Eight months in Paris left me with a lifelong appreciation for a good baguette.

After college, I spent eight months living in Paris, subletting an apartment through a friend of a French exchange student I’d met when I was just 13, growing up in Alameda. I’d stayed in touch with the exchange students over the years, and somehow those childhood friendships eventually led me to Paris.

While living there, I developed a habit that has stayed with me ever since: wherever I live, I need to know where to find a really good baguette.

I practically lived on them in France. There was something wonderful about walking into a neighborhood boulangerie, picking up a freshly baked baguette, and enjoying something so simple yet so delicious.

Fortunately, I don’t have to travel all the way back to Paris to satisfy that craving.

One of my favorite neighborhood bakeries is La Farine on Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland.

La Farine Boulangerie Patisserie
3411 Fruitvale Avenue, Oakland