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La Gourmandise Bistro on Main »
Address: 119 W. Main St Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 328-4405
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Around lunchtime on a rainy Thursday afternoon, I found myself in the French-European surroundings of La Gourmandise Bistro on Main Street in downtown Urbana. An artistic photo of the Eiffel Tower and a few Italian paintings adorned the yellow-gold and burnt-red walls of the small café, and if it weren’t for gloomy-skied Urbana out the window, I would’ve thought I was in a quaint Parisian sandwich and coffee shop. With only about 15 or so tables, La Gourmandise makes a nice setting for a light breakfast, lunch or afternoon coffee date.

It took me forever to decide what I wanted — the out-of-the-ordinary menu includes breakfast anytime, cold and hot sandwiches, homemade soups, salads and sides. In addition to all of that good stuff, La Gourmandise offers specialty coffee from Columbia Street Roastery, a local environmentally-conscious roastery.

After much deliberation between the roasted asparagus and prosciutto panini and the roasted chicken sandwich with balsamic cranberry relish on multigrain bread, I decided on the latter. The sandwich and a drink cost me a little over $8.

After ordering at the counter (and facing temptation from the yummy-looking desserts on display), I made a trip to the soda fountain and picked a seat. I waited about 10 minutes for my meal, and it was worthwhile.

My sandwich was a delicious combination of sweet and tangy. The chicken was warm and tastefully complemented by the sweet cranberry relish, which included nuts that added a delightful crunch. Tangy yellow mustard further highlighted the flavors, and a leaf of fresh lettuce topped it off. Although I would have liked a little more chicken on the sandwich, the sandwich was full of flavor and enjoyable.

Pete Schnabel, the owner of La Gourmandise, said the restaurant opened early last September and has been constantly creating new dishes and generating customers ever since. When the restaurant opened, it was only serving breakfast and lunch. Recently, Schnabel decided to open it for dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings, and the change has attracted even more customers. Schnabel said that although he gets a good variety of customers, he would like to reach more students.

Schnabel said he believes his restaurant is known for the “really good taste” the food has, and he gave all credit to his mother and chef, Erika Schnabel. The most popular dishes are the homemade spicy peanut chicken soup and the La Gourmandise Omlette, which Schnabel said are unusual and keep customers coming back for more. He said he hopes the restaurant will soon gain more recognition for its coffee as well.

“What we do here is we try to specialize in coffee drinks,” Schnabel said. “We’re like a coffee shop here with a European flair.”

This spring, Schnabel said, he hopes to offer frozen coffee drinks and smoothies as well as his current coffees.

I’m thinkin’ I’ll soon be back to try that coffee; next time I need a little trip to Europe, I’ll visit La Gourmandise.