Dufour's in Irvington

My buddy and I had lunch there( or is it here?) Thursday; quite unexpectedly. We meet for lunch weekly. Normally we plan ahead,but this week we had no plans so we tried Dufour's. Very pleasant choice. They offer a typically chic variety of sandwiches; with a notable exception; a Sloppy Joe. I am such a Hoosier. Naturally that is what I had to order.My pal had a 1/2 grilled cheese with a cup of soup. I also had a cup;and as they say out east it was wicked awesome. It was creamy chicken and mushroom. And you could actually taste all the components and the sweetness of real heavy cream. Nicely done. Someone in this joint can cook. The sandwiches were good, nicely crafted, with good bread. But they are what they are. A grilled cheese with tomato and ground meat with peppers, onions and a sweet tomato sauce. So the sandwiches alone merited 3 stars. The 4th star was given for the soup,and more importantly the potential this joint has to actually cook. Just wished I lived closer.

We went to Dufour's this morning for breakfast on the recommendations of just about everyone, and it was kind of disappointing.

In our party of four, two people got the French toast. It's cool that they use a variety of breads, but when the menu says that this is to "create a variety of textures", that texture is mostly mushy. The banana bread and cranberry walnut bread and whatever else was tasty, but those breads are moist in general, so slopping them up with egg will not lead to a crusty French toast. The other dishes were eggs benedict and an avocado/broccoli/guacamole omelet, which seemed to go over OK. The fresh-squeezed OJ was excellent. The prices were pretty moderate. The service was slooooooow and not particularly attentive. Lots of Irvington memorabilia to look at.

We'll probably be back because it's in the neighborhood and we like supporting local restaurants, but it was just OK. Maybe they'll change our minds in the future!

We are constantly pleased with Dufour's in Irvington. It's mostly a local destination, and many patrons are regulars. We recommend anything from the sweets case, as well as the French toast, biscuits and gravy and the breakfast sandwich. Certainly an Eastside favorite!