Merci French Café & Patisserie

Merci French Café & Patisserie is a cozy French café and bakery that manages to bring a dash of Parisian café culture to its suburban Scottsdale strip-mall location. Chef and owner Duc Liao, formerly of Scratch Pastries, continues to impress with a lineup of gorgeously crafted French pastries. But the restaurant’s straightforward menu of café classics, which includes quiche, French sandwiches (including a fine croque madame), salads, and dinner entrees, is sometimes subject to weak execution and kitchen inconsistencies. The house black truffle burger is loaded with Swiss cheese and mushrooms, yet under-seasoned and bland. Beef bourguignon offers a lovely, if thin, red burgundy sauce, but is marred by strange additions like melted yellow cheese. For dessert, head to the pastry counter, where you’ll find elegantly-constructed fruit tarts and crumbles.