Photos by Caitlin Abrams
Marc Heu Desserts
One of the sweetest stories out of St. Paul this decade has been the breakout success of the wildly elegant baker Marc Heu, and his COO dynamo of a bride Gaosong Heu. I wrote about the couple and their business Marc Heu Patisserie Paris in depth a few years ago, it's the Hmong love story that has a happily-ever-after (for all of us) in meringue fantasias and mango tarts like velvet sunsets.
Marc and Gaosong Heu
Marc and Gaosong Heu in their University Ave. pastry shop.
Well. Little did I know that while Marc and Gaosong were presenting a front of nothing but chic and ease, behind the scenes they were scrambling. “I’m a Frogtown girl, we were living the Frogtown life, sleeping on the floor of the office half the time,” laughed Gaosong Heu on the phone when I talked to her this morning. “Literally. Catch some sleep, then Marc would get up at midnight, make croissants till four a.m., sleep, put them in the oven at six, sleep, open the doors at nine. It was crazy. So, leaving Frogtown is crazy emotional for us. Half the fights Marc and I have ever had are: Leaving Frogtown, could we ever? But our customers keep asking: Could you get some chairs and somewhere to sit, please? And we’ve got other dreams, with savory, breads, a café like you’d fine in Paris.”
And so yes, Marc Heu is leaving Frogtown! Though not by much.
Drumroll, please … In spring of 2023, maybe April if all goes well, Marc Heu will be relocating to the Selby and Dale neighborhood, to the historic former Dale Street Garage, built in 1915, but today basically a pretty brick box.
What will be in the new Marc Heu Patisserie Paris? They’ll start off with essentially what they have in Frogtown—pastries, coffee. But then they’ll grow into the space, and by this summer they’re hoping to be a full-fledged French bistro with a 30-seat patio where you can get wine, beer, ice cream, full lunch, and dinner.
“Marc has so many things he does well, and this has always been our dream,” explained Gaosong. “Sandwiches made with our baguettes and bread with the best prosciutto or Iberico ham. Quiches, salads, at night maybe a lounge-y feeling, you’ll walk by—is this a speakeasy?”
Expect Paris-style bentwood chairs, umbrellas, and a bit of tropical wildness, says Gaosong, in tribute to Marc’s French Guiana childhood. “I want it to feel like people are taking a trip to Paris. And I want Marc to be able to flex his muscles. He can make such incredible food, I truly think he’s a genius. The first time he does anything in food, it’s just right. We’ll have ice cream, eventually. One time he made this shandy sorbet, it was so light and fluffy, with a little bit of grain, it had such great flavor—that’s the kind of thing we can do there that we can’t do here. But we also don’t want to leave. Leaving is very emotional. But we also have been doing construction for a year and need to tell people. I can’t wait for everyone to see it. It’s going to be so good.”
Growth! Change! For all of us, with elegant croissants, cloud-light meringues and tarts beyond compare?
Marc Heu Patisserie Paris, soon enough at: 156 N. Dale St., St. Paul.
