Lou, The French On The Block — Restaurant in Burbank

Croissants🥐 are the REAL THING. BUT, the other sweets aren’t as good🍩🫤 As a New Yorker foodie who’s been to France a few times, their puff pastry items are soft, delicate, subtly and delightfully tasty French heaven! Not LA’s weak attempts at them😒

For croissants I’d give 5⭐️ For the rest of the sweets a 2.5-3⭐️

The choux pastries😒are good but nowhere near as magical. I’ve not tried the tarts, they only look ok, and why, when the puff pastry items are transcendent!?

Cons: The pain au chocolate🥐🍫 (chocolate croissant) used to be perfect but now needs a wee bit more chocolate. I never say that about chocolate croissants. I had almost half the bread left when I ran out of chocolate this last time😐🤷‍♀️ The flourless chocolate cake🍰🍫 looks good but was straight up disappointing. Strikingly uneventful given this place’s standards. And the chocolate doughnut rounds 🍩 👎 used to have light chocolate custardy-cream inside but last time in Nov ‘24 it had a super dense, not even good tasting chocolate in it. I was so bummed I threw them away!! Not worth the calories. Once I liked the eclairs, in 2023, but the next times they were overfilled and soggy. Fell apart from the compromised choux from all that liquidy filling bloating it. And the flavors could definitely be better.

Lou gets the choux (dough encasing) right, but the fillings and toppings aren’t delightful. Puzzling since those are so easy to do well!

I’ve not tried the sandwiches nor French bread but they look impressive.

Still, the staff is SO lovely and the place is adorable too. Lovely locals in a short fast line, open only F-Sn mornings till 2:30pm only. Heaven. A MUCH needed bakery, SO...

You have to visit Lou!! This is by far one of the best bakeries/patisseries we have in Los Angeles and I am SO grateful for Lou opening up this shop

They have some items displayed in the front window with another display behind the register and the coffee + sandwich menu boards on the sides. (FYI they don't really have an "interior" room but everything is done at the front door).

The croissant is the best you'll ever eat. Great size, so crispy, right amount of butteryness, flaky, and perfect honeycomb, not dense and light!

The almond croissant is outstanding. So crunchy, so almondy, not heavy and not overly sweet!

You gotta get the quiches. You gotta get the eclair. You have to get everything

The pain au chocolate was beyond amazing - pastry being so flaky, airy, light, and buttery with small amounts of chocolate in each bite, so it was not too sweet and not overpowering. The latte was smooth and hot to wash it down.

The sandwich is A good size baguette, dense, crispy on the outside and smelled sooo good! It was filled with rich and creamy boursin, fresh cucumbers, and tender smoked salmon with hints of lemon. Not fishy at all and the sandwich came together so balanced and delicious.

Lou is such a down to Earth, humble, and friendly guy! A master of his trade, he admits he is not done changing and bettering his food, but if I and the community are this happy now, I can't wait to see what more he...

When you're ready for an authentic French treat, you have to visit Lou the French on the Block. Even though I arrived before they opened at 8 a.m., and it was pouring rain, there was already a line of Lou devotees. I'm not usually a croissant fan, but after talking to some of the other people in line about what their favorites were, I knew I'd have to try the croissant, and must say it was incredible and light as air--air with a super buttery crunchy shell, that is. I also bought everything you see in my photo and am embarrassed to admit that by the end of the day, there was only one bite of the chocolate cake left--I'd eaten them all! I think my favorite was the pear and almond tart with its dense and crumbly thick pastry shell and the thinnest slice of tender pear topped by a generous amount of pastry cream. I must add a note about how wonderful everyone behind the counter was because they were all so helpful and welcoming. There was a little trouble using my e gift card, but I was never made to feel that I was inconveniencing them in any way, and soon enough, I was on my way. I can't wait to go back and try one of their sandwiches and the quiche as well. Their large covered patio looked inviting, as long as you visit on a non-rainy day. Brush up on your French before you go, because everyone at Lou the French est authentiquement fraincais. (is authentically French) definitely 5 stars for...