Review by J. Rica Middlebrooks
Cafe Midi French Cafe,
located at 148 South La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles,
serves excellent authentic French food. Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe is the ultimate sidewalk cafe in Los Angeles. The dishes and atmosphere created by Chef Edouard Moyal are very reminiscent of a Parisian French Sidewalk Cafe.
If you are familiar with Los Angeles, Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe is located in a popular area on La Brea near Melrose and Wilshire, which is a popular shopping area for locals and tourists alike. Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe is a great place to stop in for lunch and a cup of coffee. The salads prepared by Chef Edouard Moyal are particularly exquisite.
If you want to sample true French food Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe is an excellent choice. The breakfast menu at Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe includes egg dishes service with bacon or chicken apple sausages, or eggs served with smoked salmon. Cafe Midi French Cafe also make exquisite omelettes made with Maryland crab, avocado, blackened smoked chicken, egg whites, smoked salmon, goat cheese and more.
Traditional pancakes, cereals, French toast, fresh fruit and other side dishes are also offered. Breakfast items offered at Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe range from $5.00 up to approximately $12.00.
The lunch menu at Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe is equally excellent with a wide array of salads available. Of particular excellent menu choices is the salade Nicoise, which is made to perfection as are the ground sirloin burgers service on Foccaccia with mozzarella. Other excellent choices from the lunch menu at Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe include Soups such as Soup du Jour and French Onion, and a choice of Quiches including a vegetable low-carb quiche, as well as a wide variety of Club Sandwiches, Pasta dishes, and several other entrees. Lunch items at Cafe Midi French Sidewalk Cafe range between $5.00 and $12.00.
Review By S. Irene Virbila, L.A. Times Restaurant 'Critic's Corner'
From a car, it's hard to spot the small cafe that's part of Maison et Cafe, the housewares arm of American Rag on La Brea Avenue. The fashion at American Rag is a mix of vintage Americana and edgy young designer ware, whereas the Maison side of the adjoining stores is a Francophile's dream.
It's a cafe, sometime epicene (selling herbs, olive oils and the odd ingredient), and housewares store rolled into one. For anyone exploring the galleries and boutiques along La Brea between Melrose Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, Cafe Midi Is a lovely spot to stop for lunch.
At the back of the sprawling Maison shop a few tables ire set up next to a long bar. An inviting banquette with plump French fabric pillows offers additional seating. But who wants to sit inside on a crystal dear day in early fall? That's why the handful of sidewalk tables are so much in demand.
At lunch, Cafe Midi's chef, Edouard Moyal, who cooked at La Chardonnay, turns out an appealing array of salads and sandwiches. His salade Nicoise, for example, is more like one you'd find at a small cafe in Nice than any of the gentrified versions around town. It's made with the traditional tinned tuna; water-packed albacore instead of the dark, tasty tuna packed in olive oil, so the fish tends to be a bit day. But the hard-boiled eggs, haricots verts and potatoes mixed in with the greens are perfectly cooked. The chef also makes a mean club sandwich with Black Forest ham and Gruyere on a tall, fluffy Ciabatta. His take on a burger is ground sirloin and mozzarella on Foccaccia. The lemonade is wonderful; freshly squeezed and not too sweet For dessert, stroll past the fresh fruit tarts displayed on the counter.
If nothing strikes your fancy, there's always chocolate;as in "Edouard's brownie." Mornings, slackers can stop in for an espresso or a frothy cafe au Lait. And if you're feeling peckish, you can order an omelet, a short stack of buttermilk pancakes or a bowl of granola.
Maison et cafe has an offhand chic that's seductive enough that an innocent coffee can easily turn into something dangerous. Before you know It, you're lusting after the Moroccan tea glasses decorated with a filigree of gold, a butter yellow cafe au Lait bowl, a French damask linen tablecloth, or a huge ochre-glazed pot for your banana palm. Once I found myself lugging a huge tin of lavender honey home; another time yards of French cotton ticking to make some cushions. On my last visit, I got lucky when I found some glazed oval baking dishes perfect for potato gratin or clafoutis at 75% off. Since lunch didn't set me back too much, I left feeling virtuous, dreaming of fall's gratins.
L.A. Times Magazine - The Restaurant Guide
Cafe Midi is a lovely spot for lunch for anyone exploring the galleries and antiques along La Brea Avenue. Chef Edouardt Moyal offers an appealing array of salads and sandwiches. Specialties: salade Nicoise, curried egg salad sandwich, burger on focaccia, Edouard's brownie.
Review by Jessica Strand - L.A. Times Calendar Weekend
What could be better on a hot summer day than a light, whole some Spinach salad?
Cafe Midi: What a charming place to while away the hours. Have a spinach salad with a vinaigrette dressing, topped with roasted fennel, grilled asparagus, caramelized walnuts, tomatoes, goat cheese, and some crisp pear.
L.A. Weekly by Michelle Huneven
The convergence of retail and repast has also resulted in a number of odd hybrids, a shop that is also a lunch spot. Rita Flora on La Brea Avenue, for example, is a florist-adjacent cafe. Further north on La Brea, Maison Midi, a fabulous housewares store, shares its address with Cafe Midi, which also opens right into American Rag Company. In the back, with a long, dark bar and a charmingly European ambiance, Midi serves breakfast and light lunch. Best try on your Martine Margiella shifts and Caniper sandals first, then, if it's early, refuel with eggs, omelets, pancakes or cereals or, at lunch, try the quiche (baked on the premises) or a curried-egg-salad sandwich or any number of good salads, including a lovely Belgian endive with Fourme d'ambert and walnuts. Go shop for gorgeous Jar pottery or yellow Provencale napkins, then slip back for a shot of espresso and a fruit tart, wedge of chocolate cake or slab of banana bread ; all are baked on Midi's premises. Take your dessert outside, at a table in front of the shop. The weather's simply perfect for it.
In the back of the store Maison Midi, this charming French cafe serves a revolving list of interesting soups. Bean soups include pink lentil with cumin, black bean with chives and roasted garlic and Fava bean with smoky bacon. Relax on a pillowy banquette with a bowl of soup and a slice of fresh Ciabatta.
