The Bon Vivant Blog

Food and Travel

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Thomas Haas (Kitsilano) – Vancouver, BC

November 16th, 2009 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Brunch, Cafe, Coffee, Favorites, Vancouver, dessert

Amazing. Not only does he produce the best pastries that I have had in North America – and better than many I have had in France, but he has replicated his business in North Vancouver and opened a Kitsilano branch. He will be busy. Saturday morning – about 11:30 (late start) – we pick up [...]

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Flour Bakery – Farnsworth Street – Boston, MA

October 19th, 2009 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Boston, Brunch, Cafe, Favorites

Bakeries occupy this special place in my heart – the good ones are run by people who love food, who put that love into what they do, and produce an exceptional product that just makes you happy. Flour is this kind of a place. Sunday morning – pouring rain and blowing wind, I was going [...]

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Julien’s Patisserie – Halifax, NS

June 10th, 2009 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Coffee, Halifax, Kid-friendly

We’d all love for our cities to have a Pierre Hermé or a Thomas Haas. Well, if you look hard enough, pretty much every city has someone (probably from Europe) who has opened a bakery, and is putting their passion into pastry. Didier Julien and his family and team at Julien’s are doing just that [...]

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Dufflet Pastries – Toronto

May 28th, 2009 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Toronto

Dufflet Rosenberg – the “Queen of Cakes” is a Toronto institution who first opened her eponymous cafe over 30 years ago when she opened her first store on Queen West. There are now 3 Dufflet cafes scattered around town and we stopped by the location in the Beaches. The Beaches actually has a small serene [...]

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Thomas Haas Patisserie, North Vancouver, BC

April 18th, 2009 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Brunch, Cafe, Favorites, Vancouver

So – we had to come back. We’d been here twice before (here and here), but I didn’t feel that the prior posts did this particular patisserie justice. We went there on the torture test day – Saturday morning. Lots of foodie people around – most of them clad in lululemon or spandex, living the [...]

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Best Croissants in Paris

October 5th, 2008 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Favorites, France, Paris

So we tried to tackle the list that a newspaper in France, Le Figaro, printed listing the best croissants in Paris. The list reproduced below: LE CLASSEMENT DES MEILLEURS CROISSANTS DE PARIS (List of Best Croissants in Paris) 1 – Pierre Hermé 2 – Triomphe 3 – L. Duchêne 4 – Mulot 5 – Lenôtre [...]

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Fauchon – Paris

October 5th, 2008 · No Comments · Baked Goods, Favorites, France

Fauchon www.fauchon.com 24-26 place de la Madeleine, 8ieme arrondissement, Paris Hours: 8am – 9pm, Mon – Sat, CLOSED SUNDAYS Phone: 01.70.39.38.00 View Larger Map Just go there. It is french institution with two stores in Place de la Madeleine filled with beautiful food products – particularly exquisite (or should I say exquisite-looking since we never [...]

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