Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Michelle Le recently bought La Maison du Croissant and has added a number of items to the lunch menu, including Vietnamese spring rolls, above, to the restaurant's popular croissants.

New bakery owner offers Vietnamese, French foods

By Suzanne Cristallo

La Maison du Croissant in Los Gatos is also the house of Vietnamese spring rolls, chicken and pork turnovers and egg rolls, along with good old beef stew and ham sandwiches. The name for the small business with umbrellas out front on N. Santa Cruz Avenue suggests bakery goods--which it has in flaky and sweet abundance--but it belies the variety within.

Ever since Chi "Michelle" Le bought the small restaurant four months ago, there have been many additions to the menu, which is in a constant state of flux as she learns what pleases her customers. "I want to introduce Vietnamese food to this area where there is none," says Michelle, as she prefers to be called. Each day, she places a sign on the sidewalk out front, indicating the soup of the day and the lunch special.

The popular lemon-grass chicken sandwich is an example of what customers, once introduced to an item, will order regularly. The Vietnamese spring roll is another example. It's of appetizer size, stuffed with rice sticks, chicken, cilantro, mint, lettuce and prawns and wrapped in rice paper. The beef noodle soup, called pho, is another favorite.

Michelle, 37, came to the United States from Saigon when she was 14. The family settled in Pennsylvania, where they lived four years. But "because it was so cold there and there were no other Asians," they moved to Houston, Texas, and started a restaurant. Michelle went to the University of Houston and earned a degree in accounting as she helped with the family business.

"I had always loved baking with my grandma," she recalls, so she decided to attend a branch of the California Culinary Institute in Salinas, where she specialized in French pastry.

In July, she purchased the old house with the fireplace and hardwood floors, where customers can relax at small tables and enjoy an espresso with pastries or lunch. Michelle runs the place, making good use of her pastry-making and accounting skills.

Each night, after a 10-hour day serving customers, Michelle returns at 10 p.m to get the night crew started. She makes certain the croissant dough has been allowed to rise for two hours before placing it in the oven for 45 minutes. By 6 a.m, the dough will be baked into 500 crescent-shaped rolls, some destined for local hotels, others for the warm trays in her shop.

There are croissants for all tastes, among them almond, cinnamon, chocolate, fruit-filled and cinnamon raisin. They can be filled with ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, cream cheese or swiss cheese.

There's also the bread: thick-sliced white or moist and chewy whole wheat and rolls and baguettes--both soft and crunchy. All are freshly baked daily to enfold turkey, ham, cheese, chicken, egg salad, tri-tip sirloin or bay shrimp--the sandwiches run from $1.95 to $5.60. Tarts and cheesecake as well as chocolate mousse give the sweet tooth balance.

On Saturdays, two of the Le daughters--students at Saratoga High School--help out serving customers and running the cash register.

La Maison du Croissant, 303 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open daily 6 a.m.-4 p.m. 395-4441.

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