Le Pain Quotidien-Food for the Body & the Soul

If you are a grazer, European aficionado, or just into a delicious organic fair, then you must try Le Pain Quotidien. French for Our Daily Bread, LPQ is a rustic, quintessential Pâtisserie and Boulangerie with delicate tartines, fluffy omelets, and crusty French breads that satisfy the heart and soul.

My particular experience is based on the LPQ in Old Town Alexandria, right on the corner of King and North Washington. After finding parking, mastering the cobblestone streets with stilettos, and maneuvering between cars, strollers, and crazy drivers , a tiny little pâtisserie is exactly what the 21^st century individual needs….simplicity. Old world wooden tables stretch across the room with chairs lined up neatly alongside. This is what LPQ calls their “communal table” a place where friends and strangers alike have a chance to break bread together and reconnect on a human level. In this day and age, getting lost in your own technological bubble can happen far too easily. We forget to unplug, exchange greetings with people on the street, smile back at the baby waving with their cubby little hands, or simply have a tête à tête with our friend. Communal tables may seem awkward at first, especially those whose main contact to the world is through a text message. Be adventurous! Take a seat next a new face, have a little conversation. You’ll find it surprisingly refreshing…

Keeping with the simplistic environment, LPQ cuisine uses fresh, mostly organic ingredients to create dishes that could only be decently described with pastoral poetry. Such as an open faced tartines topped with smoky salmon and salty capers, a golden omelet bursting with gruyere, and fresh spongy bread with a crust the cracks into a thousand tiny little pieces when you bite into it…. Is your mouth watering yet?

Try Le Pain Quotidien for a journey of flavor, rustic simplicity, and an opportunity to reconnect with your humanity.