Last weekend, I celebrated my somewhat-mournful 46th birthday. Hooray.
With the sheer specter of Death impolitely tapping on its watch saying “Tick-tock, tick-tock…”, I impatiently decided that I wanted to go and celebrate my special day by going to a restaurant that I always wanted to try but never could, La Baguette Bistro, 7408 N. May Ave.
Being an ardent fan of Serge Gainsbourg, mon amie, sadly I hadn’t been to metro’s lone(?) French restaurant. Well, outside of the now-gone Deep Deuce location five years ago where I had a French dip sandwich and some relationship strife, but I don’t think that counts.
At least for me, that is.
With my plans already cemented, I arrived at the restaurant for lunch last Friday afternoon with my girlfriend as my guide, having studied in France once upon a time. Oui-oui!
While the building exterior is very bright with the sun shining, inside it’s a near-dark affair, with the low-level lighting giving it a rapturous, romantic atmosphere. As we sat down at the table, I thought about giving some butterfly kisses on my girl’s hand, but the perky waitperson arrived with near-perfect bread and butter and I retreated.
The bread, by the way, is très magnifique.
Raring to go, we started with an appetizer—or, should I say Les Petites Assiettes on the menu—of House Duck Foie Gras Torchon ($17.00). While many people balk at the taste and texture of cured and poached duck liver, come on, man, I am Mexican…have you even tried menudo?
With black mission fig preserves and on small toast rounds, it was truly something to scream about. With a large spoonful of the foie gras on my toast, at first it was a strange taste that I wasn’t sure about, but after the third or fourth bite, I realized I was truly hooked.
I was scarfing down duck innards as my girlfriend had her own favorite menu item, a cup of French Onion Gratinée ($5.00). Even though my experience with French onion soup is from the Campbell’s company, La Baguette’s version is tops, with hearty onions and Gruyère cheese that make it grand prix.
Within a mere minute, she drained the whole bowl. Ooh là là!
For her main dish, my girlfriend then had the very bilingual Corsican ($16.00) hamburger. But don’t let the moniker of hamburger fool you, because its origins are very raffiné with pure roasted garlic puree and tangy gorgonzola blue cheese on a plump ciabatta bread.
Mon Dieu! This hamburger was truly exceptional, served naked with only the gorgonzola cheese on the rare meat. Yes, the plate comes with lettuce, onions, and such on the side, but you really don’t need them because this taste was too bold with just the bread, meat and cheese.
I had the more literal Croque-Monsieur ($15.00), or, culturally translated, the hot ham and cheese sandwich. Broiled ham and Swiss cheese are served open-faced on thick, crispy bread with béchamel sauce and pommes frites (French fries) on the side. I could have added two Sunnyside-up eggs for $2 to make it a Madame, but my cholesterol didn’t need it.
With my caffeine-induced cup of Café Au Lait ($4.50) at my side, this was not like any ham and cheese I have ever had. The bubbling Swiss cheese enveloped the thick ham on top of the bread, the sauce dripping from the rafters.
Being a French restaurant, if there was one area that had to surpass all others, it had to be their level of sweets.
For my birthday dessert, of course, I had to have my first taste of vanilla Crème Brulee ($9.00) and it was incroyable!
When the glass-like covering of sugar is broken to reveal the true custardy goodness inside…it is truly breathtaking.
Pleasantly filled with the sheer goodness of La Baguette and its very deserved notoriety, I think I will stave off Death for a few more years, as I have found my new birthday tradition. Filled with multiple possibilities, here’s to 47 and further down the line.
À la prochaine!
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Follow Louis Fowler on Instagram at @louisfowler78.
