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La Gourmandine
Bringing Paris to Pittsburgh
Posted: Dec. 7, 2011
By Jessie Cadle
Photo by Heather Mull

I gingerly fork into the individual mousse cake, an intricately decorated parfait au chocolat, with pieces of gold on top. I fall head-over-heels. It features an almost bitter-sweet chocolate, more of a dark chocolate or mocha-y taste. The cake is less rich and more decadent.

I’m at La Gourmandine, the tiny bakery café that delivers a slice of homemade French food and French culture to Lawrenceville. The Moreau couple, both raised in Paris, run the shop in typical French fashion, from atmosphere to baked goods.

They offer croissants, not scones, and mousse cakes, not cupcakes, explains Lisanne Moreau, a petite woman with a wide smile. They also have viennoiserie (similar to puff pastries), like pain au chocolat, and savory soups and sandwiches (laden with butter, all of them).

Lisanne considers herself to be a savory girl, while her husband, Fabien, is the head baker with an obvious sweet tooth. Fabien trained at the famous Culinary Institute LeNôtre in Paris, and it clearly paid off, I think to myself as I dive into one of his favorite pastries, a Paris-Brest: a dollop of hazelnut cream oozes from between two flakey pastries topped off with thinly sliced nuts and powdered sugar. It’s like a biting into heaven for me (hazelnut is my favorite flavor).

Lisanne prefers lemon, specifically the tartelette au Citron, a pastry full of creamy citrus. She also prefers her job working the cash register and talking with customers to baking like her husband. She points to one man as he leaves and whispers, “He’s here most every day” and smiles.

In Paris, she worked in Public Relations so the transition was simple. Fabien, however, was in the army and then an accountant before entering the bakery business.

When the couple came to America in 2006, they wanted to open their own business. While they originally intended to open a restaurant, they opted instead for a bakery and pastry shop due to Fabien’s love for baking.

The atmosphere is quiet and simple, with a few black rod iron tables for sitting. The only non-French concession they made is the coffee they offer from La Prima Espresso on the Strip. Also, most French bakeries don’t offer coffee or places to sit, Lisanne concedes, but the couple had to Americanize in this small way to serve their customers.

I am thankful for a place to sit and watch the steady hum of customers that enter the bakery and speak French with Lisanne, but I take two more pastries and a baguette to go. The next day, I make a sandwich of my baguette and pack it for lunch. And I feel a little French as I do so.

La Gourmandine, 4605 Butler Street. LAWRENCEVILLE. lagourmandinebakery.com.