought doesn’t give us “a cathedral bathed in light” as Renzo Piano describes it, nor a place where people “need not fear” justice.

Paradoxically, this incarnation of the TGI leaves me feeling a little afraid for justice. Is a delicate, free-standing glass tower (albeit with gorgeous panoramic views) the best ‘form follows function’ solution for a government service conducting volatile investigations into terrorism, organized crime, and corruption? Perhaps ‘Bunker Baroque’ would have been a smarter style choice?

Or perhaps, just making do with (less transparent) existing stone.

Corinne LaBalme is a member of S.O.S. Paris, an association created for “the purpose of defending the architectural heritage of the city, preserving the urban environment for its population.”

For more on the Batignolles Quarter see the photo reportage If I Were a Traveler….

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If I were a traveler…

Gary Lee Kraut — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:55:42 +0000

If I were a traveler who’d been to Paris say two or three times before and it were a sunny day, any season, and I felt like taking a walk in a neighborhood where I’d never been, just an old-fashion neighborhood circumscribed by boulevards and avenues and train tracks, a neighborhood without much traffic or hubbub, where I could spend a few hours following my nose…