Baguette de France (Berrien Springs)
9187 Old US 31The thing I like about my job is getting to see all of Southwest Michigan. I get sent all over the place. In eight years, I’ve been up and down the coast from New Buffalo to Ludington and go as far east as Lansing pretty regularly.
Last week my assignment was in Berrien Springs. I had never been to the small town south east of St. Joseph so I started looking for places to eat ahead of my trip. It didn’t take me long to figure out where I was going to eat after I was done with my task for the day.
Baguette de France is on Old US 31 or St. Joseph Street or M-139 and George Avenue just outside of the Berrien Springs city limits. The restaurant is a stand along building that has some similarities to a fast food joint, but is not a fast food joint by far.
The thing that really drew me to this place was the fact it’s a counter-service restaurant. I probably would have stopped anyway. There aren’t a lot of places to eat in Berrien Springs and the sandwiches at this shop sounded delicious.
I walked in to the restaurant about 1:30 to find it was pretty much break time. The only people eating were employees grabbing a quick bite after finishing up the lunch rush. There is a large menu board over the cash register. I started scanning the menu just to make sure I didn’t miss something when I quickly looked online. It appears I didn’t so I put in my order for a whole Pastrami on Rustic French bread. The cost was right around ten bucks which I paid cash for then grabbed my number to wait for my sandwich to be assembled.
The dining room is cut in to two sections. There is one near the kitchen with traditional four tops scattered throughout the space on a grey tile floor. The other is more of the four tops that is sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant to give a little more privacy as well as more lighting from the large windows that surround the building.
It took about five minutes for my sandwich to be created and toasted before my number was called. The cashier forgot to ask if I wanted it for dine-in or to-go so the cook did dine-in. He asked when I went to pick it up. I said to-go but I could take it like it was. He said it would only take a second to wrap it up so he took it back and prepared it to leave the building.
I had to make a gas station stop for a Pepsi since Baguette de France only has Coke so I didn’t unwrap it right away. When I was ready to start back towards Kalamazoo, I opened the cardboard box containing my sandwich and got my first whiff of the fresh bread and warm pastrami that was hiding inside.
The sandwich is pretty simple and even something I would make at home, but it’s the quality that really makes this place stand out.
The bread is all made fresh in house and it’s worth the effort. I chose the rustic french bread. It’s $.50 more than the sour dough or multi-grain, but it’s a delicious, crusty traditional baguette. The pastrami sandwich includes the meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and choice of sauce. I declined the sauce as nothing sounded good with pastrami. I was really happy with that decision because this sandwich was fantastic without out. I usually get pastrmi on swirl rye but the use of baguette here is what makes this sandwich great.
There were no real side choices, so all I had was the sandwich but that turned out to be enough. There was an option to buy chips for an extra charge. I assumed the sandwich would be enough and I was right.
Baguette de France is a really unique sandwich shop in a really unexpected place. They have a location in St. Joseph as well, but this Berrien Springs one surprised me a little bit. I grew up in small towns and I travel around the area a lot and I’m always pleasantly surprised when I see a unique shop like Baguette de France that makes something out of the ordinary and is supported so well by the locals. Grabbing a sandwich from Baguette de France is such a great alternative to the typical chain sandwich shop that usually ends up sharing space in a gas station in smaller communities.
SW Michigan Dining 