A new Asian grocery store is open, and a popular Fresno-area bread baker is behind it
The Brioche Lady is back.
Only now the local baker of the fluffy bread with a following has added another title to her roster — owner of an Asian grocery store.
Most people know Nubchi Thao for the soft French bread she sold at farmers markets and The Brioche Lady Bakery she ran for 2.5 years at Herndon Avenue and First Street before it closed.
Last week, she and husband Leng “Doc” Thao opened an Asian market in Tarpey Village, at the southwest corner of Ashlan and Clovis avenues.
The store is called TBL Asian Market and is sandwiched between the Arco station and the Sno-White Drive-In. Until recently, it was the Golden Phoenix Asian Market.
The couple took over the market, which was owned by Doc’s relatives.
And, yes, customers will be able to get the brioche bread there — but not just yet.
The Thaos cleaned up and restocked the store, which carries all kinds of Asian goods. Cuisines range from Filipino to Vietnamese and more.
A fresh vegetable section sells a variety of items, including bags of fresh Thai peppers and okra, and fresh fruit such as lychee and the rambutan with its little red whiskers.
The store has all kinds of noodles and rice. The snack aisle is stocked with cookies from several countries, chocolate-dipped Pocky sticks, Japanese mochi desserts and wasabi peas.
Look around and chances are the employees you see are the Thaos’ kids. They have nine — ranging from ages 2 to 22. The big ones work in the store, she said, and the medium ones are at home looking after the little ones.
Where to get The Brioche Lady Bread
But what about the bread?
With 10,000 followers on Facebook and another 5,200 on Instagram, The Brioche Lady certainly has an active following in Fresno and Clovis.
At the recent Big Hat Days event, she baked all night only to sell out in an hour.
When she closed the Fresno bakery in 2021, people kept asking where they could get her bread.
“It’s coming,” she said. “Everybody’s been very patient. They all come for the bread. It’s not here yet.”
The store has empty kitchen space that needs to be built out where she will bake the bread.
Just how long that takes depends upon what kind of equipment they need, and if they need to save up or finance it.
“We just have to wait until we generate a little more cash,” Thao said.
Thao is Hmong and was born and raised in France, where she learned to make the French bread. It’s often used in making French toast. Thao put her own spin on it, offering it in flavors like strawberry and purple taro.
But when the ovens are installed and the bread is being baked on site, it won’t be the same as the bakery. It won’t be available every day, she said.
“It takes so much to make these loaves,” she said. “I keep making and making and making, but sometimes I have to go home and sleep.”
That was one of the reasons they closed the bakery – that and she had just given birth to her littlest girl. But the bread lives on.
“The brioche is still my baby,” she said. “I want to do less baking. I want to spend more time with the kids.”
She’s working on other ways for people to get the bread. That includes a brioche mix where customers can add the eggs, water and butter and bake a loaf at home.
There’s also a larger version of it for bakeries or restaurants.
And she’s trying to find a way where others can bake her recipe and sell to the Hmong community, where the bread is in demand.
But for now, the focus is on the market and getting the kitchen up and running. It’s still a lot of work, but she’s a little less tired than the days she came home exhausted from the bakery.
“This is good,” she said. “The kids are happy. We’re happy.”
Details: TBL Asian Market is at 4109 N. Clovis Ave. in Fresno. Summer hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
