La Gourmandine

In planning a weekend for my Mom to come down and visit, I asked friends where I should take her to eat. They suggested a bunch of places here in Pittsburgh, including "La Gourmandine" in Lawrenceville.

They proceeded to bring up a "yelp.com" user review that had me in hysterical laughter.

Tell me you don't want to be stuffing your face with delicious treats from THIS bakery right this second after reading the review?....



The husband and wife owners of La Gourmandine were born and raised in France. They studied in Paris, and the entire city of Pittsburgh is VERY fortunate that they have opened a bakery here. It is the very best French bakery I've ever been to outside of France. Everything I've ever tasted here has been phenomenal. Everything. Everything! If you haven't been here - you must go TODAY. When you go here for the first time, you will feel sad and angry at yourself that you've lived in this city and haven't been here before. You will dream about their bread and croissants. You will find yourself sitting in your office in the middle of the day having naughty thoughts about the pain au chocolat that will cause you to blush and feel lightheaded. You will develop an addiction that will eventually lead to finding yourself driving through the snow- and ice- covered streets of Lawrenceville in the middle of February at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning - unbathed and anxious that you will arrive to find your favorite pastry sold-out by the time you arrive. You will buy an extra loaf of bread for the trip home - tearing huge hunks of crusty, nutty, chewy baguette and stuffing them into your mouth at red lights. You will get irritated when you arrive at an intersection and the light is green. The front of your coat will be covered in bread crumbs and you will not care. Your jaw will ache a little and you will not care. You will arrive home and run RUN to your kitchen to grind your best coffee, and you will patiently wait to brew a perfect carafe of French-press while you steel yourself to have the fortitude to not even LOOK at the boxes of pastries you've bought. You will even prove to yourself that you are mentally strong - by leaving your coffee sit for a few minutes to cool to the perfect sipping temperature. Then - then you will feel an immense wave of self-satisfaction with yourself, your mental resolve, and your good fortune. You will eat your pastries and drink your perfect coffee and your eyes will roll into the back of your head and your heart will leap with happiness. You will sit back and you will realize that your life is wonderful and you will allow yourself to be happy. Purely happy.