La Petite Provence

I have heard so much about La Petite Provence and their amazing pastries. Today we finally got to try it. We met up with Maya and Michael, a cute couple who's about to get married, at the Alberta location. There's also another one in the city on Division street.

The place is very French. But I heard that the Division one is more so. Before you walk in the restaurant, you'd be enticed by all the breads lining the rack by the window. Once inside, things get a little overwhelming. We got there a few minutes before 9am. The entire side of the restaurant is lined with display cases full of freshly made pastry, cakes, cookies and more.

The line hasn't started forming. It's rare for popular Portland brunch places to not have a long line by 9am. It might have something to do with the fact that Petite Provence opens at 7am on weekends. We were seated promptly. Most dishes comes with either a toast or a butter croissant. Somehow everyone at the table chose croissant. This place is known for their french style pastries. It's surprisingly light, crusty on the outside and amazingly soft on the inside. It's not overwhelmingly buttery (so it must be healthier, my brain is trying to justify it). Each croissant came with a small cup of berry jam. Not sure what kind of jam it was. But it took the croissant to another level.

The food came quickly. We had three egg dishes at the table. Jose order a smoke salmon hash topped with a egg. Maya and Michael both got fresh fruit on the side, while Jose and I went with heavier stuff. You start to care less once you're married. My La Petite Provence omelet was light but full of flavor. There's bacon, spinach and mushroom stuff inside the egg. The potato and butternut squash side was very nicely cooked as well. I had a couple bites of Jose's salmon hash and it was very well done.

La Petite Provence omelet

Salmon hash

We didn't eat anything ground breaking, except for maybe the croissant. Everything was well executed for what it is. Meeting friends for a pleasant brunch at a spacious Frenchy restaurant without having to wait for two hours makes for a great weekend.