Warming up with Flambée and Spaetzle at St Honoré

I am quite the fan of St. Honoré Boulangerie, which has three Portland locations. In particular, the one on SE Division at 3333 SE Division Street has their 1 year anniversary today! To celebrate, they are offering complimentary chouqettes when you buy any coffee drink from 7 -9 am. and from 4-7 pm tarte flambées and cider!

Also, then tomorrow on Thursday, December 4th, Hot Club of Hawthorne will be playing live music (Chef Dominique described them as French Gypsy Jazz) from 6:00pm – 8:30pm while St Honoré offers an anniversary special of your choice of Tarte Flambée or Spaetzle, with a mini dessert, and a drink from their taps for $9.00 from from 5:00pm until they close!

I love both the Tarte Flambe or Spaetzle at St Honoré. I first fell in love with Spaetzle at local Alsatian restaurant Gruner, and then when I was in Germany. If you are not familiar, spaetzle is a soft egg noodle that is often small and thin, almost like tiny dumplings. They are more buttery and melt in your mouth than gnocchi, without being quite as filling as potato based gnocchi.

As soon as you walk into St Honoré, you can’t help but feel charmed by the French feel that includes small floral details balanced by tile and wood.

 

You should definitely try the Tarte Flambées, which are Alsatian-style Flatbread pizzas baked to order. They offer about a dozen different options of tarte flambe, varying from my favorite the Lardon et Oignon (Bacon, fresh onions, crème fraîche, and Emmental cheese) to unusual combinations such as Fromage de Chèvre et Raisins (Olive oil and rosemary pached grapes, smoked fennel and goat cheese drizzled with honey) or one with squash and radicchio that was the chef’s special on another visit.

 

Now that winter’s cold weather is here and you want some warm comfort, you too should also check out the Spaetzle, like this one below with a cream sauce and Emmental cheese, with Carrots, green peas, mushrooms and onions so it’s also vegetarian. Tell me you don’t already feel comforted seeing the pictures. If it’s making you think it’s a bit like mac and cheese, you are right, but with the use of spaetzle it is more delicate. Other versions of their Spaetzle include one with caramelized cauliflower, leeks and tomato fondue and another one that offers Roasted pork loin, smoked apples and house-made sriracha sauce, topped with fresh breadcrumbs.

So, it doesn’t have to necessarily be a cheesy dish, but still offers some of that oozy melty comfort even without the cheese just because of the use of the spaetzle – you just have to vary up what you pair with the spaetzle. When I had it in Germany, it was just often simply in a bit of melted butter.

Every time I dine here I imagine that this is my neighborhood little spot as I’m visiting a nice town in the northern part of France – it’s not fancy, but it’s still a very good taste of French living.

In fact, this dish, per an interview by the Oregonian of chef Dominique Geulin, spaetzle is the dish that is the equivalent of bringing home to him, just like Ratatouille did for that critic in the Disney movie with the chef rat. The article also includes a recipe and video of how to make spaetzle yourself.

Hope there’s some tarte flambe and / or spaetzle in your future to cozy up to!

Have you had spaetzle at St Honoré before? Or spaetzle at all? What’s your favorite way to have it, or where have you had it before?

And happy 1 year anniversary St Honoré Division!

For a look at other treats at St Honoré Division, check out this previous post that included when I first visited them in anticipation of Cider Week.