My quest for the perfect coffee, and Aicha's quest for the perfect croissant may have ended today. Rue Lafayette, a cafe nestled in Lafayette Square provided a taste of real French pastry. Araceli and her staff are very friendly (and we love Francois!). I ordered a large latte and was rewarded with-- not a diluted latte-- but a hefty amount of espresso for the size ordered. What I mean is this: most coffee shops, when you order a large, give you the exact same amount of espresso as the medium size. This means you get more milk with just 2 shots of espresso like the medium (diluted flavor, basically). But at Rue Lafayette, a large means 4 shots of espresso! Needless to say, it was good (ranking it somewhere in my top 3 favorite lattes in St. Louis).
Now the pastry: Aicha found her croissant. All over town we have been searching. So far, QT was the best croissant we had found (QT has a better croissant then Bread Co, believe it or not). But Rue Lafayette's croissant consists of an imported dough straight from France and made fresh every day. Having grown up in
Pillsbury Land, I discovered that I've been ignorant to what a real croissant is supposed to taste like, until today. How can something taste richer than a Krispy Kreme doughnut and not be as sweet? I think the key is real French butter. But being the plebeian that I am of such things, my wife could tell you better than I. All I know is that after being completely filled to the brim with quiche and latte, I polished off the croissant and pain au chocolat in no time. Now my dreams of afternoon errand running are surrendering to the stronger desire for an afternoon snooze.
So whether you like a good cup of coffee or a nice sweet bread, this is where you want to find yourself in St. Louis:
http://www.ruelafayette.us/
