1. A L’Epi de Blé
2. Tall Grass Prairie
3. Jenna Rae Cakes

When pastry chef Nathalie Gautier set out to buy a bakery two and a half years ago, she was aiming for St. Boniface, but ended up on North Main. “I didn’t know exactly what area I was [in] or what the community was, so it was a good challenge,” Gautier says. They arrived in March, and by August of the same year, A L’Epi de Ble opened its doors. 

Gautier credits her confidence in herself and her husband, and is seeing their hard work pay off as they continue a longstanding local tradition: the bakery itself now boasts 25 years in the business.

“It’s about the customers. We’ve had some good customers so far, they’re very interested in French pastry, they are curious, and because people travel a lot, they are happy to come back in Winnipeg and get their favourite chocolate croissant or favourite macaron, so they travel a little bit more with us”, Gautier explains.

A L’Epi de Ble has responded to the trending nature of the macaron, the sweet darling of the pastry world. 

While they used to sell maybe 40 a week, they now make over 1,000 macarons weekly.

“It’s an old cookie”, explains Gautier, created by famous pastry chef Ladurée. “25 years ago it was not like that, nobody wanted the macaron. But the way he did, he renewed the recipe, and made that very trendy.”

Besides being a local macaron go-to, Gautier’s signature is using all French recipes, and carrying all French items for a unique and distinctive experience. Recipes have been updated to include local ingredients while keeping with the French way. “Everything is from here, so it’s a good thing.”

Part of the series: The Uniter 30

Published in Volume 69, Number 15 of The Uniter (January 7, 2015)