La Francaise, a French bakery and café, has been in a shopping center at Audelia and Kingsley for about 15 years.
It is time to rediscover this bakery. Try dropping by in the early morning to partake of a fresh croissant. They are authentic.
You won’t have to take out a bank loan to pay for them. They are reasonably priced at 80 cents for plain, $1.20 for chocolate and $1.35 for almond. The Brioche and apple turnover are musts.
If you are around for lunch, try their soup du jour, which is served with fresh French bread for $2.50. Onion soup is standard on the menu for $2.75.
You might be tempted by their Caesar Salad, $2.75 for the small or $3.50 for the large. Or perhaps the Crab salad for $3.75.
You can satisfy your sweet tooth by sampling their pastries. The chocolate éclairs are sinful and hard to resist.
So remember La Francaise at 105 Lake Highlands Plaza at Kingsley and Audelia. It is the parent store to the La Francaise at 6333 E. Mockingbird. The mother store is opened weekdays from 7 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturday from 7 a.m.-4 p.m.
As long as we are talking foreign cuisine, let’s talk about Middle Eastern in the form of Ali Baba Café on Lower Greenville. It is an adventure.
Ali Baba is a small building that doesn’t much look like a restaurant at all, but once you enter that plain brick-and-glass front, you open the door to a full, busy little restaurant with good smells in its kitchen.
Vegetarians will take delight in their menu. There are falafel plates, which are fried chick peas served with humus and pickles and olives. The tabouli is authentic and tasty.
Good lamb and beef dishes also are available. All the wonderful food comes to us for very reasonable price; I think the most expensive price is $7.95.
So take your taste buds on a trip to France or to the Middle East – our neighborhoods have it all.
Ali Baba, 1905 Greenville, 823-8235, is open for lunch daily from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., for dinner Monday through Thursday from 5:30-9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5:30-10 p.m.
