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Capitol Hill food+drink | Inès Pâtisserie: pastries you can sink your teeth into, no baguettes

(Images: Rayna Stackhouse for CHS)

(Images: Rayna Stackhouse for CHS)

The French pastry shop Ines Patisserie opened on Friday at its new location where Madison meets 11th. We gave it each and every one of its proper French doohickeys in the headline.

Owner Nohra Belaid and her staff will be having an “understated soft opening for the month of August,” then will kick things into full gear once fall begins.

Belaid sold her old location on Madison and 29th earlier this year and took three months to set up the new home on the western, currently sun-drenched side of the new Viva building.

The new shop is “more modern, cleaner, in terms of aesthetics, and a little feminine,” says Belaid. The interior is all white with pops of color from the pastries on display and candy in delicate glass jars.

Belaid wants to build a community where people come to treat themselves to a coffee and a pastry while interacting with one another. Warning laptop jockeys: The shop has only three power outlets and Belaid says this is by design. A majority of the time on Friday morning, Belaid was in front of the counter sitting down with customers she knows and meeting new ones.

_DSC0676As for the pastries, “I’m not reinventing, just taking good old classics,” Belaid says, “with flavor and good taste.”

Belaid keeps her pastries simple and is a firm believer in taste and aesthetics. She wants the customer to want to sink their teeth into them. She does not like the glossy perfection look of some pastry shops. She is making her pastries by hand and does not want her pastries to look like they came from a cookie cutter.

There will always be croissants and French staple pasties but there is also a small variety of seasonal creations. She decides what to make based on what ingredients she wants to work with. If she goes to the farmer’s market and sees a particular fruit that looks good, she makes a pastry with it. This week, apricots are her muse with apricot tarts in the display.

Along with the new space, Belaid will also offer desserts after the soft opening. At any one time, the shop will offer three to four different sweet concoctions, she said. Belaid would like to be open later a few nights a week for the dessert crowd though times are still in the works.

Belaid lived in Paris most of her life before moving to Seattle 20 years ago. When people ask about the bakery competition on Capitol Hill, she says she can’t comprehend the issue — there are thousands of bakeries in Paris. There are three shops in Paris alone called Ines Patiserrie, she says.

Also, take note. This is not a bakery. There has been some confusion in the past when customers have asked for French baguettes and bread. Patiserrie means a pastry shop and not a bakery, Belaid reminds.

Belaid named her business in honor of her 12-year-old daughter. Her daughter isn’t too interested in baking, Belaid says, but occasionally likes to Instagram her mother’s hard work.

Belaid is excited for the new location and the changes the new neighborhood will bring.

“I’m just happy to be here,” says Belaid, “I was just 17 blocks away and I feel like I’m in a different country.”

The shop’s website is not yet updated but Belaid says Ines Patiserrie will be open at 7 AM on weekdays and 9 AM on weekends and should stay open till 3 PM.

Capitol Hill food+drink notes by jseattle

  • Last week, CHS told you about Herb and Bitter, a craft cocktail and tapas public house joining the shifting menu of choices on northern Broadway. The post inspired a few questions about the long empty Galerias location that suffered a devastating arson fire in 2011 and has been undergoing a long renovation this year. We’re told there are a few ideas for how the rehabilitated space will be put to use — for one, it will be home to multiple ventures, not just one giant restaurant — but last we talked to participants, nothing specific was supposedly lined up. One of the principals in the buildout, however, is a longtime Seattle food and drink veteran with central city connections who said he also might consider being involved (though that wasn’t his plan at the time we talked). So, the shorter version — the plan we talked about in 2012 is alive and well to finally repair the venue and find tenants for the new space… or spaces.
  • Trove's table at the Seattle Street Food Festival pop-up in Cal Anderson Saturday night. Beef tongue tacos, anyone? (Image: CHS)

    Trove’s table at the Seattle Street Food Festival pop-up in Cal Anderson Saturday night. Beef tongue tacos, anyone? (Image: CHS)

    Trovethe multi-pronged E Pike venture from Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi is nearly ready to go in the auto row era building formerly home to Brocklind’s costume shop. The overhauled building and built out space will be unveiled to the media next week. We assume you’ll be invited soon.

  • Enjoy your final days with La Bete before the little monster becomes something new.
  • Here’s a conversation with a Pike/Pine hot dog vendor.
  • How the Increase to $15 Per Hour Could Affect Your Meals” — “Dining out will be more expensive” and “the first casualties could be fewer freebies, such as complimentary bread and butter, chips and salsa, coffee refills, etc” and more service charges will “require diners to pay a certain percentage on top of their bill” and we “may also see fewer restaurants opening in Seattle all together.”
  • Stranger found a pretty sexy spin for the new addition to 19th Ave E’s Monsoonno kids allowed. One confoundment for the theme — kids haven’t been exactly encouraged at the upper-scale Vietnamese venue (though many parents haven’t seemed to mind). Anyhow, CHS wrote about the expansion here — including how it fits into what looks like a series of new Banh-backed projects.
  • Coffee Fest 2014: Bound for Portland
  • What to eat at Cafe Barjot
  • Witness turns 1 — Starting August 18th: “Witness is turning One Year Old! We’ll be serving up food and drink specials all week. Thank you, neighbors, for your support. We love you!”
  • Food+drink coverage shouldn’t be all pork belly and macaroons. Something missed in most coverage of the trans employee at Pagliacci Broadway is the follow-up:
     Paul and Galvin tell us that they’ve reconciled. After what Galvin called “a very productive conversation,” Paul says she feels that Galvin heard and is responding to her core concerns. “I really appreciate that he was genuine in his concerns…[and that] he really listened,” Paul told PubliCola this morning.
  • Mark your calendars for Capitol Hill Housing’s 2014 edition of its yearly foodie-focused fundraiser Omnivorous: 9/18/2014. Oh, and they’re looking for sponsors (PDF).
  • Lots of pictures of the crowd at the 2014 Seattle Street Food Festival on this CHS post. Here are a few more… of the chow:
This week’s CHS food+drink advertiser directory
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13 Comments
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Daphne
Daphne
9 years ago

You mean dessert crowd. Remember 2 s’s because you want seconds.

jseattle
Admin
9 years ago
Reply to  Daphne

Thanks for the sweet catch :)

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[…] Capitol Hill food+drink | Inès Pâtisserie: pastries you can sink your teeth …CHS Capitol Hill SeattleShe wants the customer to want to sink their teeth into them. She does not like the glossy perfection look of some pastry shops. She is making her pastries by hand and does not want her pastries to look like they came from a cookie cutter. There will … […]

cranky old man
cranky old man
9 years ago

I’m looking forward to more regular hours. I stopped by again this (Monday) AM to try it out, and found the door locked. Sigh…

Diana
Diana
9 years ago

Tong fail! Also, I hope they do get baguettes. I’m not a fan of sweet, rich breakfasts but I lived on baguettes with unsalted butter and jam while in Europe.

calhoun
9 years ago

It’s interesting that the proprietor of Ines Patisserie has made the decision to not cater to the ” buy a coffee/get on my laptop/stay for hours with no social interaction” crowd. I’ve often wondered how coffee shop owners can make a go of it when so many people spend so little and occupy a table for a long time.

bb
bb
9 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

What a refreshing change.

GregoryH
GregoryH
9 years ago

It’s actually at 11th and Madison, not 12th and union and madison.

calhoun
9 years ago

I stopped in yesterday and bought a plain croissant for $4. It was OK, but that is too high a price. I won’t return.

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[…] of the blue, quite a week in Capitol Hill food and drink: Inès Pâtisserie opened on the backside of Pike/Pine Von Trapp’s became Rhein Haus We spilled the beans on a new E Pine izakaya from Suika We […]

nicole
nicole
9 years ago

Stopped by Tuesday afternoon, before 3pm, hoping to get something sweet to eat with my after-lunch coffee, but it wasn’t open! No posted hours. Second failed attempt to go there. I’ll wait until they have set open hours to make another pastry run.

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[…] you want to get spendy at Restaurant Marron. UPDATE: Le oops! Also add Inès Pâtisserie which opened at 11th and Madison earlier this […]

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[…] Pâtisserie began baking its incredible croissants at 11th and […]