I'm always amazed at how bad bread is in the USA. The bread you will get from an average bakery in France is better than 99.9% of the bread in the United States. It's surprising, given that food in the United States is generally quite good (the only other major food group we don't take much of an interest in is cheese).

Perhaps influenced by this bias, the best bread I've found in America is at Le Panier outside the Pike Market in Seattle. I stop there every time I'm in Seattle. It's like a Paris boulangerie to me.