When La Madeleine launched its first brunch menu last month, the only piece of equipment the fast casual added was a waffle iron.
“I knew I wanted to include waffles and French toast,” said Erik Von Illyes, culinary and training manager for the Dallas-based bakery café chain. And he was also set on developing a croffle, after tasting the croissant-waffle mashup in a coffee shop in Bangalore, India.
French-inspired La Madeleine already baked batches of croissants daily at its 90 locations, selling them along with other pastries from the in-store bakery cases. So once the waffle irons were installed, Von Illyes spread the scratch-made croissant dough over the plates and created La Madeleine’s version of the croffle—a hybrid that’s crispy and caramelized on the outside and soft and flaky inside.
At brunch, the croffle stars in the Monte Cristo, stuffed with turkey and Swiss cheese and served with strawberry preserves, and the Benedict, filled with ham and Swiss, then topped with an over-easy egg, Hollandaise and microgreens.
A fast-casual brunch fit for full service
Von Illyes said the croffles are already best sellers on the brunch menu, which is served all day, every day. Customers order at La Madeleine’s counter fast-casual style and take a seat while their food is cooked; it’s then brought to the table by a server.
The croffles are just two of the 20 new items on what seems like quite an extensive and sophisticated brunch selection for a fast casual. For the French toast Von Illyes was keen on adding, he brought in brioche, a new SKU. The rich, eggy bread is dipped in custard, cooked and served in four variations: Classic, Maple Pecan, Blueberry Cheesecake and Fresh Berries.
“We candy the pecans in-house and make our own blueberry coulis for the cheesecake version,” said Von Illyes. Customers who prefer waffles can get them in the same four flavor profiles.
Brioche French toast comes in four variations, including Maple Pecan. Avocado Toast is in the background.
The brioche is cross-utilized in a Bacon Bon-Bon Sandwich filled with crispy brown sugar candied bacon, a fried egg, tomatoes, microgreens and French aioli. That candied bacon is a new preparation that can also be ordered as a side and shows up again on the beverage menu.
On the less indulgent side, Von Illyes reimagined avocado toast in La Madeleine’s vision. “I took a simple toast and elevated it [literally and figuratively] by topping it with smashed avocado, olive oil and sea salt, leaving it chunky to add height,” he said. “It’s topped with tomatoes, feta, balsamic reduction and microgreens, contrasting the richness of the avocado with some acidity.”
Previously, the breakfast menu offered a very simple avocado toast flavored only with salt and pepper in a much less dramatic presentation, he added.
Spirited cocktails made with wine
Many brunch fans can’t imagine brunch without bloody Marys, cosmos, mimosas and other traditional cocktails. Alas, La Madeleine doesn’t have a liquor license, but many locations do have a wine license.
“We already offered mimosas, but I collaborated with the team to create other wine-based cocktails,” said Von Illyes. Newer on the market are wine-based spirits, developed to taste like vodka and tequila, so the team used these products to craft several cocktails instead of straight wine or prosecco. The result is La Madeleine’s versions of an espresso martini, cosmo and bloody Mary, all mixed with the wine-based spirits. The bloody Mary is garnished with the new candied bacon.
The Espresso Martini, Parisien Sunrise, Bloody Mary and Cosmo are all made with wine-based spirits.
In keeping with the chain’s French theme, there’s also a Parisien Sunrise, patterned after the popular Tequila Sunrise. All are lower in alcohol than comparable cocktails made with full-proof spirits.
“We’re always looking ahead for innovation, and I feel like our brunch program is such a great base to experiment with seasonally. We’re already looking at some new versions of items,” said Von Illyes.
Nonalcoholic beverages will be the focus for summer, when La Madeleine is rolling out a new refresher program, he added. Four flavors are slated to be released: Strawberry hibiscus, cucumber melon, mango dragonfruit and pineapple strawberry.
Next up: innovation around the coffee program.