French in Detroit

Mediterranean-inspired menu including: main course salads, gourmet pizzas, pastas, gourmet signature sandwiches and Bistro Favorites.

Nice french-style pastisserie. Everything is made on the premises. There are several café-type chairs available indoors. Serving Stucci's ice cream and frozen yogurt.

French cooking, and a nationally recognized wine list. The menu is brief and well-focused. Mushroom soup is a specialty. Salads and about a half dozen main courses.

Brian Polcyn’s stylish bistro, situated on the unlikely east side of Woodward Avenue, is on the ground floor of a new multi-use, especially “green,” three-story building created by prize-winning architect Victor Saroki. The handsome, long, narrow room, with huge windows and a bustling open kitchen, seats only 65 at its white-clothed tables and lively bar. Starters include a hearty bowl of French onion soup ($8), thick with onions and melted cheese, and the charcuterie du jour platter ($18), with exquisite smoked meats, sturdy housemade mustard, and three choice mini-salads. The mains, most of which hover around $28, are anchored by an admirable steak-frites platter, with a thick strip rather than hanger or flat-iron steak, plus abundant skinny, crunchy fries. Another pleasing dish is the Berkshire pork loin, thin slices of meat, perhaps a little fatty, but nicely adorned with warm green apples and red cabbage, along with a cippolini onion, all of which rests gently in a subtle port-wine reduction. A mecca for oenophiles, almost all of the wines are not only available by the 5-ounce glass but also by the 2-ounce taste, which permits a good deal of experimentation, even for those doing the driving. As for dessert, it is difficult to pass up the warm chocolate cake, stuffed with chocolate mousse, which comes with contrapuntally cool vanilla-bean ice cream, pistachios and cherries.

Grapevine-wrapped pillars, classical background music and jeweled murals. Entrees prepared to order. Vegetable broth-based French onion soup, bay scallops poached in vermouth. Warm salad of duck confit and lobster. Pastries are beautiful to behold.

Your one-stop shop for cakes and pastries for all occassions. Specializing in custom orders, with no pre-made products. Every cake is made from scratch using only the finest fresh ingredients. You will be pleased with your cake, not just for it’s artistic design, but also for it’s delectable taste. We will also cater for special dietary requirements i.e. eggless cakes, organic ingredients, gluten free etc.

The Truant family thought long and hard before rebuilding after a near-disastrous fire. The results are stunning, with the old spot reborn in almost every detail from the carved woodwork in the dining room to the stainless steel kitchen. The food needed no improvement. Handmade pastas, the best veal Marsala around, as well as chicken and seafood dishes. The mostly Italian wine list is the perfect accompaniment and the service is friendly and correct at the same time.

The traditional French pancake gets an American treatment here. Each crêpe takes about two minutes or less, from first careful pouring to the moment it's handed to the customer. Biggest seller so far among the savories is the “Sarah.” “Vera” combines bacon and spinach with Boursin, and two other savories pile on Black Forest ham. For sweet crêpes, which are the majority, customers like the “Fay,” similar to a nonalcoholic Bananas Foster, plus pecans. When eating these creations on the go, neatness can be a problem. The safest technique to avoid the innards’ spilling out is to roll the crêpe up like a burrito, tucking in the corners if necessary. Feel free to call ahead for take-out orders. Call for reservations if your party is of six or more. One dollar off orders with a Detroit Film Theatre ticket stub, or with a student ID. Serves 50 different crêpes available, with a full expresso bar and Intelligentsia coffee. Open 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays.

When you go to La Cuisine, here’s what to do: Order a starter of foie gras (a feature, not a regular menu item). Although it’s not a huge portion, $18 Canadian is not really a lot for this taste sensation that everyone ought to try at least once in their lives. Bussed in from Quebec, it’s rich, rich, rich, yet melts-in-your-mouth. Served on butter-soaked toast with ladles of Madeira sauce that gild the lily.

A sophisticated European-style country inn restaurant whose dining room overlooks a brick-walled garden with a fountain, wood grill, terrace with tables and herbs, vegetables, fruit and grape trellis. Interior decor includes tiled and carpeted floors, terra cotta walls, tile murals and important art. The Lark was voted the best restaurant in America in the Conde Nast Traveler reader's poll, best restaurant in Detroit area in Gourmet magazine reader's polls, top-rated in Michigan by AAA, Mobil and Zagat survey. 850 wines earned Wine Spectator's best award of excellence.

Located in a beautiful old country farmhouse that is rumored to be Henry Ford's old foxhole, the Lord Fox offers an elegant atmosphere and entrées such as beef Wellington, veal Oscar, roast duckling and hazelnut whitefish. We also feature an extensive wine cellar, outdoor dining, and an intimate gazebo overlooking a stream. Banquet and private party facilities are also available.

Etched glass and marble are lavished on downtown's handsomest restaurant. Pure luxury all the way, with a completely upscale approach and a kitchen that makes virtually everything from scratch. The menu changes seasonally and is typified by such dishes as medallions of veal with Madeira sauce, rack of lamb, seafood en croute, and a pastry cart that is hard to resist. Excellent service is a hallmark of the 10-year-old restaurant that some said would not fly in Detroit. Opus One continues to prove them wrong. *****

Over-the-top detail in both decor and food sets this luxurious restaurant apart from the crowd. Chef Takashi Yagihashi, an import from Chicago, commands the crew in the huge, two-sided kitchen on the lower level, below the dramatic Victor Saroki-designed dining room where diners can be assured they are treating themselves to the area's most expensive restaurant. The a la carte menu is in a constant state of flux, as exotic ingredients ebb and flow.

Coffee, cakes, excellent sandwiches, desserts and delicious Zingerman's breads. Cigars and smoking room.