Big thoughts of dieting disintegrate into miniature tarts and meringues at the Gourmet Frog patisserie in Highwood.
If the name has a familiar amphibian ring, that’s because it is the pastry tadpole of Thierry LeFeuvre and Gregg Mason, who own Froggy’s French Cafe, a popular North Shore restaurant a few doors south.
Not a bread-and-rolls-style bakery, their patisserie makes you want to skip dinner and go right to dessert.
Cream is queen.
“People hear cream, they think no, that’s heavy. They want butter. But butter is heavy. It’s 100 percent fat. Cream is much lighter. It’s 32 percent fat,” said LeFeuvre, explaining why they use cream in their cakes, not butter.
And customers should expect something manageable to go, not the sauced temptations on the restaurant’s menu.
“This is very different from the restaurant. It’s easier to do light desserts there. They go on a plate. Here the desserts are meant to travel,” he said.
One look at the colorful fresh fruit tarts, and it’s easy to picture them traveling out the door to the dining table at home. “Those tarts are very popular,” LeFeuvre said.
Still, if cream is queen, then chocolate is probably king.
“White chocolate, dark chocolate, people love chocolate in America,” LeFeuvre said.
Of particular interest is a special white and dark chocolate mousse cake that he calls “Extravaganza.” But it is a special order, not an over-the-counter item.
The patisserie opened six years ago as a warm, welcoming space-filler at the front of another restaurant extension, Froggy’s Catering, which LeVeuvre and Mason operate with Thierry Mace from an office in back.
“We’re not expensive. The price is right,” LeFeuvre said, explaining that their entire operational philosophy is to offer quality at moderate prices.
Items range from less than $1 for some miniature tarts and pastries to $48 for some of the 16-inch cakes that serve 40 people.
LeFeuvre spends most of his time at the restaurant, leaving the baking to Greg Aguilar and the shop operation to manager Alycia Dornstauder.
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Gourmet Frog, at 316 Green Bay Rd., Highwood, is open 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Phone 708-433-7038 (the restaurant is 433-7080 and catering is 433-1560).
