Biting Into National French Bread Day at Sofitel NY

It’s not just the start of spring. Saturday March 21 doubles as National French Bread Day. (It’s also National Puppy Day this year, but never mind).

A great baguette (crisp on the outside, full of holes on the inside) is worth celebrating, or so believes the French-inflected Sofitel New York.

Fresh bakes

For one day, guests are given a cheddar-truffle pretzel at check-in and a croissant at check-out.

But anyone can stop by the private dining room at Gaby, the hotel’s French brasserie, which morphs into a boulangerie overseen by the Bordeaux-born executive chef Sylvain Harribey. Choose from 15 strains of French bread and French pastries, all baked on the premises as the name boulangerie indicates — chocolate croissants, semolina batards, mini olive pockets, caraway salts, mini Black Russians, tabatiers, raisin walnut crisp breads and of course, baguettes, to name a few.

Just as appealing is the price (and the cause). Everything costs $1 apiece with proceeds going to City Harvest, the non-profit organization that collects unused food from hotels and restaurants and feeds more than 1.4 million New Yorkers each year.