French mornings

As evident by my birthday dinner at Chez Vincent, I really enjoy French food; although it can be so rich that it becomes a rare treat. The other morning, Kevin and I grabbed brunch with his brother’s family at Paris Bistro. It’s tucked away in a covered outdoor corridor off Park Avenue.

Paris Bistro offers a two-course brunch on Saturdays and Sundays featuring an entrée and dessert. I ordered their spinach and goat cheese omelet, which was very light and creamy. It was served with potatoes au gratin, which were actually very bland.

Also ordered at the table were the hamburger, quiche lorraine and waffle.

They only have one waffle maker at the restaurant, which seems to get backed up easily, so it did take a long time for the waffle to arrive. We had all finished eating before the waffle was presented.

For dessert, I chose the crème brulee.

I don’t think I’ve ever had bad crème brulee.

Overall the food at Paris Bistro was a little touch and go, and the service was spotty. I think there are better French places in Orlando for better prices.

However, next door to Paris Bistro is Le Macaron, a traditional French pastry shop with traditional French macarons. After our mediocre breakfast, Le Macaron was such a saving grace. French macarons are different from American macaroons. The French versions are like little buttery, flakey cookie sandwiches with just a bit of cream in the center.

I bought a box of assorted flavors, including pistachio, white chocolate basil, butter pecan and raspberry.

They’re a little pricey for such small, delicate cookies, but they really do taste like bites of heaven. They’re now a favorite splurge of mine. It’s okay to eat two desserts after brunch, right?

What is your favorite French food?

Celebrating 27

Yesterday (on 10/11/12!) I turned 27 years old—crazy. My birthday snuck up on me this year. I have been so busy preparing for the wedding and working a lot that it just didn’t feel like it should already be mid-October and my birthday season. The company I work for gives a birthday holiday, so I took yesterday off work and decided to take today off as well for an extra long birthday weekend. Kevin also took the two days off, and it was wonderful to spend the time with him.

My birthday started off spectacularly with a trip to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte then we were off to the courthouse to get our marriage license! It was a quick and easy process, and now all we need is for our officiant to sign the document on our big day.

After “getting married,” we headed out to lunch with Parko to take advantage of not being at work on a gorgeous Thursday.

We headed to Anthony’s in Thornton Park and sat outside. There was such a nice breeze, and it finally felt a little like October. We started out with an order of zucchini fries.

They were a little on the salty side, but the zucchini inside was delicious.

I ordered the two-slice lunch special with meatball pizza. Kevin ordered two slices of Sicilian pepperoni.

 

It was great to spend the afternoon with my boys. I really wanted to keep this year’s birthday low key. Things have been very hectic, so it was nice to slow down and just enjoy a relaxing day.

Later that evening Kevin took me out for an amazing dinner at Chez Vincent in Winter Park. It is an upscale, traditional French restaurant. The ambiance was so nice and I really just wanted to enjoy my birthday and my evening out with Kevin, so I didn’t take any photos. But I did enjoy a glass of red wine, the majority of a bread basket with three different types of butter, escargot in garlic butter sauce, rack of lamb with blue cheese sauce and a chocolate raspberry soufflé. Kevin ordered their filet mignon topped with peppercorns and a cognac sauce and partook in the soufflé. It was a very romantic evening, and the food was so mouthwatering.

I’m so excited that I still have two more days of freedom ahead! 26 was such a wonderful year full of wedding planning, taking my GMAT and lots of house projects to continue to build our home. I can’t wait to see what 27 brings. I have a feeling it will be my best year yet.

Les Petits Pleasures

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love all the savory dishes. I’m just terrible at waking up for breakfast. Yes, I’m 26 years old and still need for force myself to wake up at a respectable time. This is precisely why places that serve breakfast late or all day are my favorite kinds of places.

Les Petits Pleasures in College Park is a small bakery and French diner that serves breakfast all day and week (except they are closed Tuesdays) in addition to lunch and dinner offerings. Their prices are very reasonable, and as an added bonus, the French chefs can be heard singing in French from the kitchen.

Kevin and I stopped by for a late breakfast a couple weekends ago. It’s  a small quick-service restaurant with limited seating and decorated in quaint and cozy French decor. Kevin and I each ordered a croissant in addition to our breakfasts because we had heard such good things about them.

It did not disappoint. From the outside, it looks like any typical croissant, but this was extremely buttery with a perfectly flakey outside and chewy and doughy inside. I would love to grab a bunch one morning just to have at the house. They also offer many other pastries, including chocolate croissants and bear claws.

They are a small establishment that can get very busy and backed up, so it took a little longer than anticipated for our food to come out. We happily munched on our croissants while we waited.

Kevin ordered their French toast, which he really enjoyed.

I ordered the croque madame, a ham, cheese and béchamel sandwich that is grilled then topped with a fried egg. The yolk drips all over the sandwich making every bit extra creamy and savory. It came with a side salad.

My sandwich was very filling and very delicious. Les Petits pleasures offers many types of sandwiches (including breakfast sandwiches), omelets, crepes, quiches and great coffee.

This may give me more reason to be excited about waking up early for breakfast.

Are you a naturally early riser? I could probably sleep all day if nothing woke me up.

Dylan’s Deli

Kevin and I both took today off work so we headed off to the gym together then set out to grab some lunch. We went to Dylan’s Deli, a newish restaurant in Winter Park just down the road from The Ravenous Pig.

It’s a small sandwich shop with a pretty big menu. They serve up a variety of French food, and their menu mostly consists of crepes, sandwiches and paninis.

I started off with their house salad, which was chopped romaine, sliced almonds, onions, tomatoes and pear vinaigrette dressing.

The salad was good but nothing special. I really enjoyed that they weren’t skimpy on the onions, but my breath definitely paid for it.

I ordered a half order of their smoked salmon sandwich. All of their sandwiches are served on French baguettes, which was really good. The bread was fresh, warm and buttery.

There are fewer breads that I appreciate more than a warm French baguette. My sandwich came loaded with smoked salmon, feta cheese and caramelized onions. The half sandwiches are 6” and the whole are 12”. Half was plenty, and the sandwich prices were very reasonable. My sandwich cost $6 for all that smoked salmon.

Kevin ordered the beef brisket sandwich (with no cheese).

I could smell all the seasoning on the beef. He really enjoyed it.

Dylan’s Deli is definitely not the fanciest of places, but the food is really good and one of the better sandwiches I’ve had. I can’t wait to return to try a crepe.

They just opened a Lululemon store in our local mall, The Mall at Millenia, and Lululemon recently announced their newly designed tote bags that say “Who is John Galt?” This is a prominent quote from my favorite book, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Obviously, I knew what I had to do.

One new jacket later, and I got the bag! I probably could have just asked them nicely for the bag and received it, but it’s always nice to have an excuse to buy some Lululemon merchandise.

Have you every read Atlas Shrugged?

What’s your favorite type of bread?