There are few things more enjoyable than a leisurely weekend breakfast, am I right?
I’m pleased to report that I’ve recently been able to check out one of Fresno’s newer breakfast spots and the news is all good! If you’ve not yet heard of The Brioche Lady and her new brick and mortar bakery, you’ll be glad you clicked on this article.
Background
The Brioche Lady has been a staple at local farmers markets for the last two years, even taking People’s Choice and Best New Product Awards in recent Fresno Food Expos. This spring, the opportunity presented itself for The Brioche Lady to secure a restaurant location in the former Le Parisian spot located next to TGI Fridays in the shopping center on the southeast corner of Herndon and First.
Nubchi Thao (the woman behind the brioches) was born and raised in France before moving to California twenty years ago, and one food she was unable to find here was her beloved favorite, authentic French-style brioches. A brioche is a braided type of bread that is light, tender and mildly sweet. Made with eggs, butter and varying liquids, including sometimes rum and vanilla.
For years, Nubchi’s family would send brioche from France, or her husband Leng would bring it home in his luggage when he came back from visiting his grandparents; however brioches carefully frozen and rationed were just not the same as being able to enjoy them fresh, so Nubchi set out to make truly authentic French-style brioche herself – and as it turns out, she’s extremely good at it.
The Restaurant
The Brioche Lady Bakery has been open for a little over four months, and inside, customers can purchase prepared brioches of a variety of flavors including original, cinnamon, blueberry cream cheese, strawberry cream cheese, almond, chocolate, taro, and the award-winning purple yam flavor. Purple yam is a food frequently seen in Asian desserts, and the Thaos wanted to try adding it to a brioche to create a Euro-Asian fusion specialty item. It worked incredibly well and even won Best New Product at the 2017 Food Expo!
In addition to the brioches that are baked fresh and packaged to go each day, Nubchi also serves fresh crepes, French toast, Croque Madames, fruit tartes and beautiful macarons. Specialty drinks and lattes are also available. I recently enjoyed breakfast with a friend in the bakery, and was greeted with excellent service, a friendly and welcoming environment and a short wait for the best piece of French toast I’d ever eaten.
The restaurant’s café area features comfortable tables with board games available for guests who’d like to hang out and enjoy a leisurely morning. The interior of the entire place carries the Parisian theme – even the restrooms are adorned with pretty, French décor.
Where and When to Go
The Brioche Lady is located at 1085 E Herndon Ave Suite 101 and is open six days a week from 8am to 6pm Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 8am -8pm Fridays and Saturdays, and is closed on Wednesdays.
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