Living La Belle Vie
La Belle Baguette’s Alix Loiselle played the piano nearly every day from the time he was four years old. He was in university studying music when he had to change his tune.
Tendonitis had made playing nearly impossible. “The physio couldn’t keep up,” he said of his attempts to keep his hands in playing form.
He decided to take a year off from university. During that time, he turned to another interest, one that was nourished in his grandmother’s kitchen. He enrolled at the Louis Riel Arts and Technical Centre, where he was mentored by award-winning pastry chef Helmut Mathae.
With his talent for baking as evident as his early musical gifts, he went on to the renowned Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute, returning to Winnipeg to work at the Frenchway Café after graduation. His career flourished with moves to work at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, the luxury resort located in Banff National Park, and later to Montreal, where he worked at Daniel Boulud’s restaurant inside the Ritz Carlton Hotel. There, “it was a red carpet event every night,” where he performed in the open pastry kitchen in full view of guests, ensuring every plate was perfect.
When his grandmother fell ill, he knew it was time to come home to Winnipeg. It was hard to be apart from his family during the holidays, too, typically the busiest time on restaurant calendars.
“It was enough. I’d lived what I lived. I knew the city, the people. It was a safe space.” He was bolstered by his hard-earned confidence. “I knew with the level I’d achieved, I could 100 percent get a job anywhere.”
That confidence came through in an interview with the then-owner of the Oakwood Café, Peter Paley. “It was a first date,” joked Loiselle, as they are now married. The couple’s wedding cake was a six-tier masterpiece covered in sugar flowers, created by another of Loiselle’s mentors, the Cake Studio’s Nina Notaro.
After working at the Oakwood with Paley, the next move was to open a business of their own. When Chez Sophie closed, Loiselle knew it was the right place to do it. The St. Boniface bakery and café at 248 Avenue de la Cathedrale will celebrate its fourth anniversary this summer, and has become a hub for the neighbourhood, with Université de Saint-Boniface, Notre Dame Arena and Provencher Park nearby.
A second location in St. James at 1850 Ness Ave. was opened as a production facility for the bakery for their expanding wholesale distribution and catering operations. They provide concessions for the Sound Bites Corner at the Concert Hall, and La Belle Baguette creations can be found at Café Postal, Scout Coffee + Tea, Fools + Horses, Fromagerie Bothwell and more.
“We want to do our own thing. It’s not about world domination,” said Loiselle. “We want to make our products more accessible to people around the city.”
All photos by Claudine Gervais
