Cafe Marie-Jeanne

-Grubbing in Chicago

French Diner Food in Humboldt Park

Here's a post I had planned pre-pandemic. Though both of the dishes featured were ate dining in, they're both featured on the current takeout menu for Cafe Marie-Jeanne. The French forward cafe at the corner of California and Augusta opened in 2016 to some good reviews and they were rolling along before covid landed and forced all spots to close. Sure some places are doing ok and those are mainly the spots that did mostly takeout. Places like Cafe Marie-Jeanne which relied on mostly people dining in and ordering drinks are obviously struggling compared to before. So we've tried to do our part and order out food but it's never as good. Though some spots have better pickup options.

Locals Favorite in Humboldt Park

My favorite menu item at Cafe Marie-Jeanne is what they simply call a ham, butter, and pickle sandwich. Which it totally is. But it's a super well curated sandwich with each ingredient being of the highest quality. House cured ham with beautiful marbling comes sliced paper thin just how I like it. Then sweet pickle chips and butter complement the ham and crusty roll so perfectly. A contender.

Ham, Butter, Pickle Sandwich at Cafe Marie-Jeanne

The other item both the wife and I really like from here is/was their duck confit with frites. It's a huge plate of duck confit and fries with some sort of light gravy drizzled over the top. It's really heartwarming on a cold winter day. Sure it's the summer but don't let the weather prevent you from trying this glutton of a dish. They switched up the duck but the good news is they've added an entire menu of different meat and frites options for takeout. The menu lists a few sausages, all grilled up really well and also BBQ chicken and duck leg all served on top a big pile of fresh cut fries. Usually fries don't travel well but the dish kind of steams up into one for the car ride and I haven't had any problem with that. Kind of like the fries on the bottom of an order of Harold's or rib tips from Lem's. We tried a combo of the summer sausage and cheddar hot link recently and I'm getting it again soon.

Duck Confit and Frites 

Cafe Marie-Jeanne
1001 N California Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 904-7660
Website