quick bite: Cafe Sauvage

February 18, 2023

I shouldn’t tell you about Café Sauvage. It is small and already too crowded. There is no place to wait and you have to stand outside in the cold while you hope for a table. You don’t want to do that. It doesn’t matter how charming it is. It doesn’t matter that the food is always incredible. It doesn’t matter that sitting inside you feel just a little bit like you might be in another country. None of that matters to you because trust me, you will have to wait in the cold.

Fine. So you are going to go. You are going to make my wait longer. I never wait for food but here, I will wait in the cold or the heat, maybe even the rain, because it is that good. Today when we went at 1:45 the wait was about half an hour, but when we left around three o’clock there was none. The space is small with just about a dozen tables and several seats along the counter. You sit close to your neighbor like you would in a typical Parisian cafe. It’s a hectic, busy place, particularly at brunch.

The menu is eclectic but French. I am usually there for that hectic brunch, though the dinner menu is calling me too. I particularly love the croque madame with a beautiful egg and decadent mornay sauce. Also amazing was the duck eggs benedict. Instead of an english muffin, they use hashbrowns (think McDonalds style) and top them with duck confit, two poached eggs, hollandaise, and arugula.

I’ve also had the banh mi, a not so traditional French sandwich and the onion soup, as traditional as it gets. Both were very good and worth getting again. Don’t skip their breads. They have croissants of course, but also banana bread and apple turnovers. My favorite however is their “Butter Tartines & Jam” which is just grilled baguette with butter and jam, but it’s so much better than the toast you get anywhere else.

I really like Café Sauvage, enough to find parking, endure the wait, and brave the weather. When they first opened they didn’t have a liquor license, but now they do which means enjoying a mimosa with my brunch. They also have a French night where they only speak French. I kinda want to try that, but really don’t know if my French is good enough. No matter, I’ll keep going back because so far it’s très bien.