France
This week was a bit of a late lunch, early dinner situation so it seemed like a jaunt to the café would be just the thing. That being the case France seemed the way to go and Amelie’s French Bakery & Café the place to be. We have one in Rock Hill that I have been to several times for breakfast and it is fantastic but this time I thought I’d visit the flagship location in NoDa. For those who “ain’t from ’round here” NoDa is an area of Charlotte in and around North Davidson street. Kind of cool, a little artsy.
Anyway, back to Amelie’s. It’s in what looks like an old industrial building converted to a boutique strip mall and anchors one end. It’s a good sized place with some outdoor seating I was hoping to take advantage of on such a beautiful day. Alas mine was not an original idea and the tables were full of people enjoying a beverage and / or snack. When you step inside you are greeted by a hodge podge of decorations that look like someone took one piece of something from every café ever and collected it in this spot. The walls are striped light blue and lighter blue and there are both faux chalkboards with permanent menu items and real chalkboards with “du jour” items scrawled on them. Depending on the line the next thing you notice is the pastry case as pictured below from my point in line. You place your order and if it is not something from the case they bring it to your table. I decided to try their seasonal bouchée as an appetizer, and a half sandwich and side.
For the bouchée, which is the pastry shell below with a savory filling, I went with the bacon asparagus. The sandwich I opted for was the croque monsieur with a fruit salad side. The soups were not to my liking and they were out of the red potatoes with haricourts vert (green beans). It all looked good and tasted good.
That bouchée was flakiest thing since (I was going to insert a blonde joke but that just doesn’t seem cool) the baklava I had a while back. The bacon and asparagus were lightly applied and added good flavor without being overwhelming. The croque monsier for those who have never had one is basically a fancy ham and cheese sandwich but in a good way not a pinky extended way. This one was made on a croissant with a Dijon mustard spread, ham and cheese and a slice of gruyere toasted on top. Very tasty. The fruit salad was essentially a selection of fruit chunks with a dressing of what I believe was yogurt and poppy seeds. The tang nicely offset the sweet from the fruit. I don’t know what the calorie count was but it wasn’t a very heavy meal and it was quite delicious. I think it would have tasted better if I had been enjoying it at an outdoor table but c’est la vie.
I did manage to console myself by stopping by the pastry case and picking up this little item for a snack later.
Overall Amelie’s was great and that goes for both locations I’ve visited. The pastries were flaky, the coffee smelled good and the place has a relaxed atmosphere and eclectic décor that make it a nice, if potentially fattening, place to spend some time.
Here’s a link to their website and do forget to check out Tell Me More for some good café music and other assorted bonus content on France.
A little foreshadowing, next week is China and dim sum.
I just got back from Paris and the food was incredible – but very expensive. I think I must have had escargot four times, French onion soup three times, foie gras twice, quiche once and French fries twice (which are not cliche there like I thought they would be). Sadly, they did not have all the wonderful French fry sauces there like they do in Belgium – I was hoping to get to experience them.