La Madeleine

Has anyone been to a La Madeleine? They are mostly in the south, especially in Texas. I had been to a few here and there over the years and found them to be pretty good.

Recently, I visited one in Lafayette, La that is supposedly full scale. Wow, the place was surprisingly beautiful for a franchise. The food, pastries and coffee are good and they do breakfast all day. There are nice French touches such as a "bonjour" greeting, and a Basic French lesson over a speaker in the bathroom which, by the way, was upscale.

Anyway, this is the type of franchise, in my view, that actually adds something to the scene.

[Robin Garr]

You know, this goes back to the '90s, long before Katrina, but I remember going to a really nice place called La Madeleine for a croissant brunch in New Orleans. That's a long gap, so I have no idea if they're connected or just a confluence of names, but there you have it.

I probably went to the same one around the same time in New Orleans!.....I see that there are only 80 of them and 50 are in Texas. So there are about 30 elsewhere. I went to one in Houston years ago that was smaller scaled for quicker service, but good nonetheles. I was so impressed with the one in Lafayette that I actually ate there more than once. It was my morning go-to place for my 5 days, and then grabbing various etouffees and gumbos and things of that sort (and even a paella) later on in the day.

I don't think that's the same place, unless they really adapted hard to the New Orleans market.

The La Madeleine chain is more like a French-themed Panera (but, like, older Panera before private equity tanked them). Quite good soups, sandwiches, etc, from what I remember visiting ones in the DC area when I lived there 20 years ago.

https://lamadeleine.com/