The Battle of the Baguettes
And we have a winner!
Photos By Jason Hesch
As I walk through the 1939 art deco era National Hotel on Miami Beach and through the lobby to the outdoor back area, my ears hear jazzy music playing in the background. At the end of a long narrow pool and up a few short semi-circle steps I reach the back patio destination where the Battle of the Baguettes competition is to take place.
The atmosphere had a French taste and a French feel drawing in a nice size crowd to this intimate cosmopolitan gathering. Five contestants display their best bread creations. I went around to each table devouring each and every piece offered to us. I am drawn to the smell of freshly baked baguettes. I take a fingerlicious good piece in my hand and rip it open, the crusty outer shell flaking as I break it open revealing a warm soft airy center. My favorite bread is the one with moist inside and crusty outside and pumped with all sorts of goodies, such as dried fruit, cheeses, and herbs.
To go along with the bread, which would be tasty all by itself are the condiments—Cheese and charcuterie, some mini pickles and grapes. Of the meats, we had a selection of two kinds of salamis (Saucisson Sec and Saucissan à l’Ail), thinly sliced Jambon de Paris, and Pâté de Campagne from Trois Petits Cochons. Of the cheeses, we had 4 selections, a creamy soft cheese from Saint Agur with an orange rind, a blue cheese, a brie, and a semi-soft cheese from Saint Andre. The semi-soft was the most delicious and balanced of all the four cheese I tried. There were four selections of jams, cherry, blueberry and apricot flavor. Jams are essential for your meat-cheese sandwich. It’s the glue that marries your toppings with your bread foundation. And nothing goes better with your open-face sandwich than a nice glass of fruit flavor water, flavored with cantaloupe and cucumber and watermelon.
I was pleasantly surprised and happy to notice two bakeries, La Provence and Chocolate Fashion, as contestants. These two bakeries have locations in my neighborhood and I frequently visit them. Therefore, I was rooting for them to be winners. The other bakeries were La Parisienne, Buon Pane Italiano, and Rosetta. As we were sitting at our table a two-man camera crew came up to us to interview interviewed our opinion of the event for a French or Italian television. We felt like stars on a red carpet. And then we heard an announcement, “go to french-morning website and vote for your favorite contestant.” This was my chance to plug in for my local bakery. But oh, I can only vote for one, what a dilemma as La Provence and Chocolate Fashion are both excellent bakeries. But I choose Chocolate Fashion, sorry other bakery, my loyalties lie with them, as I developed a more personal connection with the staff there. And the winner is La Provence. Congratulations!
