Baked Goods
Patachou
I want to have more money so I can purchase the stuffed Portobello mushroom from Patachou. It looks so delicious, so overflowing. At eight bucks, it's not an impossible dream, but it is not going to fill me up. Alyssa and I came up to the St. Clair Patachou (there's another one on Yonge St. I hear) for breakfast. But it's 11am already and I'm starving. The stuffed Portobello is big for a mushroom but small for breakfast. I can't even split it with Alyssa as a breakfast add-on because there's eggplant in there and she's allergic, unfortunately.
Fortunately, there are lots of other delicious looking things to choose from at Patachou (has been depuis 1978 according to the door and windows). And most of them are not eight bucks. Everything looks so good that Alyssa and I take too long to choose, in my opinion. Though the girl serving us doesn't seem to feel that way. She doesn't seem to mind at all, and while I worry our indecision is getting annoying, she maintains a good attitude, even offering us extra info (the cheese croissant is good warmed up, the bostock is the best, etc.). We eventually decide on a cheese croissant and bostock.
We also split a piece of their vegetarian pizza and each have a coffee. A buck fifty gets you a bottomless cup! Personally, I consider free refills on coffee to be a basic civility, but in this town it's almost a novelty and I'm really excited.
I've had so many croissants from Patachou over the years that they've become comforting to me - especially the cheese croissant ($2.35). Alyssa and I split one down the middle and I regret how fast my half is eaten. I covet Alyssa's! But I have one half of a piece of pizza ($7.50 served w/ salad) to distract me.
The crust is thin, dense and doughy. Crispy edges curl up around cheese, black olives and mild home made sauce with slices of tomato, basil and clusters of Parmesan. It's
delicious, light for pizza but really tasty. I eat my half as quickly as I ate the croissant
(well, proportionate to size). Alyssa has barely started her half. She's busy talking, and I
try to concentrate on what she's saying, but the pizza in her hand is distracting. I drink
my bottomless cup until it's time to split the dessert.
It's nice inside Patachou - small, clean and French. A couple of regular customers quietly take a meal beside us while Radio Canada plays in the background. Aside from top-notch croissants and French desserts and pastries, Patachou offers lots of lunch items, take-away frozen entrees, homemade jars of jam and ACE bakery baguettes. The quiet atmosphere and coffee refills make Patachou ideal to hang around in. Alyssa also thinks it's nice to hang around in, evidently. She's really taking her time with that pizza.
Finally we get to the bostock ($2.65). I've never had this before. It's brioche dipped in orange blossom syrup and topped with ground almonds - a subtle and bready dessert. It's airy with tiny, sugar-glazed pockets and completely fills us up. Everything we've had for breakfast was bread-based, and most of what we've had involved cheese... excellent, we've had a great breakfast. But surely it would have benefited from the addition of some Portobello.
Photos by Alyssa Bistonath
Discussion
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I'm going to try it today!
I was born and raised in France and have a good idea of what the taste of the product should taste like. First you need to know that most of the products sold in this place are common in all regions of France (put aside the pissaladiere found mainly in the south). Therefore you will found the same product made with diverse recipes that may taste different....The choice is yours whether you prefer the South, East, West, North or the famous Paris recipes.
In my opinion both pain au chocolat and tarte au citron were, should I say “delicious”, as their recipe were closer to one of the south of France (where I was born). But the pissaladiere was a total disgrace to the name....it is like buying une tarte au citron without any lemon in it.....to me it was a total disappointment . You see the word pissaladiere takes its name after the word pissala. Pissala is a paste mainly made of tiny (school) fish found in the Mediterranean Sea also called Nouna; However very commonly replaced by anchovies. It is the secret and main ingredient in this recipe other than the onions. To add to the dislike; I found it very greasy, probably because it was not made on the original bread doe. Pissaladiere use to be my Saturday lunch for 20 years, and I miss it at times. I am hoping that the French owner will read this review and accordingly will add to this recipe the missing main ingredient.
Now let’s talk about the price…..Yes, the price is inflated to the max. However, for the one who do not have the chance to enjoy French pastries, I would recommend the place as it is quite good……But not the pissaladiere!