The place smells awful—like no odour I’ve ever known, and nothing like a bakery—but still, it’s crowded with tourists. I really wonder how people can stand the odour. Doesn’t it give you a haut-le-coeur? There’s no way a French bakery would stink like that. In France, the good smell of the bread and of the patisseries must reach you while you’re walking in the street. Intrigued, you have a look through the vitrine and you dribble in front of all those good stuff. Then you check your pockets to see how much money you can spend. You enter the place and a warm and heady flavour comes to tickle your nose. And you spend 10 minutes in the bakery store, hesitating between the chouquettes, the macarons, the eclairs and the viennoiseries.

Not that many choices here, in Le Panier. Actually, the place seems to be a touristic spot. But why should tourists go to a French bakery while they’re visiting Seattle? Weird.

I bought a baguette and a croissant in order to taste them. I was happy to discover that they didn’t smell like the bakery store. They even smell like French croissants and baguettes. The bread is crusty enough and looks good. Same for the croissant. And in my mouth, they’re not the best I’ve ever eaten but they are good.

DSCN4003.JPG

I was surprised by the price, $2.25 for a baguette. The bread has not been imported, so why is it so expensive to mix some baking powder with flour, salt, and water? In France, the average price for a baguette is 0,80 euro (about $1).

I would give this place a C+.

Good points:
• The location
• The taste
• The ambient

Bad points:
• The price
• The smell
• Lack of choice

120 replies on “J’ai Testé Pour Vous: Le Panier”

  3. Be happy that a good baguette only costs $2.25 in Seattle. In Ann Arbor/Detroit, the only decent baguette to be found runs $3.50 . . .

  5. I”m not reading 54 comments but Le Fournil is terrible. Cafe Besalu in Ballard is the only place making pastries worth bragging about in Seattle. Some people say there’s a place in West Seattle that’s good but i’m not going over there for anything other than Husky Deli and Easy St. Records.

  6. what’s the french intern’s job? i mean, the snobbishly charming bewilderment at american life is mildly amusing, but i feel like he should be doing other things…

  10. A Frenchman coming to Seattle for a baggette is like a Seattlite going to a Starbucks in Paris.

    Go to Macrina’s. Or any other real Seattle bakery, meaning an amalgum of bread styles from around the world, slowly changing a bit to fit our local tastes and ingredients. Or at least go to a sourdough bakery – though the only one I know of is a tourist trap on the waterfront at least it has some local history.

  12. Okay dumbass, it’s hard to know where to start. But no shit a french bakery in the USA is going to be different than one in France, And Le Panier is the fucking shit. The USA doesn’t have the same culture surrounding food we get it you guys are tres superbe, go turn your baguete into a fleshlight and fuck it

  13. Oh and clearly you are a un-cultured french man, because baguettes are not only different over the world, even just in france from north and south there are huge differences in food and baked goods. So suck ma cock homie, suck that shiiit!

  15. Besalu. Besalu. Besalu. Expect to stand in line 10 – 40 minutes on the weekends though. Get a croissant, a cardamon pretzel, some coffee then die happy. Then go back and try everything else.

    The best pastries I’ve had in the United States, hands down.

  16. Besalu. Le Fournil.

    Of course, the best food is one that borrows from certain influences and makes it their own, not food that duplicates another culture to the letter.

    And the best tourists recognize this and embrace it, rather than comparing everything to where they’re from.

  17. Tous ces americains donner trop d’argent pour le pain.

    I remember every time I’d visit France, I’d get way better bread (baguettes) for way cheaper in almost any village, town, or city than I’ve ever found here.

    Ever.

  18. I like the French intern, and snobby maybe, but I’ve had the same reaction: after living in Europe for a few years one of the most frustrating things to try to find here is a good baguette. I have tried lots of places (not in Seattle, don’t live there anymore) and even the places that hold themselves out to be the Frenchiest are disappointing. They are missing either the flavor, or the freshness, or the texture. (Usually the texture) I’m not convinced it’s low quality ingredients or chains, because I’ve been to artisanal local yadda yadda places (they may make good bread, but they tend to insist on using whole grain flours and cramming bread with olives, tomatoes, and other flair)…and the best baguette I ever had was from a convenience store in a Belgian train station.

    I also had the same double take the first time I bought two baguettes at a US French bakery and it came to more than $9. Granted, what we consider cheap US staples will run you more there, so it evens out. It’s stupid and disappointing to expect your home country’s specialties to be done well abroad, but nearly inevitable that if you’ll crave a taste of home sooner or later. For me this was Mexican: I probably ate my weight in catsuplike salsas and slowly sauteed fajita innards at European “Mexican” restaurants before figuring out how to import authentic ingredients and making my own.

  22. It’s been quite a while since I set foot in Le Panier, but I do remember it smelling rather chemical-ly, more reminiscent of a supermarket than a bakery.

  25. Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, Julien, do not eat a macaron here. Every macaron in the city of Seattle is sickly sweet and has the texture of styrofoam. The only decent (still not good enough, but decent) macaron I’ve had in the U.S. can be found in San Francisco.

  26. Welcome to French culture people. When the French make a comment about your dish and you think it’s a complaint, it’s not. It’s constructive criticism but their delivery of it makes it sound like a complaint. Also, they can easily talk about for food for hours. I’m a Southerner, we can easily talk about food for hours. So mix the two together and people outside of the South bitch and whine until they taste the food then rave about how great it tastes. I’ve cooked for French people many times and they love the food and weren’t just being nice.

    I recommend the following book to read: Cultural Misunderstandings: The French-American Experience by Raymonde Carroll and Carol Volk

  28. 36: yes.

    It’s really nice getting an opinion of the two-block radius from someone far outside it, no?

    & I am also in French Intern fan club.

  29. Maybe a customer in the bakery had body odor?

    Whatever the case may be, I wish Julien would go try foods and other local offerings specific to Seattle — seafood, local produce and international cuisine — instead of comparing stuff like bread and frozen food, found all over the world and a total waste of time to talk about.

  30. Julien, you’ve inspired me. I walked down to the touristy Sourdough Bakery on Pier 57 and bought a sourdough baguette. It was more expensive ($3.21), shorter, and probably less warm than the one you purchased (though they had just pulled bread out of the oven, they weren’t baguettes and I wanted a fair comparison). And the place didn’t smell much of bread (I wonder if we have more stringent ventilation standards than France). But the texture and flavor was just right (ok, it could have been more sour, but they had samples of their “double sour” bread that was right on target).

  31. If you aren’t completely limited to Seattle, you can always try The French Bakery. There is one in Kirkland, and one in Bellevue. I don’t know how they compare to actual French goods, but I think they’re pretty damn tasty. I’ll go out of my way to pick up one of their Napoleons…

  32. Don’t mind the negative comments; most Americans think “good eating” is to be had via a trough, and become very sensitive with the onset of cognitive dissonance. How does it go… something like “when one’s pride is wounded, one’s vanity is most difficult to wound.”

  34. American food is for the most part better than French food. French music is for the most part better than American music.

    There, that ought to keep you going for a while. Fifteen more comments and you’re two-for-two in the hundred-comment club. Jen Graves is going to cut your throat.

  35. People are surprised that if you’re buying a product in a much smaller market, you end up paying more? Ok.

    “Oh, if only I had access to a top-notch product produced in a limited, zero-competition market … for cheap!” Yeah, that sounds bitchy. This isn’t a matter of American public being stupid; it’s American bakeries being savvy.

  38. This thread cracks me up. French kids are raised to view France as the center of world culture. Period. They don’t mean to be obnoxious, but when they interact with another culture they operate purely from that bias. They are mystified when they offend us because they sincerely meant no offense. Keep in mind that the original meaning of chauvinism, a word of French origin, refers to excessive nationalistic fervor, provincialism writ large.

    Mais, tout cela ne fait rien! Bienvenue Julien! Je vous conseil aussi les menus typique Seattle, surtout le saumon, le crabe.

  39. @45 for a concise & comprehensive review. Thank you.

    Julien – MOAR bakery reviews PLEASE. And be BRUTAL. YES a majority of the bakeries here SUCK and should this suckness be brooked??? NO! If there’s no market, there’s no business! So let’s make a market for quality bakeries!!!

  41. @76, sadly, is correct.

    God they suck here. No melting in your mouth with a sweet light taste of cane sugar, here they just sit like overly-sugared heavy lumps.

  45. Merde. It’s akin to going to a Cajun joint in Montréal. A Korean joint in Seattle. An Udupi Indian joint in Bellevue. Or Tex-Mex food in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It’s all just plain wrong.

    Oh, and speaking of food, ladies and gentlemen: I now have proof of photo existence that the chocolate-dipped honey cruller by Tim Hortons most certainly does exist and, evidently, as a standard item in the location where I found it ON THIS VERY DAY.

    You wanna see it? Email me. telsagrills over at gmail full-stop com. I will happily deliver with proof of this cheap, crazy deliciousness. It was awesome.

  48. Keep up the dispatches, M. Massillon. Some people need to be reminded that Julia Child learned to cook while in France.
    Visit La Belle Epicurean on Fourth Avenue downtown and let us know what you think, please?
    Also, do major French cities have as many beggars as does Seattle?

Comments are closed.