Incoming: Le Pain Quotidien
‘At Le Pain Quotidien’
courtesy of ‘TreyDanger’
Tuesday night Matt and I were on a run down the Clarendon strip in Arlington, and we passed painters and workers busy preparing the new store front of Le Pain Quotidien, the Belgian cafe & organic bakery poised to open under the Clarendon Gold’s Gym.
I’d never heard of Le Pain Quotidien (PQ for short), but upon further googling, PQ is another Euro import, one I’m getting pretty excited to meet. With locations already in Capitol Hill, Georgetown, Alexandria and Bethesda, Le Pain Quotidien operates under an organic philosophy (head on competition, Whole Foods) and is part bakery, part cafe. The bakery part is most exciting to me, as I was hoping for an uprising bakery trend in 2009. PQ claims to bake all their breads in-house, and knead by hand, to boot. They also offer pastries, alongside the breads. Then there’s the “communal table” – the cafe seems to be following in the Wagamama tradition of seating strangers together at big, long, cafeteria-style tables.
I’m thrilled to welcome Le Pain Quotidien into my ‘hood, I’m already picturing Sunday morning strolls for baked goods and coffee, and late night tete-a-tetes with friends over cider and tartes.
Comments
5 Responses to “Incoming: Le Pain Quotidien”
February 26th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Their food is AMAZING. I go to the one in Georgetown for brunch all the time. Be sure to try their hazelnut spread – it’s addictive like crack cocaine.
February 26th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
fyi, its “LPQ” but yes, its delicious! they also have a location in dupont coming soon. hooray!
February 26th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Say what? Cath, where did you hear this news? Where in Dupont will it be located? That place is going to be crazy busy.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
That’s funny, Cath, their Web site says “our friends call us PQ”, I bet everyone has a different way to abbreviate that mouthful.
March 4th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
The food here is terrible, nausea inducing slop. I got sick after eating one of their overpriced tiny sandwiches. You’ll get more bang for your buck at the Subway down the street.