ottawa foodies

Hey all,

I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I dropped by the new store on Bank st today to have a look.
It's supposed to open tomorrow but there was still a tradesman there doing his thing when I stopped by. The fridges seemed to be plugged in and running, which is a good sign. I guess we'll see. I'm back at work on Monday.

Sadder news....I dropped by the bakery to say hello and was told that Benny died yesterday. I will miss the little guy!

Poor Benny!!! He was such a bitter sweet dog:(

RIP Benny. :( He was such a cutie!

Well, we are open in the Glebe. Not 100% finished, but open.

Great addition to the Glebe.

We needed a place to buy authentic French baguettes, croissants and pastries and now we can !

The addition of a few tables and good coffee is welcome also.

Thanks French Bakery .

They've got macarons!

I think I need to come in and give it another try.

This is probably not going to be a popular thing to say here but....
I was so excited to try the chocolate croissants at TFB. I'd heard a lot of good things about them. I went in early this summer and was quite disappointed in what I bought. Maybe it was a bad/off day? The croissants were hard, greasy and with a pittance of chocolate inside.
I had been hoping to find croissants to rival my Seattle favourites at Bakery Nouveau. Instead I had half a dozen croissants we decided not to eat past a bite. :(

liza bleu: I've always been a fan of Wild Oat for pastries in the Glebe (although they're very different from TFB).

BakingBombshell: I haven't tried the chocolate ones, but the croissants at TFB are very, very, very rich. I usually get mine by way of Bridgehead, and I find that they are crispy (maybe what you meant by hard?), and flaky, and very, very buttery. Perhaps its a matter of taste?

I love crispy and buttery. Mmmmmmm.
The ones I got were indeed rich, but they were so hard that they were tough to bite/chew through. They were slippy from the grease too.
Given how much positive feedback I hear about them here, I'm wondering if it was an off day and they'd been unusually overbaked.

BakingBombshell, was the day that you bought them really humid (or did you store them in the refrigerator)? A slight overcook that on a dry day has perfectly good texture will turn greasy and tough on a humid day. (Have I got that right Mousseline?) As for chocolate content, I'm not sure I'd call it a pittance, but it is certainly not a large amount either ( hint hint Mousseline, I think the amount could double easily, and be very yummy ;-))

lady who brunches, i am 99% sure that bridgehead gets their croissants from the french baker. can anyone verify this as a fact?

Ok, let's see here...

Spicegirl...yes, we do supply Bridgehead. For a very short while they switched to Moulin de Provence, but that didn't last long.

Pete, every croissant gets the same amount of chocolate. There are 2 chocolate sticks in each, they are imported from France and of very good quality and I'd much rather eat 2 of them than an entire handful of chocolate chips. I bought a chocolate and pear chausson at Premiere Moisson in Montreal and it had chocolate chips inside. Blech!

BakingBombshell: you must have gotten a poor one. It happens, especially in summer. We do NOT use SPS or shortening of any kind which means the dough has to be handled quickly and returned to the cooler. Sometimes things happen that interfere with that (i.e. customers that come in before we are open, or having a delivery arrive during production, etc etc.) And this had to be the most humid summer ever, even though we didn't get much sun.
And I think you should feel free to offer your opinion whether you think it will be popular or not. Why worry about that?

Oh, and my insider tip: eat the pain au chocolat on Friday or Saturday. The baker that makes them for those days always makes them really plump and appealing. That's my favourite day to have one.

Yep, I also have two friends who manage 2 separate Bridgeheads who will also confirm said fact of TFB serving Bridgehead. Yum!

Also, I think I might have to come and get a Pain au Chocolate tomorrow...ooh yummy!

Thanks for the clarification Mousseline, I did not mean to imply that the quality of the Pain au Chocolate was lacking, but rather a personal preference for more chocolate. I'd also rather eat 2 sticks of your French chocolate, than choc chips, but if the chocolate content were doubled to 4 stick, I would enjoy it more. That being said, I've eaten maybe 50, or more Pain au Chocolate from TFB over the years, and I can say a small percentage (10% maybe?)seem to have had 'less' chocolate than others. This perception may be because there's less chocolate (1 stick by mistake) or may be because the chocolate 'shifts', leaving perhaps half of the croissant with no chocolate at all. I have eaten some of them with the feeling I'm on a chocolate hunt (i.e. maybe the next bite will have chocolate?) Obviously something I am going to have to research in earnest ;-)

I forgot to check in with this thread!
Thanks for the tip Mousseline. I will head your advice and drop in tomorrow for some chocolate croissants (if there are some left!). Probably the Glebe location. Crossing my fingers. ;)

Went to the Glebe location this morning before heading to the farmer's market. The renovation looks good, it's very clean looking and bright. I bought croissants and chocolatines and some coffee, all was very good. There's nothing better than pain au chocolat & a coffee on the weekend. Yum.

Will there be caneles at The French bakery, or are they already there, or are they too much a specialty item?

I just had a bunch in Santa Barbara, brought home a dozen and I'd love to have a local source!

We used to make them, but the girl who liked to make them quit to go back to university in Sept, we've been kinda understaffed since them, I hope we will start to produce them again but it might take awhile to get them back in rotation.