Croque Madame at Elysian Cafe

Last weekend, in addition to spring dinner party things, I had brunch at a charming little place in Hoboken called Elysian Cafe. Though crowded on that gorgeous Sunday morning (what happened since then?), Maggie and I secured a table and thoroughly enjoyed our last Hoboken brunch together (she's moving away and leaving me, you see). Anyhow, I typically have enjoyed the eggs benedict and have tried my hardest to ignore Tony Bourdain's warnings of hollandaise sauce, but this time, I switched it up a bit and went with the Croque Madame. Yum.

The traditional Croque Madame is comprised of ham and gruyere cheese grilled on a sandwich, and topped with a bechamel sauce (read: sauce of creamy goodness) and a fried or poached egg (my favorite being the latter...oh how I love those yolks...). Though this version was anything but traditional (egg in the sandwich, rather than on, and it included spinach), it was still pretty delicious. Of course, my own personal love affair with the Croque Madame began at a tiny cafe across from the Notre Dame cathedral en Paris...in fact, I'm fairly certain that I had no clue what Gruyere cheese was and so, to me, the sandwich was like entering a new world of delicious. And since I was utterly clueless that four years post-Paris trip, I'd being singing its praises on The Avid Appetite, I neglected to snap a photo. I did, however, dig up this little gem - a view of Notre Dame from the tiny, name unknown cafe in which we delighted in a real Parisian breakfast sandwich. McDonalds, who?

Isn't she a beauty? This was, in fact, our favorite part of Paris...sightseeing from the top of Notre Dame, strolling by the Seine, and sampling pommes frites with mayo until our hearts begged no more.