My Bakery Gourmandise = A taste and appreciation for fine food

Isaac has said more than once that when I die he will go to Gourmandise to sit on the patio, order a sandwich and remember me.  I respond, that's a good idea because after I die I will definitely be there if I have any say in it at all.  I have been frequenting my favorite cafe for as long as I can remember.  But I guess the committed relationship with Gourmandise began in 2000 when I graduated from college and moved back to SLC and lived downtown with my sister in the Covey apartments on South Temple.  I worked on 300 South and enjoyed life mostly within that 3 block radius.  Liz and I would go together a lot and we began to be friends with 2 sisters from Mexico who were waitresses there.  Well, that was 10 years ago and there is just one sister still waitressing there.  Whenever I go in she says hello and asks me how the kids are doing. 

The menu and atmosphere have changed slightly over the years, but the quality of Jean Jacques food is consistent.  Once I went there on a date with a guy who had been on his mission to France.  He knew Jean Jacques (owner and head chef and baker) and I nearly fell in love and proposed to this guy on the spot I was so impressed.  Fortunately that did not happen and now I can go there with Isaac, who may not speak French but he has grown to love the turkey bacon club. 

The perfect order for me consists of lemon rice soup (Saturdays only) with a wheat or rye roll and lots of their amazing butter.  Next comes the Greek pasta salad mixed with the green salad with French vinaigrette dressing.  And after that comes the fresh fruit - amazing blueberries, raspberries, strawberries.  Followed by a walk around the pastry counter as I pretend to contemplate something other than the choice I know I will make - a chocolate covered macaroon.  Depending on how indulgent I feel I also get a tiramisu cup to take home and eat later. 

I told Isaac this Saturday that I have no need for France.  As long as Jean Jacques is alive and well here in SLC there is nothing that France can offer me.  I've already seen their museums, beaches, churches etc.  how many times?  I don't even remember.  I was an art history major and spending time roaming around France was a large part of my life for several years.  And although France is lovely, I am perfectly content to stay here as long as Gourmandise will have me.