Where’s the best place to get a ginger cookie with apricot jam after surgery, you ask? Why, that’d be Chloe’s French Café, behind Sutter Medical Center in Santa Rosa. Hard to find but worth the trek, this bustling cafe serves French-inspired lunch and fantastic pastries.
Don’t underestimate the simple croissant, which is done to absolute perfection here. Richer and flakier than even Mitt Romney, this crescent-shaped wonder could win the hearts of voters in every state. The other pastries change throughout the season, which is ideal. For fall, one such offering is the ginger cookie with apricot jam and bits of candied orange. The flavor is just right—chewy and sweet, with a hint of autumn’s bitterness.
Chloe’s lunch cures the random French food craving better than any other place in town. The croque-monsieur is a menu staple, and the rotating crêpe du jour last week was lemon chicken with Gruyère on a light, unobtrusive buckwheat crêpe. The accompanying salad was marvelous and huge, filled with a multitude of greens, bell peppers, carrot slices and tomato chunks. After going under the knife, or just being told to “turn your head and cough,” Chloe’s is a great way to feel whole again.
Chloe’s French Café, 3883 Airway Drive, Ste. 145, Santa Rosa. 707.528.3095.
