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Stop reading now if you dislike French food, still call fried potatoes “freedom fries” or staunchly refuse to buy French wine. I adore French cuisine, lust for pommes frites and will lift a glass of vin ordinaire in celebration of Bastille Day (July 14) with joie de vivre. Classic French cuisine can be found right in Baton Rouge.

Accept it or not, classic French cooking is considered by many to be the standard against which all other cuisines are measured. Also referred to as haute cuisine, this “standard” was introduced into the French courts by Catherine de Medici in the 1500s and later perfected by Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who is considered the father of French cooking. My personal definition for classic French cooking is: food prepared according to the edicts of French culinary masters such as Escoffier, although usually less complicated. Mother sauces, entrees, soups, breads and pastry are prepared from scratch using long-held, traditional methods that avoid commercially prepared, frozen, canned and otherwise processed foods.

True French cooking as I’ve defined is tough to find in Baton Rouge, but not impossible. Owner and Executive Chef Greg Brandt’s cooking reflects his Swiss-born father’s training—who can forget Chalet Brandt—and Greg’s own personal experience cooking worldwide. Those experiences form the foundation of the food at Brandt’s Maisonette and present in stunning dishes such as classic chilled cream of vichyssoise Louis Diat or coquilles St. Jacques (au gratin of scallops) in Champagne velouté. Chef Brandt makes his own charcuterie—pates and terrines, cooks a la minute (to order) and uses unique ingredients such as morels, black truffles, escargot and foie gras.

His menu has some Louisiana twists, but even those dishes find their base in classic French cooking techniques and sauces as in oysters wrapped in warm, puff pastry with mousse de foie gras and duxelles of wild mushroom-sauce choron. Desserts are also beautifully executed classics—mixed berries in crème Anglaise, crème brulee or chocolate raspberry terrine, to name a few.

Just when you thought Baton Rouge was little more than a sea of chain restaurants, up pops evidence to the contrary. Seek and ye shall find, even if it means foregoing “freedom toast” to taste la difference. Bon Appetit.