Meet us where the French food is simply delicious
French dishes can certainly be elaborate, but Coq au Vin isn’t eaten every day in France. For the everyday meal, the French people eat a fresh baguette sandwich or a fresh salad from their neighborhood street café.
French street food is simple but delicious because the bread is freshly baked, the ingredients locally sourced, and the café is filled with friendly faces from the neighborhood.
This is the vision of France that Nicolas Caulliez and Colleen Wagner-Caulliez want to inspire with their French-inspired cafe called Lea French Street Food.
The baguettes and croissants are baked from scratch daily inside the cafe, and the ingredients are sourced from local Midwest farmers who the couple met when they embarked on a road trip through the farmlands of the area in search of the right partners for their street food restaurant.
Try the traditional Le Parisien sandwich with lightly smoked ham, swiss, and salted butter on a housemade baguette cut in half. Or opt for the Le Saint Germain with french brie, lettuce, and honey walnut butter.
For the French take on salad, try the traditional Lyonnaise served with poached egg, bacon, and house-made croutons atop greens.
Lea French Street Food is open daily from 8am to 3pm.
Baguette sandwiches and tartines (open-faced sandwiches) range from $7-$12.
Co-owners Nicolas Caulliez and Colleen Wagner-Caulliez lived in Paris for eight years before moving to Oak Park. They fell in love with Parisian street food purchased from vendors or from neighborhood cafés.
While in Paris, Nicolas took a bread class and then an internship at a Parisian bakery. Upon returning to the states, he completed a baking program at Kendall College.
You’ll likely find Nicolas baking baguettes at Lea French Street Food or Colleen helping guests navigate the simple but delicious menu.
Lea French Street Food is just 10 miles west of Chicago. The bakery and sandwich shop is about a three-minute walk from the Harlem/Lake Stop on the Green Line “L” train or a two-minute walk from the Oak Park Stop on the Union Pacific Metra.
