French Market Cafe - Venice

Okay, so what if the French don't eat this kinda stuff for breakfast? At the French Market Cafe you get the best of both worlds. That is, French flavor with big American portions. And when I mean big portion, I only mean something that's bigger than a croissant.

The cafe has a patio deck which by 10 am fills up with a lot of French-speaking people. (A good indicator of authenticity?) Inside is a small area with fresh baked breads on one side and cheese and chilled beverages on the other. The middle of the room holds shelves of random goodies: wine, chocolate, olive oil, cookies, Nutella, you name it. It has a general store-kinda feel where no more than 10 people can fit. All they need is a shelf for shaving cream.

The other charming thing about this place is that you place your food order with the cashier who will then relay the information in French to the guy behind the cheese and coffee counter. Then you sort of stand around with your arms crossed to let people through. I used the down-time to search for a patio table in the shade.

Aside from the open-faced sandwich, above, I've only tried their Swiss cheese (excellent!) and their baguette which stays fresh for an entire day and a half before turning rock solid (no preservatives!). I'm very impressed with their food so far, but I definitely need to return for their camembert, oh and maybe their Nutella spread. Gotta love that stuff.

French Market Café
2321 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 577-9775