Friends and neighbors of Helen Hall’s in Ardsley Park have no more excuses not to patronize Le Café Gourmet now that she has opened a satellite of her downtown French bakery at 1701A E. Victory Drive. All those locals’ excuses―parking, too many tourists, crowding―do not apply at this light-filled boulangerie where a bite of pistachio croissant sends golden and glossy flakes fluttering across one’s lap. The unassuming white brick building faces the road between the new Aldi and a two-shop strip that is home to a Caribbean marketplace and the soon-to-be-relocation of Vendors on Victory.
The platter of pistachio croissants at Le Cafe Gourmet’s new outpost on Victory Drive
Locally roasted Cup-to-Cup Coffee beans are ground and brewed for warm and soothing café au laits and signature beverages such as the Willem Defoe (caramel and hazelnut) that complement the overflowing trays of pastries and shelves filled with fresh sourdough baguettes and loaves, all handmade on site using French butter and flours. Honeys, pecans and other accompaniments, however, are sourced and made in and around Savannah.
Hall, who ran her own catering company in Portland, Oregon, before heading to the Georgia coast, purchased Le Café Gourmet from its founders in 2022. The petite corner bakery just off Franklin Square on Montgomery Street serves up Old World patina alongside crêpes and hot, cheesy sandwiches. Those items are not necessarily part of the long-range plans for the new space, said Hall, who plans to open a European-style bistro in the other half of the former auto and scooter repair shop later this year.
Le Cafe Gourmet’s bread shelves hold both fresh sourdough baguettes and country loaves along with day-old baguettes marked down 50%.
In the meantime, sandwiches made at the downtown location are ferried daily to the new location just before 11 a.m., so eastsiders can get grab-and-go lunches like the Dijon, a tangy turkey sandwich with honey mustard, pickled onions, cheddar cheese and spinach.
The former office and repair shop off Victory Drive in east Savannah was hidden beneath overgrown shrubbery when owner Helen Hall spied a handwritten “for sale” sign outside. She bought it before finding out a new apartment complex and Aldi would open nearby.
Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Le Café Gourmet, 1701A Victory Drive, lecafegourmet.com/ (updated website coming soon).
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: savannah ga dining updates for february 19 2025
Dining and Cooking