If you were just strolling along the Galt, you would never expect to find such a Gallic gem in this simple storefront setting. Decorated with sunflowers and cornflower blue trim, dimly lit at night, it's pretty enough to be romantic -- especially when Edith Piaf tunes provide the background music. Servers are attentive and the prices very reasonable -- with most dishes under $14.95. It's no wonder the place is a local favorite. Even if some French businesses are suffering, there's no ill will at Grandma's.
The first time I'd been to Grandma's on Galt Ocean Mile it was as a rookie reporter to interview the spunky owners, who had just toured the country in a golf-cart of sorts. Later, I came back often -- as did their many fans in northeast Fort Lauderdale -- to enjoy tales from Grandma and Grandpa, and linger over their homemade cinnamon ice cream and gooey banana splits.
That was, well, many years ago, and when I returned over the weekend, Grandma had certainly changed. This ''Grandma'' -- Abby Travelssi -- is still serving up homemade ice cream, but in the next room -- voila! -- there is now a charming little French cafe.
If you were just strolling along the Galt, you would never expect to find such a Gallic gem in this simple storefront setting. Decorated with sunflowers and cornflower blue trim, dimly lit at night, it's pretty enough to be romantic -- especially when Edith Piaf tunes provide the background music.
Servers are attentive and the prices very reasonable -- with most dishes under $14.95. It's no wonder the place is a local favorite. Even if some French businesses are suffering, there's no ill will at Grandma's.
''Nothing has changed here,'' says Travelssi, originally from Tunisia, who often stops by tables to say hello.
Francophiles -- or not -- look happy enough to be enjoying courses from savory soups to crpes suzette. On busy nights, the dining crowd spills out to tables in the ice cream parlor or the sidewalk out front.
Our waitress brought sliced French bread while we looked over a menu dominated by crpes with a few chef's specialties and daily entrees, plus sandwiches and salads.
At lunch, pretend you're stopping in a Parisian cafe and order a croque monsieur, an open-faced sandwich of ham, melted Swiss and béchamel sauce, or quiche Lorraine.
Grandma's has a limited wine list, but it's one of the few places where you can bring your own bottle or team a chardonnay or pinot grigio with French country pté or baked Brie, two of the tempting starters.
An appetizer of six escargot in garlic butter needed more flavor, but we savored the daily soup special ($4.95), puréed chicken and rice with a hint of lemon, like the Greek avgolemono but without the egg, quite good. It's made from the stock used for the chicken pot pie, the daily special on Sunday, with the fat skimmed off; it's thick but not at all heavy.
French onion soup is also available as are salads with names like Pink, for one with smoked salmon, or Yellow for greenery topped with chicken, pineapple and blue cheese. Or opt for a smaller house salad ($4.95), a plateful of crisp mixed greens with sliced juicy tomatoes and cool cucumbers in a homemade Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
Dishes often stray beyond France -- with items like basmati rice served with grilled tuna steak and thinly sliced chicken with curry sauce, or shepherd's pie.
A favorite here is Grandma's delicious roasted half-duck with orange sauce ($14.95) darkened by a bit of brown sugar yet not too sweet, complementing but not overpowering the tender meat. On the side, the chef slowly simmers fresh vegetables for ratatouille, the popular Provençal stew with eggplant, fresh crushed tomatoes, zucchini, onions and olive oil, plus yellow rice. Vegetable choices vary during the week.
A special of seared tuna ($12.95) was our main disappointment. While it was a large portion, it needed more spicing to give it some oomph, but thankfully it came with the hot ratatouille and yellow rice.
Grandma's signature crpes are named after locales, like the Fort Lauderdale chicken and Mediterranean vegetable crpe or the Alaska version with creamy spinach and smoked salmon. A friend ordered the Vannes crpe ($9.95), named after the lovely, medieval town in Brittany, France. We're not sure if these ingredients are big in Brittany, but the Vannes crpe teams chicken and sliced mushrooms enhanced by a rich, creamy blue cheese sauce stuffed in a thin, light crpe.
We liked the crpes so much, we had one for dessert. Bananas or even Grand Marnier tempted, but my friends had a hankering for the Yves Montand crpe ($4.95), aptly named for the sultry French singer, because it was sensational, with a not-too-sweet butterscotch sauce drizzled over vanilla (pick the flavor) ice cream and whipped cream.
I was also thrilled to find that the place still serves its wonderful cinnamon ice cream ($2.25), just like Grandma used to make.
