• La Provence website
  • Location: Lake Oswego, OR
  • Cost to break the fast of two people: About $40

“If you do restaurant reviews, you’ve gotta try this place,” said Bonnie Gilchrist, so we had breakfast at La Provence in Lake Oswego this morning, while we talked GAS. (That’s G.A.S., acronym for Glass Art Society, not the lowercase variety that emerges after a less than optimal dining experience.)

Bonnie’s a cool lady with lots of neat stories who’s doing events management for GAS 2008 in Portland. We met to talk about possible PR stuff and things like that.

–QUICK INTERRUPTION FOR AN IMPASSIONED PLEA–

Have YOU signed up for GAS yet?
You DO know you’ve missed the cheapskate deadline and will pay full price, right?
BUT…I can get you in for HALF PRICE.
Just click this link right here…yeah, right here

(and keep it quiet. I can’t do this for everyone, you know)

–END OF IMPASSIONED PLEA–

So anyway, Bonnie and I met at La Provence for breakfast. Lake Oswego’s a kinda goofy town–upscale and country and suburb and downtown all at the same time–but I’m told they have some slammin’ restaurants. This is the first one I’ve tried, and it was pretty good.

Not that this French restaurant serves what I would call a real French breakfast. Every breakfast I’ve ever had in France was either baguette slivers scraped with incredibly good jam or (on Sundays) the world’s most heavenly croissants, with coffee and fruit or juice. (“Why do you Americans,” a French chef once asked me wonderingly, eyeing my more substantial parts, “eat too much for breakfast? An omelette is for lunch.”)

Nonetheless, at La Provence, we ate omelettes for breakfast, and they were very good omelettes. Mine was cooked properly, had feta and mushrooms and such, was trimmed with fresh fruit and served with a dense, chewy rye bread. We added a latte apiece and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We were unfortunately too stuffed to contemplate some truly delightful-looking baked goods in the cases.

The place has a glorious, make-me-homesick atmosphere, with brightly colored provencal fabrics, stuccoed walls, and a very friendly waitstaff. In truly French style, the waitress didn’t seem to mind when we lingered, talking, long after the plates were gone.

I wouldn’t call it cheap, not at $40 for two for breakfast, but I think we got our money’s worth. If you happen to wander out to Lake Oswego, put this one on your list.

Tip: For those of you who think “demitasse” when you think of French coffee, beware: The lattes are served in very American-sized vessels. Mine looked like a soup bowl. Not complaining, but I expect I’ll come down off the ceiling sometime tomorrow…