The outdoor patio at Le Marais Bakery at 250 East Blithedale Avenue.
But before it does so, Ascaso and his team have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help furnish a community patio in front of the space.
“Six years after our first shop opened, our business has come full circle,” Acaso says in the video announcing the Kickstarter campaign. “Now we are growing to our fourth location and we are bringing more local jobs, locally made croissants an pastries, French roast coffee and classic French food I grew up with that my grandmother and mother once made for me to another community,” he says.
San Francisco-based WorldCo., which bought the 250 East Blithedale Avenue property in 2014, received Commission approval in May 2016 to redevelop the 71-year-old buildings on the lot to include three retail spaces and one restaurant. They’re doing just that, razing the former Tony Tutto building near the streetfront and renovating the two larger buildings that contained Mill Valley Services and SummerHouse.
Le Marais, named after the popular historic district in Paris, boasts a menu that ranges from coffee and pastries, baguettes and desserts to an array of breakfast, lunch and dinner items, including French favorites like traditional the croque monsieur and madame (menu).
Le Marais Bakery has another location in Ghiradelli Square, one on Castro Street and a commissary kitchen in the way in the Tenderloin. Ascasco’s eatery would be something of anomaly in Mill Valley, as most cafes don’t serve dinner and most restaurants don’t open for coffee and pastries at 6am.
“The space has all the character and charm we’ve found in our other locations, large windows and beamed, barrel-vaunted ceilings. We spent the past two and a half years getting city approvals, design, and now are well on our way in construction,” Ascaso says of the new space.
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