Latest news with #Bijou
Local France
6 days ago
- Business
- Local France
Paris baker warns of 'fake' butter croissants on sale in French boulangeries
A morning trip to a bakery for a still-warm daily baguette – and a super-secret croissant to eat on the way home – is one of the joyous cliches of life in France. But one Paris baker has warned that some of the traditional buttery pastry treats sold at boulangeries the length and breadth of the country aren't quite what they seem. In most good boulangeries , croissants come in two types - croissaints or croissaints au beurre . The second type - butter croissants - are usually around 20 centimes more expensive (and significantly more delicious). Advertisement The difference lies in whether the pastry is laminated with layers of butter, or margarine - supposedly a croissant au beurre should use only pure butter. But boulanger-pâtissier Matthieu Bijou told Le Parisien that some bakers are turning to a butter alternative made mostly of vegetable oils and water and added yellow colourant – with just a fraction of the butter you'd expect to find in a product sold as a 'butter croissant'. The reason? Cost. The price of butter and flour has jumped in recent years. As a result, some bakers have turned to industrial alternatives to traditional raw materials. The industrial pseudo-butter is a fraction of the price – it costs around €7 per kilogramme, compared to as much as €12.60 for the unadulterated stuff, Bijou said. The product does have butter in it, but it has other stuff too - its basically a mixture of butter and margarine. If you've – even vaguely – wondered how bakers have been able to keep prices relatively stable over recent years, it's because they have turned to alternatives like this, which contain no more than 25 percent actual butter. The cheaper alternative is the same price as butter was five to 10 years ago, Bijou said. The problem, he said, is that it is almost impossible to spot the difference between real butter croissants and ones made with the industrial replacement, without either asking, or paying a premium – a minimum €1.30 per croissant – for ones made using premium ingredients. A croissant is not the only boulangerie product that has a normal and premium version - there's also the baguette versus the 'tradition'. A baguette de tradition can only contain four ingredients; flour, yeast, salt and water - as specified in the French government's bread decree of 1993. The tradition version is usually between 20 and 30 centimes more expensive than a standard baguette, which may contain preservatives or other ingredients in addition to the flour, yeast, salt and water. Is your daily bread a normal baguette or a 'tradition'?✎
Glasgow Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Opening date revealed for brand new Glasgow pizza spot
Boss Pizza will open its latest branch in Gallowgate, Glasgow, on Saturday, August 9, offering 12-inch Margherita or Flamin' Chicken pizzas for just £2 between noon and 3pm. The £2 pizza offer, which is exclusive to the opening day, is limited to one per person and is only available during the launch event. Boss Pizza has expanded nationally, offering pizzas that it claims are 40% bigger and 50% more affordable than those from leading pizza brands. Its new store, located at 263-268 Gallowgate, will also help create 15 new jobs in the area. Read more: 'This has been my dream': BBC MasterChef star opens new Indian restaurant (Image: Supplied) (Image: Supplied) Read more: 'Bijou' Glasgow restaurant reveals closure after 18 years Ajmal Mushtaq, chief executive officer of Boss Pizza, said: "We're very excited to celebrate the opening of our latest store. "We hope to see a strong turnout of local pizza lovers ready to take advantage of this mouth-watering offer. "We're incredibly excited to open in Glasgow – a city that is home for us. "Scotland is where the Boss Pizza journey began, so bringing the brand to Glasgow has always been a goal close to our hearts. "This launch isn't just another opening; it's a homecoming and a major milestone in our growth. "We can't wait to serve the people of Glasgow with the quality and flavour that Boss Pizza is known for."
San Francisco Chronicle
06-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Their Wine Country restaurant is a hot destination. Their new spot is for the locals
The team behind one of Sonoma County's best restaurants will soon open a new, more approachable spot in Petaluma. Named Bijou — 'jewel,' in French — it is the latest from Table Culture Provisions owners Stéphane Saint Louis, Steven Vargas and Marta Saint Louis. At 190 Kentucky St. starting Friday, June 13, diners will find seasonal dishes applying French technique to the North Bay's wealth of seasonal produce, but at a lower price than the group's original restaurant. Table Culture Provisions is beloved by visitors and locals, who often refer to it simply as TCP. But with a tasting menu that runs in the triple digits and can only accommodate around a 10 tables, it's not easily accessible. 'That is a barrier for the community to come in every day, or once a week,' said Saint Louis, who will run the kitchen at the new restaurant while Vargas helms TCP. 'At Bijou, you'll have food at the quality and standard of what we offer at Table Culture Provisions, just more affordable and approachable.' (The restaurant did not provide prices for dishes.) Snacks and shared dishes will include tempura vegetable batons with a green goddess drizzle and sprinkled with malt vinegar powder, and a petit croque monsieur with shaved truffles on top. The Cowgirl x D. Fatti is a rosemary boule from local bakery Della Fattoria hollowed out and stuffed with Cowgirl Creamery's funky-rich Red Hawk cheese that's topped with roasted garlic and a drizzle of honey. The bread's interior is cut into stubby sticks, then fried, the better to dip into the soft cheese. Larger entrees will include a 10-ounce rib eye from San Rafael butchers Flannery Beef in a black peppercorn sauce, cut into thin slivers that give it a classic French bistro feel. A small side of bone marrow truffle fries and a small salad with shaved Parmesan come along with the cut. A Japanese sea bream will be served with a vegetable ragout and a pistachio caper sauce. Hand-made stuffed pastas will rotate frequently, starting with caramelle, pasta bundles with twisted ends akin to a wrapped caramel. These come stuffed with Liberty duck legs cured in a cumin-fennel blend then confited overnight. Staff baste the caramelle with a jus made from duck stock and duck bones that's spiked with a hit of Port. A zigzag of rich crème fraîche and pea tendrils accent the dish. 'I'm just a fan of stuffed pastas and I take pride in making these,' Saint Louis said. He's already looking forward to future pastas such as a tortellini filled with hearty beef cheeks during the colder months of the year, and agnolotti stuffed with locally caught Dungeness crab when the next season begins. Dessert at Bijou from Table Culture Provisions pastry chef Sylvain Parsy includes a mille feuille, the classic French dessert of layered puff pastry and vanilla cream, that's textured with burnt caramel and a ribbon of creme anglaise. A flight of petit fours, assorted bite-sized sweets, will come in triplets or quartets paired with coffee or tea. Once summer strawberries arrive at the restaurant they will go into a tart topped with rhubarb sorbet. Until then, there's a sundae that's topped with shaved almond, cacao nib and a pour of fresh, hot chocolate sauce. Otello Tiano, who led the bar program at San Francisco's Lazy Bear, consulted on Bijou's drinks. The cocktail list will include six original cocktails and six classics with a French inclination, using ingredients like Chartreuse and pastis, a liqueur flavored with anise. Wines will be diverse, with various styles and origins, but with a focus on California. Bijou took over the former home of southern restaurant Easy Rider, known for its fried chicken and mac-and-cheese, which closed in December. The space can accommodate 55 seated diners, making a dinner reservation or a walk-in a lot more feasible than at TCP. Plans are to open every day, except Wednesdays, for dinner service, with regular Sunday brunch. A daytime window, Café Bijou, will offer pastries, sandwiches, salads and a soup du jour, plus coffee using beans from local roaster Petaluma Coffee & Tea Co. Saint Louis described the interior as feeling like 'modern comfort,' with its whitewashed walls, concrete bar and minimalist tables. Exposed brick supports and warm light from metal frame chandeliers help the building a cozier, he said. 'It's my jewel box for the community.'
