Ten years ago, Mireille Guiliano published the book “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” detailing the secrets of how the French regularly consume three-course meals replete with breads, pastries and alcohol without transitioning to elastic waistbands.
As it turns out, those secrets really aren’t so classified. Strategies include the types of advice you’ve long heard: maintaining balance, indulging in moderation, eating slowly to recognize satiety and incorporating exercise into your daily life. Guiliano also coaches readers to develop a mindset that allows eating for pleasure without guilt (or excess) in order to satisfy those cravings.
Want to put those strategies to the test? Consider these local French bakeries and cafes. Do American women in French cafes get fat?
At these places? This one does.
Le Triskell Creperie
This Buckhead creperie can be tricky to spot as you drive down Roswell Road. Just look for the French flag outside the Tuxedo Atrium. Once inside, you’ll find a small unassuming shop that serves as home base for bustling business from walk-in customers, catering orders and the restaurant’s food truck, Crepe Suzette.
Husband-and-wife team and French natives Michele and Rose-Marie Knopfler opened the cafe five years ago and have been joined by their two daughters for a true family-run operation.
The cafe serves a variety of salads and sandwiches like the classic Le Parisien, a buttered baguette with thin slices of ham, Swiss and cornichons. You’ll also find a case of take-home casseroles and an assortment of tarts. All are worth sampling, but the real draw here is the made-to-order crepes, delicate with golden lacy patches.
Start with one of the galettes, the traditional gluten-free savory crepes made with buckwheat flour. L’Alpine, filled with goat cheese and spinach, is the shop’s best-seller, but you can’t go wrong with La Complete, folded with deli ham and Swiss and topped with an over-easy egg to spread about. Also consider La Pacifique, a tangy smoked salmon, cream cheese, lemon and dill filled crepe.
As you finish your savory selection, your afternoon sweet will be prepared. For dessert, indulge in a salted caramel or chocolaty Nutella crepe. At breakfast, you may prefer the gently scented lemon citron crepe or the confiture with strawberry or apricot jam.
7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturdays. 3833 Roswell Road, Atlanta. 404-814-8208. $.
Le Bistro
The recently opened Le Bistro sits in the heart of Roswell, above its sister store Roswell Provisions. The restaurant, once known as Party Chic, merged with the owners’ Roswell home decor store and downstairs market to become a cohesive unit under one roof.
Le Bistro’s stylings combine the charm of the original architectural features of the building with French country and shabby chic accents. You can shop while you eat here since everything you see is for sale. You’ll also find a small gift store at the back of the restaurant.
With Le Bistro came a more focused French menu designed by co-owner Cyril Blacha, a native of Cannes, France, and former owner of Roswell’s Pastis restaurant. Items include quiches, crepes, sandwiches and salads. On Fridays and Saturdays, look for a heartier daily special like the beef bourguignon.
Your best bites will be the salads like the tuna nicoise, a cast-iron skillet loaded with mixed greens, fresh green beans, boiled egg quarters, cold potatoes and well-seasoned slices of tuna. You could also make a meal of the Salade Bleu Poire, an ample serving of greens with poached pear halves, blue cheese, spiced walnuts and a peppy blackberry dressing. Pair it with a satisfyingly simple French dip with slow roasted beef and horseradish cream.
For dessert, you could opt for one of the signature KellyKakes cupcakes or explore the menu of profiteroles, sweet crepes and apple tarts. I’d choose the latter.
By day, you’ll find Le Bistro playing host to ladies’ luncheons and the occasional family. But by night, you’ll find it transitioning to accommodate the Roswell nightlife with children politely excused from the premises at 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and a classic cocktail menu.
Noon-5 p.m. Sundays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturdays. 955 Canton St., Roswell. 678-682-8669, www.roswellprovisions.com. $-$$.
Collet French Pastry Cafe
This little shop sits in a small development at the corner of Haynes Bridge Road and Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta. From the moment you enter, you’ll feast your eyes on the bakery case full of colorful macarons and other pastries and baskets loaded with croissants, turnovers and danishes.
At lunchtime, the day’s menu might include a butternut squash soup, chicken pot pie, assorted quiches and croque monsieur sandwiches filled with creamy sauce. And while it isn’t advertised, the panini sandwiches can be made using gluten-free bread for dining partners with allergies.
You’ll have to join a lengthy line to get lunch and accept brusque service, but you’ll do so for the steaming cascade of chicken pot pie erupting from hollow pastry shells and flaky almond croissants. Try eating here in moderation.
8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. 2225 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta. 678-770-6066. $.
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