Bakery Nouveau

Restaurant: Bakery Nouveau

Cuisine: Bakery/Desserts
Last visited: January 15, 2010
Area: Seattle, WA (West Seattle)
4737 California Ave SW
Price Range: $10 or less (USD)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 6
Service: n/a (I wasn’t actually there)

Ambiance: n/a

Overall: n/a

Additional comments:

• Pastry chef William Leaman
• Pastries baked several times daily
• Famous bakery in Seattle
• Gourmet bakery
• Traditional desserts with a gourmet/West Coast twist
• Breads/Desserts/Pastries/Chocolates/Jam/Lunch
• Award winning desserts
• Natural ingredients
• Seasonal ingredients
• Gift baskets available
• Daily/Weekly/Holiday specials
• Dine in/Take-out
• Mon-Thurs 6am-7pm
• Fri 6am-9pm
• Sat 7am-9pm
• Sun 7am-7pm

**Recommendation: Geez...almost everything. The blueberry pistachio cake, double baked almond croissant, German chocolate cake with coconut, passion fruit macaroon.That's basically everything I tried and I recommend it all. When I go back I'm definitely trying the Phoenix and Praline Dream.

Have you ever liked something so much you were literally using your licked fingers to squeegee down the plate? This was definitely one of those times, and I had no shame doing it. I don’t know – maybe part of it was me knowing that I couldn’t easily get these amazing desserts again.

Nouveau Bakery is a Parisian bakery in Seattle – again Kim was kind enough to bring back some goodies for me to try…and thank god he did. This bakery is known as one of the best bakeries in Seattle. Winner of numerous awards the pastry chef William Leaman is also the 2005 World Cup of Baking Gold Medal Winner.

Holy crap I don’t know what I did to deserve Christmas all over again. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I think could be the 1^st time I’ve given a restaurant 6/6. I did only try 4 things, which to me is a decent sample, and everything was equally amazing…I don’t know how many times I “OMGGGGGGGG” – seriously food orgasm coming up!

I looked at the online menu because since I wasn’t actually there to do the ordering I didn’t know exactly what I tried. It markets itself as an authentic Parisian bakery, and the majority of their items are very French – however there definitely are some global influences in there. I don’t know many, if at all any authentic French bakery that serves up pizzas, carrot cakes and Pistachio blueberry cakes! The last one is definitely a West Coast fusion thing that I would expect to see at Kreation Artisan Cake, a bakery in Vancouver.

Authenticity is a big deal to me, but did it bother me this time? No. Authentic or not, Nouveau Bakery has amazing cakes and pastries and I almost want to make the 2 hour drive to Seattle right now to try more things. If you’re not going to like something, I think it’ll be partly because you think you’ve paid too much for it…they’re quite pricey…but it is a quality dessert, so I think it’s worth it! They're very well thought out, well executed and presented.

On the table:

Double Baked Almond Croissant 6/6

• Our classic croissant soaked in simple syrup and filled with delicious almond cream. It is topped with sliced almonds and additional almond cream $3.85 USD

• It’s double baked to make a very chewy nougat like croissant. It’s very tightly packed layers of crisp flaky pastry.

  

• It’s sweet, but not too sweet and it's wonderfully nutty and dense. It’s almost like a giant almond nougat or almond caramel because the almond cream isn’t really a cream but almost like a paste – I think it’s made with marzipan and ground almonds.
• The middle is very moist and really not greasy at all. I’m surprised!
• The bottom is really browned because it’s double baked so all the sugars are very caramelized to give it a richer deeper flavour.

• I was literally licking the crumbs off my plate and off Kim’s plate. I actually want to lick the screen right now.
  

  

Blueberry and Pistachio Cake 6/6

• $5.50 USD
• If I’m going to die after eating something…it could be after this cake. If heaven tastes this good how to I get there sooner?! It’s so good I could almost give it a 7/6. Seriously I almost hate myself for being lucky enough to try it. Mind you I do love pistachio and blueberries…so the two together were a delicious concoction.
• I don’t have the exact description but I would say it’s alternate layers of Pistachio cake with blueberry mousse. It’s almost like a twist on a French style napoleon because it has a puff pastry like layer on top too.

• Unlike local bakery Boulangerie Cho-Pain their top layer of puff pastry is perfect! I could cut myself the tiniest slice with the fork without the mousse squishing out the sides or having to remove the top layer. It was nice and soft, and it's not even a puff pastry, but it's the easiest way to describe it.
• The pistachio cake is awesome with real crumbs of pistachio. The blueberry mousse was nice and light and made with real blueberries too. It’s nutty, creamy and rich in flavour.
• The bottom 1/3 of this cake tastes like a Pistachio Kit Kat bar! There’s a brown wafer like layer and it tastes like it’s made of ground up very crispy wafers, ground up hazelnuts and maybe even a little bit of chocolate although the chocolate is very subtle if it’s in there

• It's the texture of ground up Chinese egg rolls and gave the cake a crispy crunch. They weren't hard, but delicate and I’m so surprised they weren’t soggy either. It’s seriously AMAZING and pleasantly unexpected.
• No part of this cake needs adjusting.

  

German Chocolate Cake 2/6

• $5.50 USD
• I don’t have the exact description but it’s layers of rich dense chocolate cake with layers of coconut walnut caramel filling.
• This chocolate cake is an extremely moist chocolate cake and it was perfectly sweet for me. It looks much more sweet than it actually is. It’s not very bitter so was probably a 68% cocoa or so. It wasn’t a milk chocolate nor was it a dark chocolate cake batter. It’s a rather light cake with a rich chocolate taste that lingers.
• The layer of caramel coconut cream is amazing! They use loads of fresh coconut and tons of chopped walnuts in it. It’s almost like a thick chewy coconut caramel nougat with walnuts. It’s amazing.
• Eaten together nothing is overpowering and I tasted every single ingredient from the crunchy walnuts to the juicy coconut shreds. It made the cake extra moist.

Parisian Macaroons 4/6

• These traditional Parisian cookies are light and airy. They are rumored to be the best outside of Paris! Flavor choices vary by day and feature: Café, Passion fruit, Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistachio, Coconut, Caramel, Salt Caramel, Blood Orange and Cassis $1.50 USD (The description is from the website...it’s a pretty expensive macaroon and they’re pretty small though)
• Coconut 4/6
• The coconut macaroon tastes like almond macaroon to me. That’s probably because there is almond in it. I wouldn't have guessed coconut until I saw the listed flavours though.
  
• I think they could have used real ground up dried coconut in this macaroon. It's obvious once you know the flavour is coconut, otherwise it's hard to put your finger on it.
  
• It’s very sweet. For me a bit too sweet to the point of hurting your teeth. It’s the almond coconut cream in the middle that was very sweet for me. I like the macaroons from Say See Bon better although they are almost exactly the same. They’re just as chewy and they even look the same.
• The meringue isn’t as thin or delicate as Say See Bon because the crispiness is more like a cookie than it was a meringue.
• Passion Fruit 5/6
• Wow! This really tastes like passion fruit! Seriously when you take a bite and start chewing it starts melting away and it tastes like passion fruit juice! I loved this one and it was so unique I’ve never seen it before.
• Again it was a bit too sweet for me (but the coconut sweeter), but the flavour was so strong and so unique I would still recommend for people to try it.

Boulangerie Cho Pain - Review 2

Restaurant: Boulangerie Cho Pain - Review 2

Cuisine: Bakery/Desserts/Breads/French
Last visited: January 6, 2010
Area: Vancouver, BC (Downtown/West end)
1165 Davie Street
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4.5
Service: 3

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 4

Additional comments:

• Authentic Parisian bakery - operated by French people with cute accents!
• French baker/pastry chefs
• Offers 125+ classic European breads and rolls
• Some breads and pastries prepared daily, but not all
• Small selection of savoury snacks available: quiche/homemade sandwiches
• Espresso/lattes available – supplier: 49^th Parallel
• Few tables and chairs for sit down
• Casual/self-serve atmosphere
• Pastries to go
• Daily specials
• Closed Monday

**Recommendation: Gateau Basque, Paris Brest Hazelnut Choux, Almond Croissant, Hazelnut & Cream Slice

So I’ve been to Boulangerie Cho Pain on a few occasions and I try something new every time. I want a better idea of what they’re serving so I can keep my reviews as updated as possible. I mean a restaurant can go uphill or downhill so I want to give a fair review because a lot can happen in a few months…or even days.

I still really like Boulangerie Cho Pain, but not as much as when I first tried them. Everything is still good, but the more I try the more I find it is “very good” instead of “excellent”…hence why I gave the food 4.5 instead of 5 like I did on my last review for it.

I came in the late afternoon and stayed for a couple hours. Within that time I couldn’t smell any baked goods, but I could see some being made. Everything in the display case is quite professional, but their daily features like: cookies, truffles, and banana bread are quite home style and simple. It’s important to remember it’s not a gourmet bakery, but it’s still very French in the sense that it has authentic French recipes and effortless style and charm.

My 1^st review for Boulangerie Cho Pain

On the table:

Hazelnut & Cream Slice 5/6

• I don’t have the exact description but it’s layers of hazelnut cake, hazelnut cream topped with chocolate hazelnut chocolate ganache $3.95
• I really enjoyed this cake. It is a dessert of course, but I could enjoy it as a tea cake or snack because it was so light and not that sweet. It was a perfect tea time cake.
• There’s a lot of hazelnut flavourings in it and it’s very distinct. They really used it in every layer of the cake so it was well incorporated into every bite.
• The edges have these caramelized hazelnut praline crumbs, but they’re very soft and not hard at all. I wish they had used them for the top too.
• The chocolate ganache topping had a nice marbleized design, but I wasn’t a fan of it. Since it was in the display case and chilled it was a bit hard for my liking. It wasn’t brittle, but it wasn’t delicate enough for me. The layer was just a bit thick and I was chewing it because it didn’t melt well. It tasted like a milk chocolate ganache and I would have preferred a dark bittersweet chocolate to match the hazelnut.
• The cream was almost like a hazelnut mousse. It was very light and not too sweet at all. I’m pretty sure it’s the same mousse they use in their Paris Brest Hazelnut Choux.
• The cake part was delicious and had finely ground hazelnuts incorporated into the batter. It was more like a tea cake than it was a cupcake batter. It had a very crumbly texture because of the hazelnut crumbs too.
• Like the Paris Brest Hazelnut Choux it reminded me of a Ferraro Rocher, however this cake was much lighter and not as rich as the Paris Brest…although neither are that sweet. This cake you could enjoy as a afternoon snack, whereas the Paris Brest Hazelnut Choux is a real dessert.
• If you want to attempt something like this at home, I did make Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes that tasted very similar to this.
  
• 

Tiramisu 2.5/6

• I don’t have their description, but I’ll assume we all know what it is and have tried it at one point or another $3.95
• I wasn’t a big fan of their tiramisu because it was a bit too sweet.
• Similar to the Tiramisu from Sweet Obsessions Boulagerie Cho Pain used a cake layer instead of lady fingers for the bottom layer of the Tiramisu. However they did use actually lady fingers for the middle layer.
• The Rum and espresso was very apparent because the entire bottom layer of cake was completely soaked with this syrup. The lady fingers were also dipped almost completely in the syrup as well. It was it a bit too sweet so I think they put a lot of sugar in this Rum/espresso. When I poked my fork into the cake some of the liquid syrup would come out because the bottom cake layer was holding too much of it. Literally like a sponge with too much water.
• The wetness of the tiramisu made the whole thing very soft. It was quite creamy however they didn’t used enough mascarpone for me. The layers of mascarpone cream were mixed with some espresso too I think. It had a pale brownish colour rather than a pale yellow or cream colour.
• The topping was whipped cream and chocolate shavings instead of mascarpone cream and cocoa. There is a little cocoa powder but mainly chocolate shavings. I didn’t mind that part, but I did mind the whipped cream. I don’t like whipped cream on tiramisu because I think it “cheapens” it…it definitely saves cost though. The whipped cream is made in house and it’s not very sweetened. They used too much on this tiramisu too so I really think the mascarpone flavour was lost.

Kreation Artisan Cake

Restaurant: Kreation Artisan Cake

Cuisine: Desserts/Cakes/Bakery
Last visited: December 28, 09
Area: Vancouver, BC (South Cambie)
3357 Cambie Street
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 3

Ambiance: 3

Overall: 4.5

Additional comments:

• Owner/Pastry chef Kaeko Kanno
• True family operation – husband, kids, friends assisted
• Tiny/hidden bakery, easily missed
• Very unique desserts and creative cakes
• French meets West Coast fusion style cakes
• Made in small batches
• Gourmet/high end cakes
• Limited selection of in store single serving cakes available daily
• Limited selection of 6’ and 8’ cakes available daily
• Most cakes available with 3 days notice
• Wedding cakes/special occasion cakes
• Can be made without wheat based flour
• Can customize orders according to allergies/preferences
• Small baked goods gifts available
• Take-out only
• Accepts Debit/Visa/MC
• Parking available at the back or meter parking

**Recommendation: Blue Ricotta Mousse, Earl Gray Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Passion fruit (tried previously), and I’ve heard that the Tiramisu is good, but I haven’t tried it

Kreation Artisan Cake is a bakery that offers and arrangement of cakes, cheesecakes, mousse, cupcakes and tarts. Pastry chef Kaeko Kanno’s style reminds me of Thomas Haas’s approach to chocolate. After some research it’s no wonder I was able to draw the parallel. It turns out Kaeko Kanno worked under Thomas Haas when he owned Senses Bakery, however the bakery closed a couple years back. Since then Haas has opened Thomas Haas Fine Chocolates and Patisserie and Kaeko Kanno opened Kreation Artisan Cake.

The two have very similar styles in terms of flavours and ingredients, however their focus is different. It’s obvious by the names of the each store that the focus is different; however the clientele is more or less the same.

I came across Kreation Artisan Cake in June 2009 and I distinctly remember the time frame because it was near my birthday. I wasn’t looking for dessert at the time, but me and my best friend were doing out usual after dinner crusade scouting out restaurants we’ve never noticed. This is definitely one we would have never noticed if we weren’t walking right by it. It’s easily missed although it’s located on the strip. It’s just so small and truly one of those neighborhood gems.

There’s plenty to “oooh” and “ahhh” over once you walk in. The display case offers a selection of individual cakes that are available to-go. There’s nowhere to sit so it’s definitely more of a cake order/gift shop bakery. Most of the cakes have a simple clean finish, but undeniably gourmet look to them. The ingredients are so unique and creative so if you’re tired of chocolate cake and vanilla butter cream then Kreation Artisan Cake is for you. It's French meets West Coast and the results are handcrafted homemade classic cakes made with exotic ingredients like passion fruit, teas and even herbs like tarragon!

My friend ordered 6 individual serving cakes for our Christmas dinner and I obviously had to try every single one. We all did. I’m big on the sharing if you didn’t notice already =). I really wish I had the descriptions beside me while I was trying them. I only had the names of them so I didn’t know what to expect. I also wish I had bigger pieces of a few of them…sometimes bite size pieces don’t do the cakes justice, so I’ll keep that in mind throughout my review. I’ve also tried 2 other cakes from here before this occasion, but I won’t focus on those.

On the table:

Caramel Nuts 3.5/6

• Milk chocolate ganache & caramel butter cream with caramelized crushed pecan between layers of frangelico soaked hazelnut sponge $5.50
• If you’re not too adventurous and like your simple cakes and flavours then go for this one. This is the cake that will appeal to the masses. It sounds more gourmet than it tastes, but it still tastes good.
• I had to use my taste buds to pick out the flavour because I had no description. Sometimes this can be a good thing, but sometimes you want to know what to expect so you’re not disappointed.
• This reminded me of Thomas Haas’s Caramel Pecan chocolate. I enjoyed that more though; it was so different and original.
• It’s not that sweet at first bite, but as you continue to eat it then it gets sweeter.
• It’s really creamy, crunchy, nutty and sweet. It stood up really well and the ratio of all the layers was perfect, however I could have done with a little less caramel in that caramelized crushed pecan. It just got a bit too sweet because the layer was quite thick. I did like the texture it brought though.
• The crushed pecans around the edges of the cake were actually crushed pralines, so this added another layer of sweetness and a different type of crunch.
• I couldn’t taste the Frangelico (hazelnut liquor), but overall the cake had a distinctly nutty flavour.
• If you like caramel and nuts, then you’ll love “Caramel Nuts”. It tastes like caramel + nuts, but those gourmet touches didn’t shine through, which is kind of a bummer.

**Blueberry Ricotta Mousse6/6

• Glazed ricotta mousse, blueberry cream, vanilla sponge $5.25
• This was delicious and my winner out of the 6. It was light, airy, slightly tangy and not that sweet.
• I’m not a fan of cheesecake, but I like Tiramisu. This one had ricotta which is a light tasting cheese so I didn’t mind it because it reminded me of the light tasting mascarpone cheese in Tiramisu. The cheese taste is so light and it made for a very fluffy and moist mousse. The Ricotta mousse was all around the cake.
• I loved the vanilla sponge cake because it gave it some texture otherwise I would have gotten sick of it faster. It was very moist and soft, neutral tasting, and held the flavour of the blueberries and ricotta well. It would be nice to see some actual vanilla bean specs in the cake, because I couldn’t actually taste vanilla. They could have said “white cake” and I would have believed that. It’s still 6/6.
• The blueberry centre is a real blueberry puree or compote. It’s quite thick, but not too sweet. You can tell by the colour it wasn’t really creamy, so I don’t know why they call it “blueberry cream”.
• It had some white chocolate shavings, glazed mandarin zest and a little lemon zest on top for décor, which was perfect. Lemon zest, ricotta and blueberries are a threesome made in heaven…add some white chocolate and OMG! It reminds me of the Lemon Ricotta Pa ncakes I had in Kelowna that I put on my Top 10 Favourite Foods list of 2009.

Green Tea Chestnut 2.5/6

• Green tea dacqouise, caramelized meringue, chestnut cream between layers of green tea cake $5.50
• Ahhh so it’s a dacqouise cake! If I had the description I might have enjoyed it more because I would be expecting a dacqouise cake – a French cake made of layers of meringue and cream. Since I didn’t know I didn’t really enjoy it that much because I was expecting a “Green Tea Chestnut” cake.
• This is a really unique cake and it stood out to be first. She put an Asian twist to a traditional dacqouise cake by making the meringue a Matcha meringue and changing the traditional butter cream to a chestnut cream. Too bad it sounds better on paper.
• The caramelized meringue top layer was much too sweet and it had this granulated sugar texture that was very gritty. I hated the texture of it. It was crispy and a bit creamy and reminded me of the Matcha Macaroons from Say See Bon, but those are actually good. It might not be fair to compare meringue to macaroons because they are different, but they do share similar characteristics.
• The second overly sweet part was the white part that’s disguised as a white cake layer. It wasn’t! It was almost like a pure icing sugar layer mixed with granulated crystallized sugar. It was crusty and almost powdery, and not hard, but gritty. None of us liked that part and put it off to the side.
• The Matcha cake part is good and made with Matcha powder and it really comes through.
• The chestnut cream was good and not too sweet, but I prefer the ones from Asian bakeries more. I prefer a thicker chestnut layer too, would have tones down the sweetness.
• This cake was the sweetest of all, overly sweet, almost to the po int of ‘hurts your teeth’ sweet. Parts of it were like pure icing sugar.

**Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse 4.5/6

• Manjari Tea mousse, tea brulée, tea almond sponge cake, topped with meringue & almond slices $5.50
• This is another one that called my name. I’ve wanted to try this one for a very log time. It reminds me of Thomas Haas’s Earl Grey Tea chocolate. But I enjoyed this cake more; it had a stronger Earl Grey flavour I wanted.
• It was very aromatic and nutty in flavour and because I had no description I had to rely on my taste buds again. I thought it was a hazelnut sponge cake. I think I would have enjoyed this one more if I had a bigger piece of it, I could get a better idea of what was going on.
• It smells like Earl Grey Tea and tastes like it too. There’s tea in the cake batter and the leaves are really infused in the mousse. The chocolate mousse is light and not too sweet which is good because I wouldn’t want to over power the tea flavour. I think the chocolate could be a darker chocolate because it would have given it a slightly bitter flavour which may have enhanced the Earl Gray flavour.
• I could have used a much thicker tea almond sponge cake layer. There was a bit too much chocolate Tea mousse and it was too thick around the edges.
• I don’t remember the tea brulee standing out too much, which is really sad because if I had the description I would have paid more attention to it.

Raspberry Ganache 2.5/6

• Chocolate ganache (dark, milk or white) w/ raspberries between layers of chocolate sponge $5.50
• We had the dark chocolate ganache, but I think a white chocolate ganache would have been more suitable…even though I love dark chocolate way more than white.
• This one is the most bitter of all the cakes, so the chocolate used is probably a 68% cocoa or even higher.
• I’m not a huge fan of fruit and chocolate, and it has to be done really well for me to enjoy it. It must be fresh fruit, because artificial fruit flavours and chocolate is almost a guaranteed ‘no’ on my list.
• The texture was very inconsistent. Parts of it were very crumbly, which means too dry, and other parts were very moist to the point of being wet. I’m not sure how many days in advance these cakes are made, but this one had the texture of at least 2 days in a fridge.
• It had a thin raspberry layer made with fresh raspberries, but it wasn’t overpowering although it stood out. It was quite tart and went well with the chocolate.
• The chocolate ganache was really soft and flexible, almost like fondant.
• I really didn’t like the candy snowman decal on it…I think it “cheapens” the look. I’m not holding it against them because it was for the holidays…but just saying.

**Egg Nog (Holiday Special) 5/6

• Egg nog mousse cake with a gingerbread crust and pomegranate compote $5.50 (I don’t have the exact description, but it’s how I can best describe it)
• Too bad this is holiday cake. I liked it! It was my second favourite cake.
• It was the second lightest cake next to the Blueberry Ricotta Mousse cake.
• It looked like a cheesecake, but it wasn’t. I really like the texture of their mousse. It nice and light, not too sweet and very airy and fluffy. It had a distinct egg nog flavour, but it wasn’t overly creamy either, it was spongier.
• The gingerbread crust was obvious because it had a cinnamon and clove flavour. It was very soft and moist, but almost to the point of pasty and wet. I think it was because it was pre-made and in the fridge though. I usually like a thin bottom crust but in this case I wouldn’t have minded if it was a bit thicker. It was a good idea, and different so I wanted more of it. It was a great touch to a holiday cake.
• I loved the pomegranate seeds, although some may think it’s distracting. I liked the texture and colour it brought and it reassured me that the compote was made with real pomegranates. It was sweet, but also a bit tart so there was a great balance.
• The “pomegranate compote” is what I’m calling it; I don’t actually know what it was supposed to be. It was more like a pomegranate gelatin, but it melted nicely in your mouth.
• The gingerbread and eggnog are obvious matches and the pomegranate gave it a slight tang and made it a bit refreshing. It was almost like a fruit pie with custard. A ve ry unique cake and well executed and thought out.

From another occassion...

**Raspberry Passionfruit

• Raspberry & passionfruit cream between layers of light coconut sponge cake soaked w/ passion fruit liqueur
• To be honest, I don't rememeber what it tastes like, but all I know was that everyone liked it.
  

• 

Blueberry Coffee Cake with Walnut Streusel Topping

Muffin tops!!

They're huge!!

I loaded the streusel topping with walnuts, brown sugar and butter...and a little salt to bring out flavour. How can you go wrong with those ingredients?

As you can tell I really load up on the good stuff. I loaded the batter with tons of blueberries as well ;)

Item: Blueberry Coffee Cake with Walnut Streusel Topping

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Blueberry Coffee Cake with Walnut streusel topping 4/6

Ok I made this coffee cake into 6 mini bundt cakes - I took a regular coffee cake recipe and added TONS of blueberries to the batter last minute. Fold them gently into the batter. I really filled the pans to the top because I LOVE muffin tops - the only time I like muffin tops. Anyways instead of a regular streusel topping I added walnuts to the brown sugar and butter mixture to make it extra crispy and flavourful. I packed on the streusel topping! I made these coffee cakes into decadent treats that were nice and filling. They were also HUGE as you can tell by the pictures. I love it!

Tips: Blend your ingredients really really well when you're making a coffee cake - makes a huge difference. Make sure your butter is left out at room temperature before you use it. Cream the butter and sugar together with a blender for a long time until it becomes pale yellow and fluffy. These few methods will make for a great coffee cake that has almost a pound cake texture. It looks like a giant muffin, but is the texture of cake! Delicious! Doesn't hurt to LOAD it with streusel topping too - I can't guarantee you won't get a muffin top after eating these though =p

Enjoy! I did!

Les Faux Bourgeois

Les Faux Bourgeois
Complimentary bread and butter - crusty bread served cold - the authentic French way.
Pork Tenderloin

Restaurant: Les Faux Bourgeois
Cuisine: French
Last visited: September 15, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC
663 15th Avenue East Vancouver (Around Fraser & Kingsway)
Price Range: $10-20 (Closer to $20)

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 5
Additional comments:

• 2 owners: 1 from Vancouver, the other from Quebec (once owners of Jules & Go Fish)
  
• Authentic French food
• Amazing sauces/au jus/pan jus (made w/quality wines)
  
• Extremely busy
• Great value
  
• Casual chic
• Daily specials run out by 8-9pm
• Line-ups/Busy/Crowded every night
• Reservations highly recommended
• Attracts ages 30+
• Closed Monday
• Dinner service 5:30-12am
• Wine bar
• Les Faux Bourgeois Café next door opens everyday 9-4pm

**Recommendation: Duck Confit, Mussels and Frites, and you can't go wrong with their daily specials. The lamb is highly recommended, but I didn't try it on this visit. I will eventually try it and report back!

I finally got to try the highly talked about up and coming French restaurant Les Faux Bourgeois. I've heard so much about this restaurant - all through word of mouth. All positive. My friend waited 2 weeks before she could get a reservation. I almost had to take a 5:30pm reservation because it was so busy. On a Tuesday night too! This is authentic French-Canadian food with reasonable prices (no main over $19) AND resonable portions (you don't need a dinner #2). Not that's a rare combination - especially for French food. It's hard to come by affordable French food (mind you it is an up and coming trend) but Les Faux Bourgeois masters this without sacrificing on quality.

Don't underestimate this restaurant because of it's location (East Van - Kingsway & Fraser). Surrounded by hole in the wall eateries, in a somewhat residential area; the location is probably what makes it possible for them to charge what they charge (rent is pretty cheap in this area and especially in this location). It's a casual and unpretentious atmosphere is a rare characteristic when dining French. This is definitely one of those humble restaurants you can't wait to tell your friends about. The food is just wonderful, with homemade sauces and marinades - some say it's too hyped up, but considering this place doesn't advertise and is far from being located in a touristy area means that it gets it's business through local word of mouth. Les Faux Bourgeois deserves it's hype and I'm excited for my next visit.

On the table:

• Fillet de Boeuf Grille 3.5/6
• Beef tenderloin and potato gratin with your choice of butter sauce, red wine shallot au jus or green peppercorn cream sauce. We had it with creamy peppercorn sauce $19

• Let's be fair. This isn't a steakhouse. So you can't expect the best steak you'll ever get (even if the restaurant has great food). The steak is still tender and juicy but the quality of course isn't that of Gotham's, or steakhouses of that caliber. They also charge a 1/4 of the price so it's very reasonable for what you're paying ($19). I will ding them a little on the presentation though - needs work, and they were a bit scarce on the veggies.
• The potato gratin was almost like a fancy scalloped potato. The potatoes are all cut to the same size and layered perfectly to produce this very professional potato gratin. Not the best ever, but still good. Not very cheesy or anything, but each layer is seasoned which is nice. What shines is the method they used to create it. You literally bite into layers of potato, not mushy or crunchy, but tender.
• The "creamy peppercorn sauce" wasn't creamy...but it doesn't matter because it was still delicious and rich in flavour.
• **Pork Tenderloin - Daily special (sold out by 8pm) 6/6
  
• Pan roasted pork tenderloin, potato spinach and endive sautee, walnut cream and shallots with gerwrztraminer pan jus

• This is delicious and a bargain at $18. You get a lot of pork tenderloin and it's cut into perfect medallions. So tender and so good! It had a rich sauce that's more gravy-like than au jus - it's made with gerwrzraminer wine. It came with sauteed onions on top which added a sweetness to the savoury pan jus. I used the bread to wipe up every bit of sauce - so good. I would definitely order this again.
• The potato spinach and endive sautee was also fabulous. It was chunks of roasted potato, then a layer of sauteed spinach and endive leaves, topped off with a walnut cream sauce and shallots. My only complain is that I wish the potatoes were cut smaller - it would have made for a nicer side. It would have also complemented the sauteed veggies better. I was under the impression that the walnuts would be pureed into the cream sauce, however I still appreciated the way it came - whole walnuts in cream sauce. Make sure you get some of everything in the first bite, the flavours round off really well.
• Canard Confit 5/6
  
• Crispy duck leg confit with roasted potato, frisee, green beans and port wine jus

• I like duck, but it rarely impresses me when I order it. This is one of the few times I haven't been disappointed. The duck has a crispy skin, and just enough fat, so it keeps the meat nice and moist (well as moist as duck can get). The meat is so tender and flaky it just shreds away from the bone when you touch it with your fork. The port wine jus is again one of their many amazing sauces, savoury with the subtle tang of balsamic vinegar. One of the few places where I would order duck again...and it's only $15.
• **Mussels & Frites 6/6
  
• One of their most popular mains. Mussels served in a white wine garlic sauce. Served with fries and homemade aioli (similar to mayo).

• What a classic dish. Classically French and divine to the taste buds. A simple recipe that is very well executed and authentic to French cuisine. The mussels are so fresh and cooked in this white wine sauce that has lots of freshly minced sauteed garlic. The quality of wines they use for their sauces are just amazing. All their sauces are to die for. This white wine garlic sauce is no exception - my favourtie out of the 4 sauces we tried that night. It's the kind of sauce you dip everything into and just want to drink like soup! We dipped our bread in it, the fries - everything. We got 28 mussels for only $15.
• The fries were nice and crispy. I've had better fries before, but these were still good. They came with a homemade aioli which is nice. I preferred dipping them into the white wine garlic sauce though.
  
• If I was dining with 4, I'd actually go back and order this as an appetizer.
• **Lamb
  
• I haven't tried there lamb, but it's another popular item that they highly recommend.
  
• Apricot glazed lamb cheeks with mint cous cous...sounds wonderful.
  

• Desserts
  


• All desserts are made in house. The waitress really sold the chocolate mousse and said it was the best on the menu, so I had to try it. They could work on their dessert menu though. The desserts are all pre-made desserts like creme brulee, chocolate mousse, lemon tart, madeleines etc. I understand that desserts are time consuming so it's good to have "make a day ahead desserts", but I just know they could do a better job than what they offer.
• Milk Chocolate Mousse 2.5/6
  
• I think this is my first time ordering mousse, because I'm not really a big fan of it. It wasn't anything special though. It was light for a chocolate mousse and came with whipped cream. It's milk chocolate so it was light rather than decadent, it had a nice creamy and fluffy texture when you dug your spoon into it. Quite standard for me. I would share it cause it's too much for one person. It came straight from the fridge in a chilled glass.