The Tunisian is no longer

Our Tunisian baker closed its doors definitively last week, without warning. While it's true that their bread was not as good as the Breton bakery on the next block, they had lovely Arabic pastries such as baklava, cone shaped filo pastries filled with ground pistachios or almonds, and other rose water and orange flower water-scented delights, that provided an occasional break from the lovely yet ubiquitous tarte aux fraises and millefeuilles in the area. Plus they were open till 21h30. Trust me, in our neighborhood, that was a godsend.

When Eddie moved to this area near La Fourche about six years ago, it was still quite a working class neighborhood with lots of immigrant families. Now our neighborhood shows signs of slight gentrification. Eddie was wondering if the Tunisian closed because of this, but I think maybe it's just that the bread wasn't as good. On days when the both the Breton and the Tunisian were open, the Breton always had a line out the door, versus the Tunisian who was usually occupied but rarely all-out full. One thing that is true about the French, I have noticed, is that they will go out of their way for quality, as opposed to just plain convenience. I remember when I first moved here a few years ago, a French friend of my mother's walked me up and down the rue de Commerce to the butcher that had "the best blood sausage in the fifteenth". Even now, I find myself waiting for the twice a week produce market instead of buying fruits and veg at the Franprix...