More and more drive through bakeries are popping up all over France. They are convenient but their bread may not be the best in the country.

But when the weather is REALLY hot and you don't want to leave your air-conditioned car, these bakeries serve a purpose. Plus they are often open when other bakeries aren't.

Yep, Al, it's kinda like coffee sometimes--can smell waaaaaay better than it tastes.

That said, I've NEVER had anything bad at Laurent. NEVER. I'm not sure where this guy trained (he's French ) but everything that comes out of those bakeries is superb. (Wait, just checked the site and he's another LeNotre graduate.) No two ways about it. Keeps me going until I get back to Paris, especially the Elodie cake: pear, caramel mousse, delicious fluffy sponge, a little bit of hazelnut something or other. I introduced the policy at work that when anyone in my team has a birthday, we get them a cake from Laurent. Of course, the manager pays for it and we help eat it, so it's all good!

Cheers,
Gabrielle

To me it's a bit ironic that most any bakery (no matter what the ethnic origin) has a wonderful smell, especially if it is visually pretty. So many times (pick your country) I have had disappointments after being enticed by wonderful smells and sights.

Unfair. The scent gets me everytime. I have to cross the street sometimes so as not to be brought inside.

I read that in today's news too, and at first I was thinking that it was not a good thing, but then since it is on a busy highway, and these people might not have time to go to a wonderful breadshop, then it's probably nice for them. I agree with you ladies that standing in the oldfashioned boulangerie and enjoying the wonderful displays of breads, croissants, cakes and patisseries is a true delight that I wish everyone could experience.

I'm sooooo completely with you! The scent, the warmth, the array of goodies.... I had to go to Laurent, a boulangerie here, to pick up a birthday cake today and I took with me a guy who'd never been. He just stood there and breathed in the scent of the freshly baked bread.

Which reminds me--I have a macaron left over from our trip. Bye!!

Gabrielle

Hm... well, sometimes convenience goes over quality.
Must be pretty convenient to quickly stop there on your way home for a baguette, especially if you're not lucky enough to have a nice bakery close to where you work.

With that, I am not saying that those breads are necessarily bad though.
I believe they are baked all along the day and sold still warm.

To me, there is nothing better than going into an oldfashioned boulangerie and enjoy the wonderful displays of breads, croissants, cakes and patisseries.

From this morning's newspaper:

Paris gets drive-thru breadshop
From correspondents in Paris
July 26, 2004

TAKING a leaf out of the book of fast-food joints such as McDonald's, a shopowner in a Paris suburb has opened France's drive-through boulangerie, selling take-away breads and patisseries to rushed motorists, according to a report in Le Parisien newspaper.

The outlet, located in a former service station on a busy highway in Port-Marly, west of the capital, already counts up 200 customers a day and the owner, Jocelyne Joly, was quoted as saying she saw that number increasing tenfold within months.

France has adopted fast-food ideas from the United States to cater to millions of foreign tourists and its residents, but they co-exist alongside traditions such as proper sit-down meals in restaurants and daily trips to local boulangeries.