22521 Main Street --- Hayward, California 94541 --- (510) 886-2130

It's a surprising find in blue-collar downtown Hayward: a cozy French bakery, cluttered with tables, chairs, and vintage display cases full of cakes, cookies, croissants, breads, tarts, meringues, and other baked goods.

 This is La Patisserie Francaise & Chocolaterie. It's not exactly a touch of France in southern Alameda County. More like a touch of France, blended with a generous helping of Vietnam, folded into the colorful, rough-around-the-edges, multicultural, rainbow-flag fruit tart (pun maybe intended) that is Downtown Hayward at its best.

 Alice Nguyen is the proprietress, baker and soul of La Patisserie Francaise. Trained in France and raised there and in Vietnam, she creates authentic pastries, cakes, mousses, breads, and (on Saturday) sweet and sour baguettes daily. Her husband, Linh, is the joyful heart of the business -- quick with a laugh and dynamite with the espresso machine. Their kids are also regular presences at the shop -- especially in the summer.

 The croissants (butter, chocolate, apple, and ham & cheese) are some of the best in the Bay Area, but get there early if you want them because Alice doesn't make more than she can sell on a given day. The cakes and tarts, made to order, are breathtaking to look at and delicious to eat. At lunchtime, the sandwiches (mostly Vietnamese style) are beautiful, fresh, and filling.

 There's a downside. Frankly, La Patisserie Francaise isn't the prettiest bakery you'll ever visit. It's in a rough neighborhood. Alice and Linh work very hard, and don't always have time or energy to keep the place as tidy as some of us regulars might like. (Consider: in the spring of 2003 another regular customer and I painted the shop on a Sunday, because it needed doing.) And I have practically begged Alice to put baked goods in the front windows, rather than plants. But the fabulous treats from Alice's oven keep many customers coming back, week after week. I hope you'll join us. You won't regret it.

 Hours: 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturdays. Closed Sundays.
 Baked goods from La Patisserie Francaise are also sold at the Grand Lake and Ohlone College Farmers' Markets on Saturdays.

"Warmth and sweetness pervade the atmosphere of La Patisserie Francaise & Chocolaterie."
 Matthew Surrence, Hayward Daily Review, November 20, 1994

"She's churning out chocolate mousse, petit fours and Yule log cakes by the dozens."
 Julissa McKinnon, Hayward Daily Review, December 25, 2002

 
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