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Breaking Bread
Pastry princess joins La Belle Vie
Michelle Gayer-Nicholson made a big splash when she came to town from Chicago -- and a stint at world-famous Charlie Trotter's, where she also co-authored "Charlie Trotter's Desserts" -- to become head chef at Franklin Street Bakery in 2004. It was an odd move which she explained by saying both that she wanted to raise her children here and that she wanted to have the freedom to experiment, pastry-wise. Experiment she did. During Nicholson-Gayer's reign, the hybrid corner bakeshop and social action site (the original business plan included support from the American Indian Neighborhood Development Corporation) at Franklin and 10th Avenue sported pastries made with green tea, candied pansies, and rosemary polenta. Shortly after seeing Franklin Street through a major expansion in 2005, Gayer-Nicholson left, putatively to teach at Le Cordon Bleu. But today, she's back, in our local version of Charlie Trotter-style: teaming up with chef Tim McKee at La Belle Vie and sister restaurant Solera. Talk about a power couple.
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Comments
Is the addition of Michelle Gayer-Nicholson enough to lure those of us who have been turned off LBV version.2.0? Everyone I know who's eaten there found a snob factor (for lack of a better term) to be in play.
We've been disappointed in the service (and to some extent the food) after a few visits, and won't be back. Not at those prices.
The service we received, compared with version 1.0, varied from near-absent to unprofessional to at best OK. Is this because we weren't kitted out in designer gear? We did dress up, mind you... and ordered quite a bit...
Je ne sais pas.
What a pleasant wait it was, watching the Franklin Ave. Bakery be constructed. Then, being able to go in and easily buy Michelle Gayer-Nicholson's creations was a heady experience for a foodie. There was this huge picture window from the retail store that allowed you to put your nose on the glass and just dream of being on the other side with hands on the doughs, or mixing the pastry creams and flavoring them with the essences of the various bottles. Michelle was always there, just a few feet away if I wanted to just smile and say, "Hi, and thanks for all of this". After she had left for the school, I happened to be in Byerly's meeting Charlie Trotter and buying his book, and, next to me were two young chefs in training from the Le Cordon Bleu. I mentioned Michelle, and, they had both been fortunite to have been trained by her and appreciated the oportunity..
So, now LBV and Solera and their patrons can have the pleasant experience of sampling her fabulous creations. The local scene is continuing to improve in it's culinary status with Michelle added to it's palate.
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