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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Sandwich Heaven: Ida and Paul Vissiere enjoy tuna and hot chicken sandwiches with curry soup at Le Boulanger in Willow Glen.
Le Boulanger offers quality bread dough to customers
By Jim Aquino
The Le Boulanger bakery/cafe at 1351 Lincoln Ave. is best known around Willow Glen for being the place where ex-President Bill Clinton stopped for lemonade and bread more than a year ago. Now it appears that politicians like Clinton and Councilman Ken Yeager aren't the only high-profile customers to break bread at the Willow Glen Le Boulanger (pronounced luh boo-lawn-ZHAY).
According to manager Gerald Zimmerman, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, who lives in Willow Glen, has visited Boulanger a few times.
"A customer of ours recognized Jeff Garcia. He and his girlfriend sat down and had lunch together," says Zimmerman, who regrets not being at the restaurant when Garcia was there.
Le Boulanger spokesman Allan Gerston says that out of the 22 Brunello family-owned Boulanger bakeries in the Bay Area, one of his favorite stores to visit is the Willow Glen restaurant, which opened in October 1993.
"It's got a very steady clientele. I know the faces in there. Any time I stop by the store, I wave to people," Gerston says. "To me, it's more like a neighborhood store. It's a little more neighborhood than a lot of our other stores."
During this colder-than-usual winter season, Willow Glen residents have been trying to keep warm by ordering soups and sandwiches at Boulanger.
"The soups are incredibly popular because of the chilly weather," says Zimmerman, who lists clam chowder and cream and tomato as two customer favorites during the season.
Earlier in the winter, Boulanger offered panettone, a holiday bread made of "generous quantities of sugar, eggs, butter, raisins and candied fruit and a delicate medley of orange, anise and a very special vanilla," according to Boulanger's website.
"Our panettone is unbeatable. Every time we bring it out for Christmas or Easter, I can't keep my hands off of it. It's not like some of these things you may see imported from Europe and might have been sitting in containers for weeks. Our stuff has turned out fresh," Gerston says.
The bakers at Boulanger work as early as 2 a.m. to maintain the freshness of the bread dough, which is first made at Boulanger's main plant in Sunnyvale and then delivered to the 22 bakeries in refrigerated trucks.
"The dough goes through all these atmospheric changes, so we have to handle it so carefully," Gerston says.
Perhaps the one thing about Boulanger that Willow Glen residents discuss more often than the food is Clinton's September 2000 visit.
"The neighborhood still likes to talk about it," Gerston says.
After attending a South Bay fundraiser for Rep. Mike Honda's congressional campaign, the former president and current Harlem resident had his motorcade make a stop at Willow Glen. Lincoln Avenue was filled with Secret Service agents and police officers as Clinton greeted the locals, purchased some novels at Willow Glen Books and then crossed the street to go to Boulanger.
"One of the reasons why the president stopped by our store was to use the facilities," Gerston says.
After using the restroom, Clinton ordered a bottle of Odwalla lemonade and a loaf of sourdough bread.
"I always joked about renaming the urinal and putting a little plaque over it," Gerston says. "His visit really added a cheery color to the neighborhood. I wish more of that happened because Willow Glen is one of the roots of San Jose and is so incredibly rich in history."
Le Boulanger, 1351 Lincoln Ave. Open Monday-Saturday, 6 a.m.-7 p.m., Sunday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, call 408.288.7095 or visit www.leboulanger.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
