Boulangerie Joséphine

It is funny how despite being around the corner from where the ‎Champs-Élysées crosses Arc de Triomphe, Boulangerie Joséphine is firmly, decidedly, a neighborhood bakery. Avenue Marceau is a peculiar street, broad and regal, flanked at one end by Paris’s busiest street, and the other by a view of the Eiffel Tower across the Seine, with 5 star hotels and the infamous discothèque Le Baron along the way. Despite the location, you are more likely to see one of the area’s wealthy bourgeois residents than a tourist (who are, perhaps, moths to a flame, at Ladurée or the Louis Vuitton flagship).

But, then, you would be amiss of the simple pleasure of tucking into Joséphine’s pretty desserts in its prim, modern terrace, or a €15 full breakfast (not too expensive for Paris) in the dining room overlooking the bakery. Go early for the freshest breads and almond croissants. Lunchtime fills up with office workers and other locals of the neighborhood. Follow their lead. The price is moderate, the pastries are delicious, and it’s so “French” that even its sometimes-grumpy service play tribute to it.