The Daily Grind: Toronto café Pâtisserie La Cigogne

article 1 Minute

The Daily Grind is an ongoing mini-feature that highlights the best cafés in Toronto for freelance editors looking for a caffeine fix and a temporary office away from home.

PatisserieBy Jennifer D. Foster

Pâtisserie La Cigogne (cigogne is French for stork), at the southeast corner of the Danforth and Monarch Park Avenue, reminds me of the cafés and their sumptuous treats from my incredible vacation in Southern France. Spacious, cheerful, and full of goodies handcrafted by owner and award-winning French master pastry chef Thierry Schmitt, the café is an artisanal sweet-lover’s delight. Traditional Alsatian breads, baguettes, and brioche loaves ($2.90 to $7.25), pastries ($2.05 to $3.20), truffles ($13.50/half-dozen), petit fours ($26/dozen), and cakes, pies, tarts, and flans ($5.75/slice; up to $51 whole) are all baked fresh daily. Need a wedding or special-event cake? Look no further. Baguette sandwiches ($7.30), tourtières ($9.49/slice; $35/nine-inch tourtière), quiches ($9.49/slice; $29/nine-inch quiche), and all-day breakfast and brunch ($4.95 to $8.95) are also standard fare. An impressive selection of coffees and teas ranges from $2 to $3.80 each.

Clientele include weary local shoppers, neighbourhood regulars, and even community groups, such as the PWAC Danforth Success Group. The latter is a subgroup of the PWAC Toronto branch, of which I’m a member. It meets for lunch monthly to commiserate on the business of freelancing. Café-goers can’t seem to get enough of the bottomless house coffee ($2), melt-in-your-mouth rainbow-coloured macarons ($10.95 for six), or imported candies and other, often seasonal, French delicacies. Added bonus? Every Saturday and Sunday, from 11 AM to 3 PM, Pâtisserie La Cigogne offers a yummy 12-inch tarte flambée for $11.49. Bon appétit!

Wi-Fi network name: PLC
Number of tables: 15
Number of power outlets: Four
1419 Danforth Ave., open Mon.–Thurs. 7:30 AM–7 PM, Fri. 7:30 AM–8 PM, Sat. 8 AM–8 PM, Sun. 8 AM–7 PM
(Additional location at 1626 Bayview Ave.)

Jennifer D. Foster is a Toronto-based freelance writer and editor, specializing in fiction/non-fiction, custom publishing, magazines, and marketing and communications. 

This article was copy edited by Sadie Scapillato.

Published by Editors Toronto

We are the Toronto branch of Editors Canada — the only national association devoted to editors and the editing profession, with more than 1,300 members across the country and more than 300 in Ontario. Editors Toronto is an active, vibrant group of freelance and in-house editors who work with organizations and individuals in the corporate, not-for-profit, technical, government, digital, publishing, and academic sectors in Canada and around the world in a variety of languages. We meet on the last Wednesday of every month, except in June, July, August, and December, for an engaging program followed by discussion and networking opportunities.

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