Downtown Menlo Park gets a French patisserie

Uploaded: Jun 22, 2015

A woman raised in France who later graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and now lives in Atherton is opening her own patisserie in the former home of Sugar Shack on Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Menlo Park.

Debora Ferrand, who was actually born in Brazil but raised in France, has been searching for a place to open a pastry shop since moving to Atherton about a year ago. She moved to the area with her family after living for several years in Texas, where she attended Le Cordon Bleu with an emphasis on baking and pastries.

Sugar Shack, downtown's whimsical and vibrantly colored candy shop, closed this fall after eight years of business at 816 Santa Cruz Ave.

Ferrand described the shop as "sophisticated but not too fancy -- very Parisian feeling." Mademoiselle Colette Patisserie (named after a family member who passed away) will have all the classic French pastries -- croissants, pain au chocolat, macarons and more -- as well as lunch items like salads and quiche. The shop will serve breakfast and lunch, plus brunch and "high tea" on Sundays. All food will be organic and locally sourced, Ferrand said.

She's planning to remodel an outdoor area in the back and also serve wine and champagne.

Ferrand said she's hoping to be open in August or September. Until then, head to the shop's Facebook page for some tantalizing photos of her pastries.

Comments

+ 2 people like this

Posted by Emme, a resident of Menlo Park,
on Jun 23, 2015 at 12:57 pm

Yeah!!! I have come up stumped so many times trying to find great quiche ready to go and take to morning meetings!!!! Looking forward to its opening!

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+ 1 person likes this

Posted by Bob , a resident of Portola Valley: Brookside Park,
on Jun 25, 2015 at 12:43 pm

Finally, the chance to buy real French croissants. Now, open a branch in Portola Valley. Bon chance Debora.

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+ 2 people like this

Posted by Mike Keenly, a resident of Menlo Park: Allied Arts/Stanford Park,
on Jun 25, 2015 at 1:29 pm

What happened to all of the other comments?

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Posted by Max Hauser, a resident of another community,
on Jun 25, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Max Hauser is a registered user.

Sounds promising! And maybe part of a current Bay Area trend, as authentic patisseries are opening including the two new ones a block apart in Mountain View (Alexander's Patisserie and La Panotiq, whose parent La Tartine Group is opening others all over the region).

Maybe we'll get lucky, and the promised "macarons" will (for a change) show US customers more of what this word means to French people. Not just the recent colorful filled sandwiches (nice, but easy to get your fill of, and more accurately called Gerbet or "Paris" macarons) but also the classic light almond cookie, the "macaron" of most 20th-century French cookbooks. Which happens also to be the "macaroon" of most 20th-c. US cookbooks. In the US, a coconut variation became popular and more recently in France, a sandwich version did, but alas those special variations are all some people today know of "macaroon" and "macaron."

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+ 1 person likes this

Posted by dana hendrickson, a resident of Menlo Park: Central Menlo Park,
on Jun 26, 2015 at 2:52 pm

The Almanac, why are our comments deleted???

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Posted by Max Hauser, a resident of Mountain View,
on Jun 26, 2015 at 5:44 pm

Those of you asking about past comments: the website occasionally loses content accidentally or temporarily.

The way to inquire about a dropped comment is not to post here on the blog about it, but rather, directly email the web manager at the address listed publicly on the Contacts page:

webmaster@PaloAltoOnline.com

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+ 2 people like this

Posted by Bunyip, a resident of Adobe-Meadow,
on Jun 28, 2015 at 8:20 am

Big yawn. Could you all sound any more pretentious? This store isn't even opened. Somehow the owner has got this blogger to blog about it and assess the response.

You really think someone who was born in Brazil and trained in Texas knows anything about authentic French pastry? It will be the usual Americanized sugar filled junk. And a champagne room out the back? Clearly tasteless.

Just because you lived there and bought a croissant every second Saturday doesn't qualify as experience.

Can we focus on real world problems? What about the homeless. Up and down university? Can you blog about what you are doing for that? Or just pasty shops that might open up in 3 months.

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+ 4 people like this

Posted by Go back to bed, a resident of Menlo Park,
on Jun 28, 2015 at 9:19 am

Bunyip, you clearly need something. Not sure if it's more sleep or a decent breakfast. No idea why you have such a problem with a simple article about a new shop in town. Or why you turned the topic to the homeless. (Yes, we can agree that is a serious problem. Today I'm doing something to help some of the local homeless people. I hope you are doing something this week to help, too.)

Lots of folks are clearly interested in this story, based on the number of views. Just reading various articles on my Sunday morning myself ... the topic title and number of views brought me here. I'm looking forward to checking out the new place that seems a suitable replacement for the Sugar Shack.

I appreciate the local articles and news provided by PA Online and the Almanac. I might not always agree with them, that's fine. Still happy to know what's happening and what my neighbors are thinking.

Sorry you're grumpy today, Bunyip. Hope you can turn it around ...

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+ 5 people like this

Posted by Pepe Le peu, a resident of Menlo Park: Sharon Heights,
on Jun 28, 2015 at 9:34 am

Bunyip is cranky because he feels that a person born in brasil and trained in Texas can't be legit. He rather pretentiously turns the conversation to the homeless problem. Bunyip chill out and have a croissant. Give one to a homeless person if you must.

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+ 1 person likes this

Posted by Bunyip, a resident of Adobe-Meadow,
on Jun 28, 2015 at 1:56 pm

Comments made me smile. I will go back to bed.

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