Boulder’s Bakery Scene Rises With French Artisan Breads & Pastries

Bringing a touch of European flair to the Front Range, Maisonette (maisonetteboulder.com), a bustling, authentic French bakery and cafe on Boulder’s Walnut Street, opened in 2025 with six employees. Today, the team has grown to 30. The space is striking, a modern French farmhouse, airy, cheerful and spacious by all measures. Owner-chef Florian Tétart, originally from France—where he says sensibilities are more conservative than in the U.S.—knew that if he built it, they would come. “This is the country of, what do you say?, go big or go home,” he says. “New Parisian,” authentic, simple and elevated French breads and pastries, he felt was an untapped niche in Boulder’s robust culinary landscape.

Maisonette features breakfast and lunch all day (where else can you get French toast at 2 p.m.? Tétart says), with a collection of handmade breads and a full French pastry menu, all made in-house. The wildly popular almond croissant and the kouign-amann, a flaky little bundle of goodness affectionately known as the “fattiest pastry in Europe,” regularly sell out by noon. “People ask, ‘How many do you have left?’” says Tétart. “And then they say, ‘OK, I’ll buy them all.’”

Tétart grew up in his dad’s bakery in Lille, in the north of France, learning the basics of baking and developing a passion for the culinary arts. He perfected his craft in Tokyo before landing a chef de cuisine position at a Michelin two-star restaurant in Hong Kong. “The Michelin star restaurant is great, but I wanted to return to something simpler. I’m way happier here,” he says. Boulder and its foodie scene were love at first sight for Tétart, and the feeling is mutual: Already half his customers are repeat, and many come daily. Maisonette, which is French for “little house,” has become a community hub. “People are very friendly here, and the other chefs are so supportive... they want everyone to be lifted up,” Tétart says.