Cafe Jolie est Très Bon

And that concludes this week's Moment of Remedial French. A much better French-like experience can be had at on the West End. It's true - I still frequent restaurants that don't truck their food to the South Shore parking lot - and so glad that I do.

In the mood for something other than buttertastic hashed browns one morning, we ventured west and saw that Cafe Jolie was open. In the location where Tillie's Diner once was (which closed a few years ago), we'd seen remodeling going on for some time and wondered what was going to be there... Cafe Jolie finally opened up a couple of months ago. It's a lovely little French bistro serving coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch.

We enjoyed hot 'bowls' of delicious coffee (even the decaf is good) and a delightful breakfast. My spinach and mushroom omelet was excellent, with tasty potatoes and whole grain toast. Husband had the french toast and it was gone in a flash. Egg orders come with small, individual ketchup & hot sauce bottles - très cute.

We took home a couple of croissants and vowed to return for the beignets, which we did just last Saturday. The half order is enough for at least two people and quite good, as most fried dough products usually are. I also had a couple of eggs & chicken sausage. Everything was good but my "over medium" eggs were "over hardish," so there may be a few kinks yet to work out.

The service is great - attentive and friendly - and if you get there early you won't have to wait too long for a table. Both times we've been it fills up quickly with people waiting outside. There's a patio, though with our foggy mornings it's probably only comfortable for lunch. They're open from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. (all week) with street parking and there's a small lot on Santa Clara just past the Sunshine Cleaners.

Bon apetit!

Cafe Jolie
1500 Webster Street
Telephone: 510-523-4500