(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

Baguettes and croissants are par for the course at a French bakery, but Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro isn’t the first place you’d expect to find a sturdy caraway rye ($5) and a fennel-seed-crusted twelve-grain ciabatta ($3). For those tasty loaves, we thank Christopher Hereghty, a Payard veteran newly recruited to expand the bread program after a sojourn in North Carolina, where he opened his own bakery (1032 Lexington Ave., nr. 73rd St.; 212-717-5252).

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