Melissa Bailey Photo
A new Belgian café under construction on Elm Street plans to start selling fresh-baked, homemade pastries and baguettes to the Broadway shopping district by the end of August.
Workers were busy Tuesday preparing the café, Maison Mathis, at 304 Elm St.
The café is a partnership between the local owners of Rudy’s bar and a Belgian company called Creneau. Creneau has established Belgian beer cafés all over the world, but not in the U.S., said Omer Ipek (pictured above), a co-owner of Rudy’s and Maison Mathis.
Now Creneau is trying a new concept, a Belgian breakfast café. Maison Mathis will be the first such shop to open in the States, according to Ipek.
It will feature homemade Belgian waffles, sandwiches, salad, bread, and pastries, made in collaboration with Belgian Master Pâtissier Stefan Elias. The food will be made in-house, “a la maison.”
“Everything is from scratch,” Ipek said.
Ipek said he plans to open the shop at the end of the month, to catch the wave of Yale students returning from summer break.
Landlord Yale University Properties issued a press release Tuesday calling Maison Mathis “the perfect fit” for the spot, which sits at the border of the Broadway shopping district, at the edge of Yale’s campus.
Yale brought in Maison Mathis after booting international chain cafe Au Bon Pain from its space across the street at Broadway and Elm. ABP’s former home remains under renovation; Yale University Properties has not secured a new tenant for the space, according to spokesperson Carin Keane.
Yummy!