Tous les Jours French Asian Bakery

I'm a sucker for French / Asian bakeries, love the squishy soft egg salad sandwiches, adore anything with squid ink, squid ink sausage bun at Tous le Jours or the incredible squid ink bacon bun from 85°C (no locations in Chicagoland). Plus numerous combinations that sound interesting at first blush but are delicious.

Pastries, macarons, sandwiches, tea, I'm partial to hot milk tea, rolls, bread, in particular the milk bread which is used to make sandwiches.

Tous les Jours is a chain, multiple locations in Chicagoland, I've only been to the one in Glenview, located in a Korean centric mall near H-Mart & Joong Boo with the bonus of a large Fresh Farms nearby. Friendly, comfortable seating and delicious, all things I enjoy.





Tous les Jours, Count me a Fan!

Tous les Jours
1685 N Milwaukee Ave
Glenview, IL 60025
847-257-7648
https://www.tljus.com/

I've been the one in Vernon Hills at Hawthorn Mall. My girlfriend absolutely loves their mango cream cake. I had a chocolate coronet which is basically a chocolate cream filled pastry similar to a croissant the size and shape of an egg roll. Wasn't bad. They have some pretty unusual items there both savory and sweet.

They just opened a location at Asiana Market in Mesa, AZ two months ago. I am gradually working through all of their offerings.

I am not real keen on the squid ink rolls as their other selections but all in all, the pastries are very good.

What is the flavor of squid ink? Across the many times I've eaten squid ink pasta I've never been able to distinguish a recognizable or consistent 'ink' flavor. Is there one?

Bok Choy Jr wrote:What is the flavor of squid ink? Across the many times I've eaten squid ink pasta I've never been able to distinguish a recognizable or consistent 'ink' flavor. Is there one?

Very subtle really - perhaps a tad briny, and it lends a little savoriness to a dish. But if you're eating a squid ink pasta, you're mostly going to appreciate the color of the pasta.

Bok Choy Jr wrote:What is the flavor of squid ink?

Basically what BR said, savory, subtle hint of ocean, vague salty, maybe a wee bit of earthy funk in its most concentrated form. Savory, glutamate rich, what the cool kids call umami, which I think of as more flavor catalyst.

I'd also venture some places with squid ink use the term euphemistically, or in minuscule amounts.

If you go to Monteverde, Giant or Spiaggia and order squid ink pasta the flavor will come though, a bakery selling a $1.75 item ~maybe~

Either way, I like ordering squid ink sausage buns, they taste good to me. I (think I) detect a bit of ocean funk. If I find out tomorrow its really food coloring with a bit of fermented tofu I'm not going to be major upset.

A few years ago I bought a small jar of squid ink to make squid ink paella, tasted straight from the jar the favor was apparent.

Dropped $30 this morning just wanting to try it all

Tous Les Jours, a Korean bakery from the same company which owns chicken wing specialists Bonchon, is opening a location in Wicker Park - 1726 W. Division Street.

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/3/18/182 ... ion-street

They are putting the Division Street one very close to Alliance Bakery, which is at 1736. It should make for interesting French pastry competition.

There are some nice options there, including the items with nut and pumpkin filling. Red bean left something to be desired, to my taste. My local favorite is still Pastry House Hippo in Arlington Heights.

ekreider wrote:They are putting the Division Street one very close to Alliance Bakery, which is at 1736. It should make for interesting French pastry competition.

Signage is up (makes sense now, it's next door to Bonchon.)

Re: competition with Alliance, they're both bad!

Jefe wrote:Re: competition with Alliance, they're both bad!

Disagree with the illustrious Jefe with a double disclaimer. I rarely, as in almost never, go to Alliance and, when I have, leave with a sense of sticker shock. Tous les Jours, I'm a fan. Milk bread, lightly sweet pastries, milk tea, sandos and sausage buns.*



Tous Les Jours, count me a Fan!

*TLJ discontinued my favorite squid ink sausage buns.

G Wiv wrote:

Jefe wrote:Re: competition with Alliance, they're both bad!

Disagree with the illustrious Jefe with a double disclaimer.

Admittedly I’ve only had TLJ once, at the Naperville location. We sampled about 8 things though. Everything tasted a day old/ borderline stale. Several items were prepackaged, go figure.

Alliance is cute, old school, and a convenient stop for me for a biz meeting spread. Somehow their stuff also tastes less-than-fresh, esp croissants. Also unreasonably huge air gaps in the pastry.

Jefe wrote:Admittedly I’ve only had TLJ once, at the Naperville location.

I've mainly been to the TLJ Glenview location only once Chinatown to buy 6 loaves of milk bread for party sandos. While checking out in Chinatown I was handed a loyalty card* I mentioned I typically shopped TLJ Glenview and the clerk said it was not good there as they were different owners. A long way of saying there may be some variance in locations. I've been happy with flavor/freshness of Glenview. YMMV

* I think it was for bread only, but did not really pay attention or keep the card.

I'm a fan of TLJ but I definitely prefer their savory offerings over their sweet offerings. On that note, this . . .

G Wiv wrote:*TLJ discontinued my favorite squid ink sausage buns.

. . . is a big bummer. It was one of my favorites, too.

=R=

Jefe wrote:Alliance is cute, old school, and a convenient stop for me for a biz meeting spread.

I've been there several times, and I've enjoyed what I've gotten - delicious and fresh. I wouldn't call it the best bakery/pastry in the city - hi Floriole - but I'd put it in the top 10.

Jefe wrote:

ekreider wrote:They are putting the Division Street one very close to Alliance Bakery, which is at 1736. It should make for interesting French pastry competition.

Signage is up (makes sense now, it's next door to Bonchon.)

Re: competition with Alliance, they're both bad!

Korean-French bakery chain Tous Les Jours has opened its second Chicago location, debuting chocolate croissants, cloud cream cakes, and macaroons along Division Street

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/6/3/1865 ... mages-open

Dave148 wrote:https://chicago.eater.com/2019/6/3/18650575/tous-les-jours-wicker-park-chicago-division-photos-images-open

Props to the folks at Eater. That gallery of photos gives an excellent view of what that bakery (where I haven't been) has to offer.

Popular French-Asian bakery chain Tous Les Jours is slated to open in late June at Westfield Old Orchard at 4905 Old Orchard Center in Skokie

https://chicago.eater.com/2019/3/19/182 ... ood-report