Marc Heu Patisserie moving from Frogtown to Selby/Dale

Jess Fleming, Pioneer Press
·2 min read

Marc Heu Patisserie, the Frogtown bakery that makes beautiful French pastries, is moving.

The 3-year-old bakery isn’t going far — 1.2 miles to be exact — but its new digs on Selby Avenue and Dale Street will have seating, a patio, and a bigger kitchen, which will allow Marc Heu, the French-born, French Guiana-raised chef, to execute a bigger menu of breakfast and lunch staples, French bistro style.

“I love food,” Marc Heu said. “I’m not just a sweet person. I want to serve things that I cannot find here.”

That’ll be housemade French breads, sandwiches, salads, soups, charcuterie and cheese boards and more.

Heu and his wife and COO Gaosong Heu said they are sad to be leaving Frogtown, the neighborhood that supported their fledgling business throughout the pandemic.

“We were sleeping up here for a while (during the pandemic),” Gaosong Heu said from the loft of the restaurant, a space that is under-used but also difficult to access. “It was just Marc and I working, and we were doing everything. Marc was even delivering to people within a 15-mile radius.”

Marc Heu, remembering that time, laughed. “That’s the price you pay for making everything, every day, fresh.”

Loyal customers kept them afloat, buying more pastries than they really needed. Friends of the business also hung signs in the windows indicating it was owned by people of color during the George Floyd protests.

Those customers have also been asking for a place to sit. The bakery’s current location is just a pastry case and cash register, with the rest of the space dedicated to kitchen and storage.

The new space will have 19 seats inside and a patio that can seat an additional 30 people.

The Heus had been looking to open in the Selby/Dale area when they first opened, but ended up in Frogtown instead. So when the historic former Dale Street Garage space was ready for tenants, their broker John Higgins knew it was right for them.

“He was a huge advocate for us. We had been working with him for three years,” Gaosong Heu said.

The structure, built in 1915, is currently a big, empty box, which means the Heus, with the help of architect Aaron Wittkamper, will be able to transform it into the Parisian bistro of their dreams.

“We want people to feel like they’re taking a trip every time they come in,” Gaosong Heu said, adding that there will be some “wild” accents. “Marc’s pastries combine unexpected flavors. They’re a little wild. So we want the decor to reflect that as well.”

The Heus are aiming for an April 2023 opening.

Marc Heu Patisserie: Coming soon to 156 N. Dale St. Currently operating at 383 W. University Ave., St. Paul; 763-401-7930; marcheuparis.com

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