Patrice Pastry Chef closes on Saturdays after more than eight years of grueling work schedules, the owners want their lives back.
Joshua Fazio-Mariani picked us up from Laval on Thursday. Came to order from Patrice Patissier, which he made online. He's been a fan of Little His Burgundy Pastry Shop since five years ago when he tasted one of its confections and "fell in love".
"Oh my God," he remembers saying. "This is the best I have ever tasted."
Julien Bouchard also drove from his Laval to order. Jennifer Chan came from Toronto.
Patrice Patissier is one of the city's best and most loved patisserie girlfriends, with the last Kouign-Amann, canelé and lemon tart on Saturday. receive. At the end.
Closing is not news: Owner pastry chef Patrice Demars and his work and life partner Marie-Josée Baudouin announced on social media in March that announced onthat they will close their Rue Notre Dame patisserie at the end of the summer. It's not that business is bad. It was actually very good. But after over eight years of grueling work schedules and countless demands to run their business, they wanted their lives back. They wanted to relax and have fun.
As the deadline approached, Patrice Pastry Chef became increasingly busy. The store has a loyal base of regular customers, with "a lot of customers coming here for the first time," Demers, 42, told the Montreal Gazette this week. 50} 
“Last week, the line-up started earlier and earlier. , the first customers were there before 9 a.m. The line stretched to the end of the street, we waited 90 minutes, and when the last person in line stepped forward, everything was sold.
Over the past four days, 5,000 desserts were sold, traditionally more than sold during the busy Christmas period, and two hours on Saturday.
Demers and Beaudoin decided the best solution was to order everything online for the last three days.As of midnight on Sunday, August 14, customers had You can order from our online boutique and pick up in store from August 18 to 20.
Last Sunday at midnight, approximately 4,000 desserts were sold, and within minutes they were all talking.
"I was awake," said Bouchard. "I was going to buy tickets to a concert."
Mitra Thompson was able to order a breakfast box with several types of pastries and cakes, but like Bouchard, Little Burgundy residents He said trying to order online felt like "getting tickets to a rock concert."
Not all customers were lucky. Chocolate Her Chunks One of her cookie fans has ordered her 20 cookies to pick up next Thursday. Finally told me they were out of cookies. I moved to the next available day—and each time the cookie escaped me. By 12:09 am, all the chocolate chunk cookies are gone. ``
Chan, who is a frequent visitor to Montreal from Toronto, said he was a pastry chef at the now-closed Old Montreal restaurant, Les 400, when he was a pastry chef at Demers. and discovered his incredibly creative and original desserts. So did Bouchard.
Chang said of the closure, enjoying one of the shop's signature desserts on a bench in Notre Dame. Coriander, green apple granite, pistachio.
"But I know Patrice does something else. That's great."
Her brown cardboard box of treats has ten There were several cuignermans in it. It freezes just as well as the canelé, she said from her experience.
Jackson Leon, who drove from the east end to place an order, said he was sad to see the shop closed.
Since the couple announced the closure, Demers said many people have asked why. But most of their friends were chefs, sommeliers (Bauduin said she was a sommelier at Les 400 Coups when the two met) and waitstaff, saying, "How tiring work can be, and we We understand how you want to take a break. Since opening the
store, the couple has taken her three Saturdays off. One of them was for a wedding. They plan to take her month-long vacation in Italy this fall, but there are no firm plans beyond that.
"Next year, I hope to enjoy collaborating with chefs and pastry chefs," he said. "We love to travel and a shop just couldn't do that.
"I have lived in this environment for 22 years. I want to enjoy life and be motivated. I want to run a business. The entrepreneurial part you do means you can lose your passion,” he said. Calling plumbers and locating staff is part of running a business, he said — a reality that people forget.
Demers said in his 2003 When he was in his early twenties, he became co-owner of his Les Chèvres. Les Chèvres is his great Outremont restaurant with an emphasis on vegetables before they were a buzzword. It was an important success, but "financially devastating," he said. "For a long time I didn't want to have another business." said, "We are in good business and will end well. I am very proud of what we have achieved."
sschwartz@postmedia.com
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