The Many Faces of French Restaurants

Just as tacos have become synonymous with Mexican cuisine, and tapas with Spanish food, hearty meats in sauces like duck l’orange and escargot in garlic butter were, for a long time, the face of French food in North America.

by DIANA NG

Legendary chefs like the late Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon set the standard for what French cuisine should be, and what diners aspired to splurge on.

For those who yearn for a more casual dining experience, French dining means cafes, bistros, and brasseries, between which you can often find similar menus all with an eclectic mix of dishes with globally-inspired flavours, and spices far from traditional French flavours.

For a cuisine so historic, so well established, so important that it has become the standard for chefs’ training everywhere, that is such a significant contribution to Western cuisine as a whole, there seems to be so little understanding of its defining characteristics and structure, with the categories of French restaurants often muddied and rather meaningless.

Nothing prevents a restaurateur from opening Joe’s Bistro and serving British food in dim sum baskets, save for the fear of failure and embarrassment.

In addition to misnomers, a blanket misconception about French food is that it’s heavy, where every meal is a multi-course display of excess.

“When you leave the table after dinner, you shouldn’t feel like you’re full and ate too much, which might be the secret of enjoying gastronomy,” says Anthony Bertrand, director of Alliance Française and Honorary Consul in Edmonton.

With so many different modern interpretations of French cuisine, it’s a good time to take a look at the roots, evolution and examples of various categories.

Cafés

Perhaps the most common Frenchstyle restaurant, and the first to be incorporated into the North American lexicon, cafes are small, laid-back restaurants that primarily serve coffee, beer and wine, and light meals.

Those in Edmonton who want to take a trip to France via their taste buds can head to Café Bicyclette – one of Bertrand’s favourites in the city’s French Quarter – for Croque Monsieur and quiche.

And for Calgarians, Vendome Café offers a range of sandwiches, salads and breakfast dishes that please.

Bistros

Born out of humble beginnings, Bistros are believed to have started from room and board apartments in Paris where landlords opened up their kitchens to the public. A stark contrast to the haute cuisine served in high-end restaurants and hotels, bistros were typified by chalkboard or verbally given menus, a sense of coziness, and home-style cooking like cassoulets and stews.

Bistros were typified by chalkboard or verbally given menus

Over time, bistros have evolved to include restaurants of a wider range, that are still cozy and personal, but with chefs who work with high quality, seasonal ingredients.

In 2004, food writer Sebastien Demorand introduced the term bistronomie (a combination of bistro and gastronomie) to describe a new class of restaurants, “neo-bistros” set in more refined spaces and focused on freshness, while retaining an agile and relaxed personality.

Calgary’s Cassis Bistro and Edmonton’s Normand’s Bistro are great examples of modern bistros that are inviting and casual, with seasonal menus and local ingredients that reflect the sense of place and time.

“One place I like a lot for the service in the European fashion is Bistro Praha,” says Bertrand. “Plus the food there reminds me of some eastern restaurants in France, like in Strasbourg.”

Brasserie

Rooted in the beer-making culture in Europe in the 1800s, brasseries (French for breweries) have become much more than just a place for suds.

Brasseries have become much more than just a place for suds

A marked difference between brasseries and bistros is the brasserie’s enduring menu selection, compared to the more seasonal and transitory menus of bistros.

Over the years, brasseries have become big open restaurants known for singledish menu staples like moules frites, steak frites and steak au poivre.

In the heart of Calgary’s bustling 17 Avenue, Royale Brasserie is a great example of this restaurant style, offering classics as well as Canadian interpretations, like smoked Alberta lamb.

Creperie

Need a loaf of sourdough or a stick of baguette? Skip the grocery store and head to a boulangerie instead.

While typical bakeries include all kinds of baked goods, from bread to pies and cakes, boulangeries are dedicated

to bread – croissants, brioche, baguettes and the like – with limited selection of other foods.

Patisserie

Whether it’s for a pain au chocolat in the morning, a macaron for a midday pick-me-up, or a cake for a special occasion, a patisserie is the destination when the craving strikes for something sweet.

For some of the most beautiful and delicious cakes, canelés, and macarons in Calgary, make your way to Yann Haute Patisserie, where the goods are as much a treat for the eyes as they are for the palate.

Those in Edmonton with a sweet tooth can likely spend a good part of the afternoon at Duchess Bake Shop (another favourite of Bertrand’s) perusing its selection of desserts and complementary goods.

Diana Ng is a co-founder of Eat North and freelance writer who will eat your food when you’re not looking.