Mais oui! (Cafe Jacqueline -- San Francisco, CA)

Souffle? Who wants to eat souffle for dinner???

ME! ME! ME!

If you've never been to Cafe Jacqueline, get your ass there now. Seriously. We've been there twice and both times we left feeling like we'd been told a very special secret.

Cafe Jacqueline is in North Beach, on Grant between Union and Green. It's only open Wed-Sun, and if you want a reservation, you have to call during dinner service on one of those days. It's worth it.

The restaurant is adorable. Simple but achingly romantic. The waiters can be very bitchy. If you sweet talk them a bit, they'll warm up.

And the food --oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh....The bread comes warm and crusty with ice cold butter. It's heaven. The souffles themselves are lighter than Lara Flynn Boyle and tasty to boot. We love getting the chocolate souffle for dessert, choking on the powdered sugar that tops it, and eating the rest for breakfast the following morning. The savory souffles are excellent. Two of us cannot finish a savory and a dessert; I'd suggest four people sharing the two, although the waiters will try to encourage you to get more. If you think you'll be hungry (you won't), order a soup or a salad.

The biggest reason of all to go to Cafe Jacqueline is Jacqueline herself. This woman is like the grandmother everyone wishes they had. When you walk through her kitchen to get to the bathroom, you see her with her huge copper bowl of eggs, whipping up every souffle that reaches every table. She told Jon that she tried letting someone else work her kitchen so she could have a break, but ultimately let them go because she missed it so much. She sat in her car and looked into the restaurant from the street every night she wasn't cooking.

Jacqueline is stunning. She radiates kindness and warmth and just seeing her for a moment takes your breath away. We are acutely aware that Cafe Jacqueline is as unique as Jacqueline herself, and therefore the time to eat there is now. For when she is gone, so will the restaurant be too. So just eat there already, damn it!

xoxo
Joy


"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."
--La Rochefoucauld