DEAN & DELUCA Shinjuku — Restaurant in Tokyo

Croque Monsieur Raisin? A Culinary Crime So Heinous, the Guillotine Deserves a Comeback

I’m not usually one to call for capital punishment over brunch. But after encountering the Croque Monsieur made with RAISIN BREAD and béchamel at Dean & DeLuca Shinjuku station, I must take a stand—for justice, for decency, and for the dignity of French cuisine.

Let me be clear: I love raisin bread. I grew up defending it against the haters, buttering each slice with pride. But this? This was not a bold twist. This was culinary treason.

Some deranged mind—likely wearing a double-breasted blazer and drunk on the words “fusion” and “elevated casual”—decided to take fluffy, innocent raisin bread and drown it in béchamel! This was serious. There was ham. There was cheese melted all over the damn raisin bread too! And just below? Juicy little raisins, bobbing like corpses in a lactose sea. Did they think I wouldn’t turn the bread over and find out their dirty little secret?

I took one bite and felt my Alsace ancestors recoil. The sweetness clashed with the béchamel in a way that can only be described as hostile diplomacy. It didn’t work. It couldn’t work. It should never have been attempted. Je dis non!!!

And so I say this: whoever invented this sandwich must be held accountable. Not fined. Not fired. Guillotined. In the plaza. At dawn. Let every would-be sandwich savoteur witness what happens when you play God with French classics.

Paris didn’t survive revolutions, wars, and McDonald’s to be disrespected like this.

Dean & DeLuca, I love you. But this sandwich was...

Gourmet haven!

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