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Why the soup has no description on the card, and what goes on the slip instead
Every other row on the card commits to something. The croque is the croque; the lentil salad has been the lentil salad since the…
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Forty croissants
The dough for Wednesday is started on Monday. It spends a night in the cold, takes three folds of butter on Tuesday, spends a…
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The last of the market tomatoes
There is a fortnight every September when the tomatoes coming off the tables at the market are better than anything the kitchen could do…
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Thirty-four seats
The room holds thirty-four people and there is no version of it that holds forty. We have measured. Four of the tables clear seventy…
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The terrace comes in
Twelve chairs go out under the awning at the beginning of May and come in again in the middle of October, and for those…
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Two coffees at a time
One espresso and one filter, both from a roaster four streets away, and each stays on until the bag runs out — usually a…
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Opening hours are a promise
A door that is shut when the page says open costs more goodwill than an hour of trading is worth, so the hours on…
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What the tape is for
There is a roll of paper tape by the till, a pencil, and a stack of yellow slips cut from the end of a…