Who eats dinner at 4:30? Well, quite possibly you – if you want to nab a table at Once Upon A Time In France, the wildly popular French bistro in East Nashville.
In Nashville, this experience is still a fairly new luxury. True French cuisine of any type was arguably non-existent for Nashvillians before 2014, when dropping into a quaint shop in Green Hills selling baguettes, French butter, moutardes, and preserves of every sort was a phantom dream.
“What do you have that’s not too sweet?”
This question is asked to Guenievre Milliner, Frenchwoman and owner of Little Gourmand French market and patisserie on a fairly regular basis. “[customers] are always surprised that the level of sugar when they taste the patisserie is not as high,” she says. “It’s high in butter, but the sugar is actually lower so you can taste all the ingredients.”
Milliner opened the first location of Little Gourmand 7 years ago, finally satisfying her urge to own her own food business after working 15 years for Warner Brothers in Europe and another decade as an importer of French foods for upscale restaurants in Canada. Though starting a business from scratch in a new country completely on her own was daunting, she’s been pleased with the overwhelmingly positive reception and more than happy to help steer right any veering perceptions of her food culture.
We may think we know French cuisine because we eat croissants, but the truth may be that we have no idea. “Sometimes people are afraid of French cuisine – they think it’s going to be so complicated, and we spend hours and hours in the kitchen which is actually untrue. French cuisine is simple. You usually don’t have that many ingredients. If the ingredients are good – just get good vegetables or good meat and a good bread and you’re going to get a good meal in the end. In France, patisserie or cuisine, the simpler the better.”
Simple, like her classic baguette sandwich, the Paris Deluxe, consisting of butter, ham (Jambon de Paris), and French brie, which Milliner has been making for 7 years now, in addition to the croissants and quiches and sweets she sells primarily in her Berry Hill location.