Pierre Michel French Bakery Revisited

Rewind a couple months back, to our first visit to Pierre Michel Organic French Bakery. After reading a million rave reviews about the Highlands Ranch bakery, we were disappointed by soggy French toast and a disturbingly gargantuan baguette omelette. Not too impressed, we rated the restaurant a 6/10, and had no overwhelming urge to return.

Except their pastries did look very tasty. And Yelp was filled with such glowing Pierre Michel reviews. And it was sooo conveniently close to our house.

We went back last week looking for a break from our usual breakfast spot, and still curious about the delicious-looking pastries.

Our meal started off with a raspberry-peach pastry:

Raspberry Peach Pastry

By the time we had finished off this innocent-looking treat, our perception of breakfast had changed forever. The organic fruit sat on a bed of sweet, rich pastry cream, surrounded by flaky, light, and buttery dough. The overall flavor of the pastry was light and mildly sweet, allowing the natural flavors of the fresh berries and peaches to shine through. I'm not sure if we can ever eat pastries from anywhere else again.

After that, we tried a few of their savory dishes.

The Croque Monsieur ($7.5):

Croque Monsieur

This classic French sandwich is basically a ham and cheese with brioche toast. While the filling was very average, the brioche was perfectly light and airy.

Omelette "Hivernale" with Tomatoes, Potatoes, Pesto ($10.2):

Omelette "Hivernale"

This omelette gets no points for presentation. In fact it was more of a scramble than an omelette, and it was swimming in some sort of oily liquid. That being said, it tasted ok, although was a bit salty. Like my baguette omelette at our last visit, the portion was just too large.

Oh, and all that food was served with French bread, butter, and homemade berry jam:

French bread, butter, jam

My new-found love of Pierre Michel prompted me to show up on Christmas Eve morning to pick up pastries for Christmas lunch. Unfortunately, everyone else in Highlands Ranch had the same idea. I showed up at 8:25, just 25 minutes after their delayed opening at 8 am, and I grabbed the last four available pastries.

Clockwise from top left: Blueberry Cream / Pear, Banana, Chocolate / Blueberry / Pear, Chocolate

They were a hit. Like our previous pastry experience, these all contained a perfectly flaky pastry dough, rich cream or chocolate, and fresh fruit.

Oh, don't worry, we've been there plenty more times and sampled a good chunk of the menu.

Vegetable Omelette in Puff Pastry ($7):

Vegetable Omelette in Puff Pastry

The omelette (again, more like a scramble than omelette) that was hidden inside the pastry included asparagus and tomato. It was very tasty, and certainly a more reasonable portion than the plain omelette or omelette baguette. But the buttery, flaky puff pastry was really the best part.

The wrapped croissant ($6):

Wrapped Croissant

This croissant was filled with ham, cheese, and plenty of Dijon mustard. This seems to be a popular item, as they were sold out of it the first few times we went to Pierre Michel. Like everything else cooked in the restaurant's oven, the croissant was flaky, buttery, and perfect.

And of course, we've had more pastries:

Pear and Cream Pastry

Since discovering their pastries, I need to revise the previous 6/10 rating I gave Pierre Michel. The French bakery is an outstanding place for breads, pastries, and croissants; execution of standard savory foods is more average.

Everyday Dining

(9 of 10)

Pros: Outstanding baked goods, especially pastries. Reasonably priced for organic.
Cons: Non-baked food are average overall. Bakery runs out of items quickly. Small space.

Website:
http://www.pierremichel.org/