I love Ballard. This is way so much more beautiful and charming than downtown and Capitol Hill and all the other places I’ve been here. Maybe because I went there on a sunny day. But I went to Haiti twice, and it was sunny, and I didn’t like it. It was too American-like. But Ballard is a relief. No huge threatening skyscraper casting its dark and cold shadow upon you. You are in a city, but it feels like if you were in an agreeable village. So lovely.
My love for Ballard has been multiplied by my random discovery of an umbrella shop. That has been my secret quest since I experienced my first huge rain in Seattle. I’m not afraid of the usual mist and fog, but this time, it was raining cats and dogs. And it didn’t stop. And I was only wearing a T-shirt, that was soon wet. I had to buy an umbrella, but I didn’t want the common black one. Being in Rainy City and buying a black umbrella in a grocery store? Unworthy of me. If it deserved its nickname, there had to be specialized shops dedicated to umbrellas in each street. But the only shop you have at every corner is a Starbucks Coffee. Disappointing. But I didn’t give up and my hopes were rewarded by this shop where I found the parapluie of my dreams.
I met the umbrella of my life on my way to Besalu Café. Finding my umbrella was a positive sign, like if all the angels above were trying to tell me that this was the place. Alas! It was not. For sure, the croissant is very good, but the classic baguette does not fit to my taste. I might be picky, but if you want to achieve quality and perfection, you have to. Given the size of the croissants in Le Fournil, I can’t understand why so many of you wait in the line for some pastry from Besalu. God thanks, there was no such line when I visited the place.
But you may love Besalu very much because it is in Ballard. That, I can understand. The tiny little shops on Market Street are much more enjoyable than those big corporate companies boutiques downtown on Pike and Pine. And Capitol Hill is full with freaks, which is not bad, but I wanted to see some fairies, too.
I give this place a B+.
Good points:
• Ballard
• Taste of the croissants
• Cleanness of the place
Bad points:
• Taste of the baguette
• Too many praising reviews and comments made this place a bit disappointing
Man we all know Ballard is great.
Also, this was played out after the second bakery.
Is this going to continue through Autumn quarter? I really hope the Stranger’s internship program does not revolve around the semester system, ugh.
The baguettes from Tall Grass next door are better. Actually, I don’t know if Besalu even bakes their own bread–just pastries.
Pretentious French-Fuck.
Ballard can have you.
Julien, when you get criticism, I bet you simply resort to “they are being Americans, they don’t like me because I’m French…THAT’S THE JOKE!”
Wrong.
We don’t like you because you are repetitive, boring, unoriginal, and a write like a troll. (A troll is somebody who writes things just to invite ire from readers/commenters)
Get a new gimmick!
Did anyone happen to take a photo of you in the wet T-shirt? I think that I would like to see it.
just freaks on the hill, and no fairies…. really?
The baguettes are from tall grass next door. They do not cook the bread they sell. They sell the bread and tall grass sells their pastries when They are closed.
Don’t judge the by the baguettes and it’s a great spot.
@6 is correct. This is very important. You are here representing to us all Frenchmen in wet t-shirts.
@6: I would also like to see a picture of Julien in his wet t-shirt, holding the parapluie of his dreams. Was it the red one with the white polka-dots?
I, too, wanted to know more about this “umbrella of [his] life.” I like the sound of that. Also @1, I dislike everything you say on this forum.
I second #6’s sentiment. Additionally, I am still loving Julien’s reviews, they’re fun and interesting to read.
As for #3 and #5 – Commenting on someone’s post only to hurl insults makes you seem like a petty, sullen and nasty person. Does the thought that you might bring someone else down make you feel big?
I didn’t even know we HAD so much French food.
I’m surprised we even have one umbrella shop. We may be Rainy City, but Seattleites don’t carry umbrellas. It’s a drizzle, not a downpour, and we’d just lose the stupid things.
In New York when it rains millions of immigrants with five dollar umbrellas magically appear in every single doorway in the city, like mushrooms. No matter where you are, you’re never more than three feet from an umbrella seller.
The baguettes are actually from Tall Grass Bakery next door.
I’m a little confused by the notion that nationality per se qualifies one to review on the culinary skills of a restaurant…
Andy Bourdain, say, brings some expertise, no matter what country he visits. But some random French person commenting on baguettes, when at home he or she may in fact eat mainly at places like Flunch or Quick or Hippopotamus, just makes no sense. The subjective impressions of any reviewer are insipid without some kind of expertise.
Is the baguette “tradition franc,aise” or was it overproofed or have a mother dough or come from biga? Is it a true baguette or a flu^te? Is it wheat only or does it have malt or rye or other flours in it? What are the crumb and texture like? How does the crust stand up in a rainy climate versus a dry climate? How much gluten is there? Does it absorb spreads and sauces well but not to excess? Etc.
A simple baguette is so much harder to review than by simply saying “c’est pas `a mon gou^t”. I don’t care what your gou^t is; tell me about the baguette.
What does Julien have to say about this quotation from wine genius Kermit Lynch about his recent trip through Provence?
“However, the restaurant meals I’d been subjected to were making me cranky. When I began going to France in the early seventies, it was hard to find a good restaurant in the U.S. and hard to find a bad one in France. How the tables have turned, so to speak. My wife and I don’t have a restaurant near us we can stand during our stays in Provence, even when we simply don’t feel like cooking.
“While enjoying a home-cooked meal with Pierre and Catherine Breton in Bourgueil, I started venting and was told that, in fact, the majority of French restos today don’t cook. Don’t cook, folks. They buy frozen meals sous vide and heat your orders in hot water or a microwave. That would explain why the meals I’d had reminded me of airline fare.”
do they really say “teste'” in France? (they do here in quebec, but by me it’s very english french)
Good grief people.. have you no sense of the ironic, playful, tounge-in-cheek, and totally charming posts by Julien the French intern?
Take that big literal stick out of your butts and you may find him as entertaining as the rest of us do.
Otherwise, please refrain from posting. Do you really enjoy insulting a perfectly innocent person, a visitor to our country, who only wants to learn some journalism?
Julien is a treat–keep on posting!
it’s the cardamom pretzel that seals the deal at besalu.
I feel like this is one long didactic con to teach Americans how annoying it is when we go to other countries and turn our noses up at everything because it’s not like home. It’s like reading one long train wreck: the arrogance, the refusal to take the opportunity to explore American culture, the constant commenting on how things SHOULD be done here which is really only a reflection of how to make things more like France, how he seems to have led a life entirely in some fairy-tale version of France where he is exposed to no other culture, and above all, the obvious distaste for America as a whole/the presumption that any aspect of this country that is characteristically American (skyscrapers, big cities, large corporations) is something to be despised. So Paris is a tiny village? There are no large corporations in Europe?
I have trouble believing he’s real, because I don’t think anyone who isn’t from America can be such an asshole.
I like these. He’s charming and funny. I don’t get what it is about his posts that make these mean, bitter kids freak out so bad. And he’s right about cap hill, where did all my fags go? Does seattle even have a gay neighborhood at this point?
@21
Wow! Please get back on your meds immediately!
I’m not quite sure what your diatribe is about, but I sincerely doubt that the French intern is a Trojan horse here to take over the country. He’s in his 20’s and seems quite innocent.
I shouldn’t really be responding to you as you are pure scum.