Two local bakeries were placed in the first Best Baguette D.C. Competition in October, a competition that gathered bakeries around the DMV area to compete for the top seat. Among the awards given included the popular Fan Prize, the traditional Lafayette Bread, and finally, the coveted Best Baguette. But how did these bakeries get to the top?
Among the winners was Dog Tag Bakery, scoring second in one of the competitions. Jesuit priest Father Rick Curry and Constance Milstein founded Dog Tag Bakery in 2014.
“We have a fully homemade from scratch bakery,” said Dog Tag Bakery Communications Director Hillary Richone. “Everything that's made in there is still made by hand, packaged by hand.”
Hailing from upstate New York, Curry moved to Washington to teach at Georgetown University. He worked at Walter Reed Medical Center with war veterans in need of amputations.
It was there that Curry noticed many veterans in need of additional assistance with mental and professional crises. This led him to open Dog Tag, tributing its name to the very community they serve.
From there, Dog Tag Bakery developed a writing program aimed at helping veterans figure out how to tell their stories. This expanded by developing a fellowship program, located in both D.C. and Chicago, where fellows can obtain a business certificate.
Dog Tag went into the Best Baguette D.C. Competition with the mission to represent the organization as a bakery but, most importantly, as a nonprofit, said Richone.
One of the other crowned winners was Fresh Baguette. Fresh Baguette received the Fan Prize and second place in the Best Baguette Competition.
“This achievement reflects the hard work, skill, and dedication of our entire team. Special credit goes to our incredible head bakers—Florian, Jean-Michel, and Alexis—whose craftsmanship and commitment to quality set our baguettes apart,” said Celia Rambelomnana, Field Marketing Manager for Fresh Baguette, in a written statement to The Eagle.
Florent de Felcourt, a former French naval officer, founded Fresh Baguette, which first opened in 2013 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Fresh Baguette serves authentic products such as organic bread, croissants, pastries, savory sandwiches and the now-crowned best baguettes.
Over the past 11 years, six additional locations have opened up including Rockville, Georgetown, Alexandria, McLean, Cleveland Park and Penn Quarter.
Fresh Baguette uses no preservatives in their products. The bakery prioritizes organic ingredients for bread, including cold dough fermentation and house-made sourdough to stay true to traditional methods.
Over 800 people flocked to the Maison Française, or the French Embassy for a taste of these bakeries. Samples of various types of bread were presented throughout the night for two different jury panels.
Despite only a select few bakeries going home with a title in hand, each one represented the pride for baking and top-quality products around D.C.
This article was edited by Maria Tedesco, Marina Zaczkiewicz and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Ariana Kavoossi.
