choux atelier
222 queen st. (just west of bank street), 343-988-3568,
choux-atelier.ca
choux atelier’s smoked salmon onigiri croissant.
jean levac
/
postmedia
open
:
daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
price
:
$6.99 for a smoked salmon onigiri croissant
a wise ottawa chef once told me to stick to ordering the obvious specialties at big chain restaurants rather than wander further afield on a menu.
this was her way of saying that when i went to boston pizza, i screwed up when i chose, and was disappointed by the big dipper steak sandwich.
but i disregarded her counsel this month and threw caution to the winds when i just had to have the smoked salmon onigiri croissant at choux atelier.
the wee downtown bakery, which opened last winter on queen street, is named after choux à la crème, the oh-so-crave-able french dough balls filled with flavoured cream.
if you want some of those puffy little sweet treats, choux atelier has you covered. on the menu there are choux both classic and inventive, including flavours such as premium vanilla, chocolate, vietnamese coffee (chef-owner ann nguyen is vietnamese), matcha, strawberry and cream, mango sticky rice and more.
but when i visited choux atelier, i was struck by a more savoury option. i couldn’t resist the superbly crisp, open-face croissant, a.k.a. a danish, which in denmark is called wienerbrød (vienna bread), as in les viennoiseries in france. thanks, austria!