Nicole’s Gourmet Imports, South Pasadena
I can’t believe I’ve never blogged about this shop/cafe before as it’s one of J and my favorite places. It used to be more of a gourmet shop and catering company more than anything else, but over the last couple of years it’s evolved into those two things combined with a café which serves lovely French sandwiches, among other yummies.
Nicole’s is truly a gem- it has almost everything you need to throw an impromptu dinner party-. Hunks of foie gras mousse pate, packets of duck confit, boxes of exotic crackers, a beautiful selection of cheeses, ready-made mini and full sized savory or sweet tart shells, bottles of fruity olive oil all line the shelves and I never, ever tire of walking through the small shop looking at it all. The prices are extremely reasonable as well.
J and I will often ride our bikes to Nicole’s and order our favorites- the smoked chicken sandwich and a plate of her farro salad- grab a couple of glasses of rosé , sit outside and enjoy the quaint cuteness that is South Pasadena. What better way is there to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon? I certainly can’t think of anything!
If you haven’t had a chance to go, I highly recommend you check it out. In addition to the sandwiches, she has at least five varieties of salads in the deli case as well as some of the best prosciutto I’ve ever eaten. Got a sweet tooth? Wait til you get a load of the lemon tarts, pain au chocolat and a seriously drool-inducing apple tart tatin.
So this will be my last post for a bit as I am off to Bogota, Buenos Aires and Santiago for 10 days, following my husband's band who is touring there. It's my first trip to South America and I am very excited to see what I've heard are some of the most beautiful areas of the world! I will definitely try to post while I am there but I'm not taking my computer so I'm not sure how much access I'll have to one. If not, expect a lot of South America posts upon my return!
Nicoles Gourmet Imports
921 Meridian Avenue, Unit B
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(although the website says they are closed Sundays, they recently started opening for brunch and are actually open until 3:00 PM)
4 comments:
Tokio girl I need to know where you are going to stay here in Santiago to make how we meet if you like. My mail is gloriadelpilar_1994@yahoo.com
Phone home 56-02-8551768 if you call from Buenos Aires or other place. I wait by your response.
Sorry if I dont undertsna well but if is true I speak English Im a little slow in understand. Gloria
So glad you finally wrote about Nicole's, and I agree with you it is a GEM. I was very lucky to have had the opportunity to work there. And let me tell you that I had every opportunity to try "everything" at that shop well almost everything, after all I did have to pay rent...LOL. I especially like it when she got a new Wine and we tried to pare it with just the right Cheese. Oh what a difficult job it was...hehe. It is so difficult to be disiplined in an environment like that, especially if you love food as much as I do. I think the thing I miss the most there is the Lentle Salad one of my favorites to have with a Salami Sandwich. But I do go in from time to time and every time I do its as if I have never left.
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Looks like so yummy. And as you say that it's good for impromptu dinner party. That's great!
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