Couple behind June BYOB are now offering frog legs and more French fare at Audubon bistro

Christina Cusack grew up in Audubon and still has an affinity for her hometown.

So when the opportunity came up for she and her husband, chef Rich Cusack, to open up a French café and bistro with a corner location on a busy street, they jumped at it.

Café Le Jardin had its soft opening in early April at 34 West Merchant Street in the location formerly occupied by Smoke BBQ. So far, things have gone well at their café which is a casual spin-off of their June BYOB French restaurant in Collingswood.

“It was an available spot,” Cusack explained. “Someone reached out to us, they said, ‘hey, I know you’re interested in opening a second spot and I think this place would be great, it’s right on the corner’. We went and we fell in love with the place. I grew up in Audubon so I’ve always loved Audubon. I feel like more businesses are starting to branch out to Audubon so I felt it was a great time."

For now, the bistro is open Thursday through Monday.

“Hopefully we're going to be open every day down the line.”

Café Le Jardin has frog legs

Christina and Rich also own June BYOB in Collingswood, an upscale French BYOB, which serves traditional French food with modern influences. They opened June BYOB in Philadelphia in August of 2019 and battled through the early months of the pandemic, before closing in the fall of 2020 and relocating to Collingswood in August 2021.

While June BYOB is doing well, the couple always wanted a second restaurant and had planned to open a French vegetarian café at The Factory in Collingswood, but changed plans and instead opened the café (it's not vegetarian) in Audubon.

“More people are willing to go to this restaurant and they see that French food really isn’t that different, it’s meat and potatoes and then they’re willing to go to June and try something more adventurous,” Cusack stated.

Some of the brunch/lunch menu items include French toast with strawberry compote, croque madame, a thick piece of toast with ham, egg and cheese, omelettes, quiche Lorraine, frog legs, crab cake sandwiches, and then for dinner there is steak tartare, Parisian gnocchi, steak frites, and more.

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“We just want everyone to just come, hang out and just relax,” Cusack said. “I think everybody’s really happy to have something different to go to.”

Merchant Street has attracted many restaurants

Cusack said it’s “pretty incredible” to think about where they were during the early stages of the pandemic and where they are now.

“We definitely hit a low, rough patch,” she added. “There’s still moments where we’re struggling and trying to figure everything out, but I think we’re more fortunate than other people and I’m very lucky about that.”

She said Audubon is a really “cute town” and that a lot of people live on Merchant Street and are excited to be able to walk down the street and go to a French bistro or sit outside with a glass of wine and a cheeseboard.

“…There’s a Cuban restaurant (SunPress) that opened up,” Cusack added. “I hear there’s a Dominican restaurant opening up. BurgerTime opened up there, LesbiVeggies. I feel like in the next year or so, it’s going to be really booming.”

Celeste E. Whittaker is a news features reporter for the Courier Post, Daily Journal and Burlington County Times. The South Jersey native started at the CP in 1998 and has covered the Philadelphia 76ers, college and high school sports and has won numerous awards for her work. Reach her by email at  cwhittaker@gannettnj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @cp_CWhittaker.

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This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: A new French café and bistro opens in Audubon on busy strip