What does a local breakfast look like in Paris?

A proper Parisian breakfast is quieter and simpler than most visitors expect: a croissant or tartine (sliced baguette with butter and jam) and a café crème or espresso, consumed standing at a zinc bar or seated for maybe fifteen minutes. That's it. There is no egg dish, no fruit plate, no granola. Locals pick up their croissant from a neighborhood boulangerie — Eric Kayser and Gontran Cherrier have reliable outposts across the city — and often eat it at the counter of the nearest café. Prices at a stand-up bar run about 1.20 to 1.80 euros for the croissant and 1.80 to 2.50 euros for the coffee. Sit down at a table and the same order can double. The ritual matters as much as the food: it is brief, unsentimental, and built around the quality of two or three ingredients rather than abundance. Breakfast in Paris is a comma in the morning, not a meal.

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