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3206 Grace St. NW
(202) 342-9083
Hours of Operation and Prices
Open: T-Sat 8 am-7 pm, Sun 8 am-5 Entrees: $7-$9
Closed: M
Other Information
• Credit Cards: All major
• Dress: Casual
• Reservations: Recommended for 6 or more
• Parking: Street
• Handicapped accessible
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A tiny pastry shop on Georgetown's most hidden street, Patisserie-Cafe Didier is like some sort of gastronomic antique shop. Pore over the menu and you'll unearth the madeleines of Proust and Mozartian salzberger knockerl. There are lunches of savory souffles or tall, quivery quiches, the authentic kind that the French would eat. Onion soup starts in-house with onions, left to sweat on the stove until they sweeten and nearly melt from the heat. Cafe Didier serves the kind of French tearoom food that suggests the old genteel Georgetown rather than the noisy, modern-day M Street with its Boston Market and French-from-Texas chain, La Madeleine.
Cafe Didier is decorated with a gleaming array of fruit tarts and creamy cakes, pink tablecloths and pottery vases with a single flower or a small bouquet. For breakfast it serves croissants, muffins, scones and the only honestly buttery, delicate and flaky Danish I can find in this town. The fruit juices are freshly squeezed. And for lunch there's small selection of salads, cold cuts on French bread, a hot entree such as a grilled chicken breast, or that evocative quiche.
It's no bargain, and the portions are, let's say, restrained. But some might consider that an asset, considering the richness of the food. And an afternoon break of thick, creamy, old-world, bittersweet hot chocolate and a few airy ladyfingers to dip into it, with classical music in the background, is an indulgence beyond price.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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