Au Naturel owner to open Cafe du Nord

The Au Naturel Market & Caf, 1135 E. St. Louis St., closed Jan. 31, but its owner, Sonja Lallemand, will open Caf du Nord this week at 312 E. Commercial Street. Lallemand said although she'll probably have some coffees, teas and condiments available for purchase at Caf du Nord, it will primarily be a restaurant and not a food market.

Lallemand said the eatery will have breakfast and lunch menus that feature French food. She hopes to open for business March 17, initially serving breakfast and lunch. She plans to later add dinner service on Friday and Saturday.

"The food is all made from scratch, fresh; organic as much as possible still, no preservatives. That's not something you use generally in French cooking, preservatives or additives ... light, fulfilling cuisine," she said.

Lallemand said she chose the Commercial Street location because she finds it interesting and said the area has a lot of character. Also, she said, there's a need for such a restaurant on the north side of town.

"When I started driving around the whole neighborhood, I noticed that there is really no good restaurant to service the people on the north side, other than fast foods ... you can drive the whole north side, Kearney Street and Glenstone (Avenue) and that's it," she said.

"There are lots of people in the banks around there, Assemblies of God (headquarters), the hospital, OTC, Drury there's no place for them in the neighborhood to go to," Lallemand added.

(The preceding story originally appeared in the SBJ Daily Update, a subscriber-only service, Feb. 27.)