Pain d’Avignon was founded in 1992 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by a group of childhood friends. In the following years, Pain d’Avignon became one of the leaders of artisan bread making on the East Coast. The concept expanded to New York City in 1999 and soon became one of the favorite purveyors for fine breads among the city’s top chefs. But the owners always dreamed about opening a retail bakery like the ones of their childhood memories in Europe. They wanted to re-create a store where the bread is made, baked, and sold daily. In 2012 they opened the first café in the Plaza Hotel Food Hall and Café d’Avignon was born. The Brooklyn location will be the company’s second retail store.
“We’re confident Brooklyn is the perfect market to reach customers who share our passion for artisan breads and specialty coffee. Our new store will continue to carry on our existing brand’s values; fresh, simple, and honest food made for customers in front of the customers. There are a lot of great coffee shops in the city, but usually their food is not of the same quality. And vice versa, there are a lot of great bakeries but with not such good coffee. Our coffee is as good as our breads, and our sandwiches are good as our coffee,” says Uliks Fehmiu, president of Café d’Avignon.
Café d’Avignon’s menu includes sweet and savory pastries, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, quiches, and afternoon snacks, with the Brooklyn location offering a limited dinner menu. Authentic French bistros dishes like the Croque Monsieur or Quiche Lorraine are customer favorites as well as ham and Gruyere croissants and pain au chocolates.
