re: Motwani's to reopen Sucre

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ake that trip to Gerald’s baw

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Had them at my 40th.

I love Aaron's. Nothing beats fresh donuts from there with a side of cigarette smoke.

Sucre wasn’t really a bakery. It wasn’t really a pastry shop. It was a pretty space that had pretty good entrements (but few people ordered them), macarons at least when they opened and those were “new” to the states, and expensive chocolates. Had they maybe had a bread program, a breakfast pastry/coffee thing, could have had enough diversification of revenue.

They wanted to be a European style patisserie but it just didn’t translate stateside. Big space, quick expansion into multiple outlets and retail side, etc... a lot of things worked against it. The value equation never really worked in their favor. The glitter dust on everything was a bit overdone but it had some good years.

All of which is to say, why the hell would someone bring this back. Why not start whole cloth?

Let me clarify a bit. Most European patisseries at least the platonic ideal of them are small operations. Barely enough room to stretch out. You grab and go. Items made by hand in the basement. Maybe 4-5 employees. Painting with a broad brush here but you get the idea.

Sucre had a massive workshop with an enormous amount of employees to scale for national growth (certainly on retail side like Whole Foods), the king cake blitz, etc... they never really turned a profit (most start ups dont) but they had this massive overhead.

Your restaurant can be packed to the gills but if the check average is approximately $10 and your overhead exceeds that, it’s gonna be hard to make it.

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Everybody can expect the same taste and quality, the same level of precision and seasonal flavors

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Guess the king cake will still be dry as shite then

I remember first hearing about Sucre via the BO blog. Seems like an eternity ago

Too many good places in the city for them to be relevant imo

I will eat it.

I remember at one point they bought this insane coffee machine. Essentially a Royle’s Royce of coffee machines. And they put in the Metairie store where no one who wanted to grab a quick coffee would go, since it was close to nothing but the mall.

It did pull one hell of an espresso tho.

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It did pull one hell of an espresso tho.

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Hence my sampling of the pastry at mall location and experiencing the dreadful baked goods.

Thread reminds me of Sucre’s other big problem: mediocre gelato touted as “all natural” when it was clearly full of food coloring. Bright green pistachio, blue bubblegum, etc. Yet every bit of marketing copy, and the counter staff, insisted that “no artificial ingredients” were used. It wasn’t the ultra high end gelato it claimed to be—it was an average version, not even as good as the old school, slightly too sweet but small batch stuff from Brocatos.

All of this makes me appreciate a spot like La Petite Sophie in River Ridge. Tiny, basic shop; no frills. But truly excellent laminated pastries, including kouign amann and sweet or savory croissants....and not a speck of glitter or fancy packaging in sight. Not trying to appeal to the ‘gram crowd—just excellent food from 2 CIA trained chefs.