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Food fights · Paris
Paris's best croissant
The neighborhood boulangerie against the palace pastry chef. Sixteen croissants, one round a day, and you pick the flakiest.
Round 1 opens Thursday, October 29The opening matchups. Voting opens Thursday, October 29, one round a day, champion Monday, November 2.
Boulangerie Utopie: A small Oberkampf bakery whose croissants and black sesame éclairs keep a line on the pavement. Maison Landemaine: The bakery chain Parisians actually trust for a good croissant on any corner.
Le Pain Retrouvé: A Rue des Martyrs bakery where the viennoiserie is made the old way. Sain Boulangerie: Natural leaven and organic flour, near the Canal Saint-Martin.
Maison Louvard: The 9th-arrondissement bakery behind the crookie craze, with a straight butter croissant that holds up. Yann Couvreur: A pastry chef's shop where the croissant gets the same care as the cakes.
Cédric Grolet Opéra: The world's most-followed pastry chef, and a croissant worth the queue on its own. Poilâne: The most famous bread in Paris, from the same wood-fired ovens since 1932.
Blé Sucré: On Square Trousseau, a bakery that turns up on nearly every Paris croissant list. Pierre Hermé: The pastry master's croissant filled with rose, raspberry and lychee.
Mamiche: Two friends' bakery that became a neighborhood habit, with croissants that shatter. Stohrer: Paris's oldest pastry shop, open since 1730.
Tapisserie: The pastry shop from the team behind Septime, careful and seasonal. Boulangerie Bo: A neighborhood bakery the 12th will argue for, with a butter croissant worth the walk.
Du Pain et des Idées: Christophe Vasseur's corner bakery by the Canal Saint-Martin, with its painted ceiling and its famous escargots. Benoît Castel: A Ménilmontant bakery with a light hand and devoted regulars.
Tell me when it starts
Round 1 of Paris's best croissant opens Thursday, October 29. We'll email you that morning with the matchups.
This also opens a free Chef Amazing account: keep the places you love, the lists friends send you and your next trip. Your address is never shared or sold. Votes count without an account.The bracket
Round of 16 Thu, Oct 29
- 1Boulangerie Utopie vs 16Maison Landemaine
- 8Le Pain Retrouvé vs 9Sain Boulangerie
- 5Maison Louvard vs 12Yann Couvreur
- 4Cédric Grolet Opéra vs 13Poilâne
- 6Blé Sucré vs 11Pierre Hermé
- 3Mamiche vs 14Stohrer
- 7Tapisserie vs 10Boulangerie Bo
- 2Du Pain et des Idées vs 15Benoît Castel
Still to come: Quarterfinals (Fri, Oct 30), Semifinals (Sat, Oct 31), The final (Sun, Nov 1).
The 16
How it works
Sixteen places, picked by Chef from our lists, the critics and the lines out the door, seeded by Chef's read. One round a day on the New York clock: the Round of 16, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, then the final, and the champion the morning after. Anyone can vote, no account needed, one vote per matchup, and you can change it until midnight. Most votes goes through; a tie goes to the better seed.
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Photos marked "a photo like it" are not of that place: Cory Doctorow from Beautiful Downtown Burbank, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0; Jen Arrr, CC BY-SA 2.0; Jean Weber, CC BY 2.0; Mark Mitchell, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Votes are counted once per browser per matchup; places don't pay to be here.
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