Judging the food produced by a restaurant is both a more complex and much simpler process than say, that of a boulangerie. You have the collective talents of the staff to take into account. The atmosphere plays a large part, as does the fact that in most people’s list of necessary daily rituals eating in someone else’s kitchen (i.e. the restaurateur’s) isn’t something that is absolutely essential for survival. And this is of course, to say nothing of the immense variety of foodstuffs, condiments and multifarious national intricacies available to the kitchen staff to mix and match – that is, the food itself.
Making bread on the other hand seems at first a much simpler thing. At least in France, bread finds its way to the table at most meals and is considered a basic staple of the French diet - thus by no means a luxury. There is of course a diversity of styles and prices, but when compared to the range of foods that could be prepared by the average boulanger in comparison to a restaurateur, well, clearly we are in different playing field altogether. Maybe if you were to take one specific dish and only evaluate each restaurant on how they turned out said dish that may even the playing field - fractionally.
This perhaps helps to explain the distinction between bread that is found everywhere and is merely mediocre, and really good bread that is rare and can, at times, be something close to transcendent. This is why knowing how to produce not just decent bread but really exceptional bread is something of a blood sport in France. Which brings me to Anis Bouabsa and his charming boulangerie Au Duc de la Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement. … read more »
