Mill Avenue, the spine of downtown Tempe, recently received a shiny new gateway sign suspended overhead. It has drawn skeptical reactions and might seem like a sort of band-aid attempting to cover bigger problems with high rents, widespread vacancies, and retail turnover. While the sign makes it more obvious when visitors are entering the Mill Avenue District, it does little to expose small businesses that are hidden nearby. Foch Cafe, a restaurant specializing in crepes and sandwiches, is one of those just-off-Mill places that could benefit from more traffic.
Hidden in a corner of the Orchid House building on the Sixth Street cul-de-sac just half a block east of Tempe’s main downtown street, Foch is about three blocks from both the Mill Avenue / Third Street and Veterans Way / College Avenue stations on the A Line. It’s also a very short walk from the route of the Tempe Streetcar. Since the Orchid House and the Brickyard buildings are largely occupied by Arizona State University, it is delightfully unsurprising to see a large array of shaded bike racks right next to the restaurant’s covered patio and rear entrance.
The cafe’s interior is principally defined by large windows and abundant natural light. Plants hanging above the bar and placed against the wall reinforce an airy, open feel. Though there is a host stand, the dining room is often staffed by just one server who greets, seats, and takes orders. Despite that arrangement, service is generally quick and responsive. The restaurant’s hours, which emphasize morning and midday with dinner service only Thursday through Saturday, lead to a menu that blends breakfast and lunch items with a handful of dinner entrees.
Foch’s owners also operate the local Crepe Club restaurants, so it’s little surprise that the thin French pancakes are one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. They’re served all day in variations aimed at breakfast, lunch, and dessert. The two sweet options are the strawberry cheesecake crepes with fresh fruit, biscoff cookies, cream cheese, whipped cream and the restaurant’s eponymous Foch crepe, which is loaded with everything the former one contains, as well as additional ingredients that include Nutella, mixed berries, bananas, and almonds.
The savory choices include a chicken and gravy crepe filled with a boneless breast of fried poultry and accessorized with creamy sausage gravy, a sunny-side up egg, and a bit of heat from a jalapeño jam. A green chili crepe combines slivers of green chilies with a choice of grilled chicken breast, braised beef, or a mixture of sausage and eggs. It could benefit from a sauce to add moisture, but otherwise it’s a successful Southwestern blend of flavors. The essence of all four varieties, the crepes themselves, are supple and somehow airy and filling at the same time.
Breakfast offerings include omelettes such as a classic Florentine with mushrooms, spinach, Swiss cheese, and bechamel sauce and a more distinctive one made with duck confit, goat cheese, and tomato jam. Other choices include French toast, avocado toast, steak and eggs, and a board with lox, a bagel, and the usual accompaniments of red onion, cream cheese, and capers. Long wooden boards are also used for serving sandwiches and burgers, which bear some of the same somewhat French and European influences as the crepes and morning fare.
Among the burgers, one comes with a duck confit on top of the beef patty, using again one of the restaurant’s many French influences. A gruyere burger has a peppery bite from abundant arugula and au poivre sauce, as well as plenty of umami from cheese and caramelized onions. Sandwiches assume a variety of formats from turkey with pistachios, arugula, and burrata on a crispy croissant to a grilled cheese with sourdough encrusted with parmesan on the griddle. A variety of panini are fashioned within crusty bread more reminiscent of a baguette or ciabatta.
Sides are all a-la-carte and include parmesan fries, charred Brussels sprouts, a simple salad, and roasted potatoes seasoned with grated parmesan and coarsely ground salt in all the right proportions. In terms of full entrees available for dinner, short rib is served on the bone with those same potatoes and Brussels sprouts in a hearty plated meal. Similar entrees make good use of chicken, salmon, seafood, and a ribeye steak. Lighter fare includes several salads and tartines, which are much like bruschetta with varied toppings but a bit thinner and crisper.
Smoked salmon with dill, mushrooms and goat cheese, figs and apples, avocado and feta, and a sun-dried tomato tapenade with artichoke are among some of the choices available for these snacks, which can be ordered individually or in boards of three or five flavors mixed as desired. Dessert choices begin with the sweet crepes mentioned earlier. There is also a baked apple skillet that is probably the easiest of the meal finales to share around a table.The restaurant has a full bar which dispenses wine, a mostly local selection of draft beer, and a variety of cocktails.
A golden mojito is light, summery, and refreshing while another rum-based drink, the Scorched Earth, attains a darker hue and more savory flavor from the addition of activated charcoal. There are also an abundance of fruit-flavored margaritas and mimosas to complement the restaurant’s sunny aesthetics and brunch-oriented menu. A brand new shiny sign may help visitors identify Mill Avenue as downtown Tempe’s main street, but will take places like the Foch Cafe in corner pockets and side streets nearby to help the district reclaim and retain its vitality.
PHX Rail Food 