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At Home With Patricia Wells - Cooking classes in Paris and Provence, Cookbooks and Restaurant Reviews.

Brad Pitt bakes bread

Emily Buchanan February 23, 2011

Gontran Cherrier (can that be his real name?) is a wild man. His breads are like halloween costumes: arugula green, paprika orange, squid ink black. And he doesn't stop there, infusing breads with flavors of cumin and carraway; golden curry powder; even black miso. I love him, his shop, his ambition, his sense of humor. His bad boy good looks make him a stand-in for Brad Pitt. But the proof is in the tasting, and I am happy that his tidy little shop on the charming Rue Caulaincourt can be reached nonstop on my Métro line, for it's easy enough to keep my kitchen stocked with a fresh loaf of his irresistible rye bread tinged with a salty touch of red miso. Go for breakfast, sit at the windowside counters, and enjoy!

Gontran Cherrier, 22, rue Caulaincourt, Paris 18. Tel: +33 1 46 06 82 66. Metro: Lamark-Caulaincourt. Open 7:30 am to 8:30 pm Monday through Saturday, 7:30 am to 7 pm Sunday. Closed Wednesday. http://www.gontrancherrierboulanger.com/

Patricia Wells is a journalist, cookbook author and cooking school instructor living between her homes in Paris + Provence.

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Patricia Wells

Patricia Wells – journalist, author, and cooking teacher – is an American who has lived in Paris since 1980. She is the author of 13 books, including The French Kitchen Cookbook, Simply Truffles, Vegetable Harvest, We've Always Had Paris...and Provence, Bistro Cooking, Simply French, and Trattoria. Her first book, The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, was a landmark work that "cracked the code" to the Paris food world. (The Food Lovers Guide iPhone app is available from the iTunes store, and an all new version of the print edition is scheduled for March publication.) She is the only woman and only foreigner to serve as restaurant critic of a major French publication, the newsweekly L’Express. From 1980 to 2007 she served as restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune. Previously, she was a writer and editor for The Washington Post and The New York Times.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contributions to French culture, and received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg College in 2013 and another in gastronomic journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2007. Several of her books have received the James Beard and IACP awards, and most of them have been translated into several languages. At certain times of the year, she conducts week-long cooking classes both in her cooking studio in Paris and at her farmhouse in Provence. She is married to Walter Wells, retired executive editor of the International Herald Tribune and now her enthusiastic sous-chef.