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Carl Davaz

COTTAGE GROVE - As the door to Fleur De Lis Patisserie & Cafe opens at 7 a.m., the welcoming aroma of baked pastries is almost visible.

A mural by Springfield artist Janeile Emery shows a display of pastries with Paris’ cathedral of Notre Dame in the background. A song by Stevie Wonder fades into the voice of a male radio announcer speaking French. How appropriate that a Paris pop music station from the Internet supplies the background music at Fleur De Lis.

Baker Eric Jegat has been at work since before night owls go to bed, sliding trays of croissants into the oven by 3:40 a.m. To be technical, he is a patissier, a baker of pastries, as opposed to a boulanger, who bakes breads. While he can do both, Jegat turns his talents only to pastries at Fleur De Lis.

The first display case is filled with jewel-like pastries.

Pastries come in three sizes. Tiny one- or two-bite pastries are small enough to eat in multiples, preferably in an assortment of flavors. Baby cream puffs, lemon tarts with a rosette hat of browned meringue, tiny pumpkin tarts, layered Napoleons and finger-length éclairs look as if they’re meant for a tea party.

Medium pastries include a custard-filled apple tart in a puff pastry crust (Jegat’s favorite), tarts, cream puffs and tiramisu with a lady finger collar. Take the largest lemon and glazed fruit tarts home to make any meal a special occasion.

It’s hard to tell what would get the bigger oohs and ahhs, a selection of smaller pastries or one large tart.

Below the sweets are palm-sized quiches: sun-dried tomato, tuna and tomato, spinach broccoli and the traditional Lorraine with bacon and ham.

Around the corner in the next case are croissants. How could there be a French bakery without croissants? Besides the traditional crescents, Jegat makes an assortment of shapes and stuffings, both sweet and savory.

With the croissants are glazed buns generously filled with pecans; puff pastry cheese sticks crusty with browned Swiss and parmesan cheeses plus cookies, large with chocolate chips or little thumbprints with raspberry or apricot jam.

Jegat’s partner, Maureen Rosenberger, takes care of the front of the store. She perches at one of the tall tables, writing the daily specials on a chalkboard that will go on an easel outside the front door. French onion soup is always on the lunch menu.

Jegat and Rosenberger came up from the Bay Area on vacation and fell in love with Cottage Grove. They left the award-winning Paris Bakery in Monterey County, Calif., in the hands of his brother, Jackie, and moved to Cottage Grove this past spring.

The Jegat brothers trained in France and worked in a bakery in Paris near the Gare de l’Est train station. Jackie moved to Monterey and Eric followed five years later, where he worked for 23 years before coming to Oregon.

Amy Callahan stops in for a vanilla soy latte.

“If you want to find someone, you come here,” Amy says. Her favorite at Fleur De Lis is a plain croissant.

Wendy Fries and Tony Herrig sit at a tall table drinking coffee and eating croissant sandwiches. A large chocolate-dipped coconut macaroon will be saved for later.

“We’re here all the time,” Herrig says.

“All the time,” Rosenberger echoes.

Fries remembers coming by at twilight before the bakery opened. It looked very warm and golden, shes says, as if to say, “Come in! Eat something!” And so they do, at least three times a week.

Nicolette Coustette, tying her black apron around her waist, is the barista. “Oh, she’s more than that,” Rosenberger says. After some discussion and with the help of Keith Schneider, lead guitar player in the Solid Funk Band, it is determined that “barista slash backup lady” suits her better.

Schneider is another regular, stopping in three or four times a week. He says Rosenberg’s conversation and sympathetic ear are big draws. His heated croissant crackles as he bites it, the crisped shell shatters.

Carol Reeves, owner of The Flower Basket around the corner, loves the quiches and salads, but stops only long enough today for a quick chat and a coffee to go.

Conversation is a big part of the Fleur De Lis, not that a quiet cup of coffee and pastry at a solitary table is frowned upon. There’s conversation between tables, talk while waiting in line and, of course, a word or two with Rosenberger. For her, it’s not just business; it’s personal. The connection with customers is essential.

Watching Jegat work is an extra benefit. He quickly cuts croissant dough into triangles, then deftly rolls them tightly and bends the ends in to meet.

Other triangles are filled with a golf-ball-size mound of spinach, broccoli, onion and olive oil topped with grated Swiss cheese. The ends of the dough are stretched and wrapped around the filling to make snug bundles. When the baking tray is full of neatly formed pastries, it goes into the freezer before Jegat moves onto the next job.

He makes a tray of croissant sandwiches, then begins breaking eggs, two at a time, to make cookie dough. Everything is made from scratch, and Jegat goes through about 90 pounds of butter a week. “I don’t need to know these things,” exclaims Rosenberger.

Jegat leaves at noon, but will return at 10 p.m. or so to take the croissants out of the freezer to rise for the next morning’s baking, every evening except Sunday because Monday is their day off. But he’ll be back in Monday night to set the croissants out to rise for Tuesday’s baking.

Holiday specialties will be available by advance order: bûche de No’l; St. Honoré, a choux pastry ring filled with custard, whipped cream and orange liqueur; and Croquembouche or Pièce Montée, a cone of profiteroles bound with crisp caramel. Jegat’s own almond paste may be purchased for home baking.

Fleur De Lis is available for private parties, and beginning in January will be open Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. They welcome larger orders suitable for catering, offering any of the pastries plus mini sizes of croissant sandwiches and pizzas.

Fleur De Lis is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Fleur De Lis Patisserie & Cafe
616 E. Main St., Cottage Grove
Telephone: 767-0700
Web: www.fleurdeliscafe.net

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