Michette, not Michelle … but entering the great new iteration of Michette between Inman and Union squares was song-inspiring. It’s off Cambridge Street, but the location seems much more intimate, a triangular plot with a fenced patio and bright light coming into the café windows, making shadows on the floors of hands holding coffee cups. Nearby, the ice cream cone maker Automatic Cone sets the industrial tone of the neighborhood, along with a tombstone company. This café is the antithesis of such cold establishments, warm with people and baked goods. It is, as the window sign says, the “café du quartier,” a real neighborhood place.
Michette began on East Broadway in Somerville, a tiny bakery-café with very good breads and croissants that often sold out early, disappointing some who waited until midmorning to show up. It appears now that the bakery can keep up with the demand – at least it could on a recent bright cold Saturday morning when the line held at least 20 people awaiting cheerfully the good things in the glassed counter. The 11 small tables were full, and some hardy folk sipped outside in the cold. The line was managed well: The first server took pastry orders and filled them swiftly, passing the customer to a drinks server who also accepted payment. Drinks were announced at the end of the counter. Shelves of merchandise, including some very cute socks with croissants embroidered on them and bags of housemade granola, made for appealing décor.
A cardamom bun and perfect croissant paired well with my very good drip coffee by Gracenote and my friend’s excellent iced coffee. About croissants: They are my measure. My favorite in the world is that baked at Bricolage, a great café-bakery near the Roppongi neighborhood in Tokyo. Perhaps it sounds extreme, but I’d lick every scrap off the plate, pick every flake of pastry off the table and fight a squirrel for the buttery bits on the sidewalk if the beast dared to try for them – as I would for Michette’s. This one was freshly baked and you tasted the wheat itself, your nose filled with the excellent butter aroma and you felt and heard the splintering of the lamination as you chewed, all senses happy.
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Michette is a convivial hang on a Wednesday in Cambridge. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
The good drip coffee at Michette is by Gracenote. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
More of the pastry available at the new cafe in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
Michette has savory foods as well. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
Michette’s friendly painted sign. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
Some Michette merch. (Photo: Marc Levy) -
The Michette logo appears on caps and other gear for purchase. (Photo: Marc Levy)
I’ve written about the Broadway Michette, but now, visiting the new and larger site, I need this revisit to complete the record of goodness and give Michette a solo turn. Thomas Ferté, the baker-owner, left banking to learn bread, and he learned well. This is also a place where coffee really matters and doesn’t just wash down the great pastries – it doesn’t need food to set it off. As one customer said, “it’s pretty close to a perfect place.”
The light of the morning and the aromas of coffee and sugary kouign amman, as well as the proximity of other happy people, created a conversational mood. We diners compared notes on our choices and offered suggestions further afield – one good eating experience always inspires talk of others. As we left, we apologized unnecessarily for taking the time of the couple with whom we’d been talking, but they said, “That’s why we’re here.” That, plus the flakes of croissant I nibbled off my scarf, is what I left with.
Michette, 305 Webster Ave., Wellington-Harrington, Cambridge (Tuesday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
