La Madeleine

Restaurant Review

Anecdotes & Analysis

A French engineer opened this chain of French-style bakeries in Dallas, from which it spread here. It has succeeded mightily: the breads in particular are in wide demand, made as they are in the real French style (in contrast with the much lighter New Orleans French bread) and baked in a wood-burning oven. The main bakery is here in the historic Lower Pontalba building, which has serious French Quarter charm (how could it not, here on a corner of Jackson Square?). The restaurant aspect of La Madeleine has always struck me as less good, principally because it's so much like every other chain out there. By that I mean that they've created a convincing theme and surroundings to match. The food has French bistro names, but it's so highly Americanized that it's embarrassing to anyone who's actually experienced the kind of French boulangerie they're trying to recap here. La Madeleine peaks at breakfast. Later in the day they make soups, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, and a few French-cafe-style plate specials, which range from okay to pretty good. Self-service, mostly. The big problem in all of the La Madeleines I've been to is that the effort to clean up tables for the next customers is not up to the job, and it's happened to me more than once that I had my pick of a dozen or more dirty tables but no clean ones.

Backstory

A French engineer opened this chain of French-style bakeries in Dallas, from which it spread here. It has succeeded mightily: the breads in particular are in wide demand, made as they are in the real French style (in contrast with the much lighter New Orleans French bread) and baked in a wood-burning oven. The main bakery is here in the historic Lower Pontalba building, which has serious French Quarter charm (how could it not, here on a corner of Jackson Square?). The restaurant aspect of La Madeleine has always struck me as less good, principally because it's so much like every other chain out there. By that I mean that they've created a convincing theme and surroundings to match. The food has French bistro names, but it's so highly Americanized that it's embarrassing to anyone who's actually experienced the kind of French boulangerie they're trying to recap here. La Madeleine peaks at breakfast. Later in the day they make soups, salads, pizzas, sandwiches, and a few French-cafe-style plate specials, which range from okay to pretty good. Self-service, mostly. The big problem in all of the La Madeleines I've been to is that the effort to clean up tables for the next customers is not up to the job, and it's happened to me more than once that I had my pick of a dozen or more dirty tables but no clean ones.