Apparently I wasn’t done with French food in April although it wasn’t a close to home experience. I was on a work trip to Latrobe, PA and the first night I went to a long time staple when staying in Latrobe, Sharky’s Cafe.

My intent when I headed over was to get a stromboli, which has been a comfort choice on more than one occasion but instead I decided to try something new. In this case something new was their French Onion Burger.

This 10oz burger was topped with caramelized onions and a Gruyere and Swiss cheese sauce. Actually topped is an understatement, smothered is probably a much better word choice. Let me tell you when the server dropped that off and I looked at that and the one napkin the silverware was wrapped in I knew that wouldn’t do. When she came back around I let her know this looked like a multi-napkin affair and it was. The bun also wasn’t structurally sufficient to the task either and this was just a delicious mess that I’d recommend to anyone. As a side note dredging the tots through the excess cheese sauce was a pleasant experience.

On my last evening I didn’t feel like a restaurant but I wasn’t in the fast food mood so I was scrolling Yelp looking for something different and came across French Express just down the road. This was a take out cafe that just like the name says specializes in French cuisine. If I live in Latrobe I’d be a semi-regular here.

It’s a nice little shop with a few tables in the front of the store and some spices, honeys and other food stuffs around the edges of the store. You have the counter where you can order hot and cold items ready to eat or take home and heat. I selected a crepe, a slice of quiche and desert. The crepe and quiche were both larger than I expected so either would have been sufficient alone.

The quiche Lorraine was very good, light, fluffy, cheesy and hammy. Couldn’t ask for much more. The crepe was the biggest surprise. I went with a smoked salmon crepe which came in two separate containers. The crepe was very large with diced cucumbers wrapped up in it. The smoked salmon was in it’s own container and there must have been a half pound of quality salmon. So I embraced the roll-your-own philosophy and ate about half before I had to tap out. Nice choice and it was a great value for the price. Lastly was the desert. I don’t recall what it was called but it was a flaky pastry with a hazelnut flavored filling that on top of the other items capped evening and just put me over the top into a food coma.

So while Latrobe isn’t a local spot for me I found a couple of local spots while there that did the French cuisine thing proud.

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.

Amelie’s French Bakery

A little foreshadowing, next week is China and dim sum.

Culinary-Passport

Experiencing foods of the world locally

Tag Archives: French Food

France via Latrobe

Vive le Cafe

France