There’s a new patisserie in town creating some pretty and tasty French desserts, croissants and more. We chat with Marc Heu, owner/executive pastry chef of Marc Heu Patisserie Paris on University Avenue in St. Paul.

What’s your first food memory? My first time trying Paris-brest pastry. I’m Hmong and my family is from Laos. My family moved to France after the Vietnam war and I was born in France and raised there for the first few years of my life. The first time I tried the French dessert Paris-brest, it was made with artificial flavors and was horrible. I never wanted to eat it again. My parents then moved to French Guiana and we lived there for awhile and then I returned to France when I was 16. The next time I had it was when I was 23 right before I was moving to the United States. My sister bought it from a small pastry in Paris and I didn’t know how good it could be when made right. It became my favorite dessert.

When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to go to school for pastry making. But my parents told me that the work was too hard and that I should become a doctor because it’s more prestigious. I didn’t want to disappoint them, so I studied medicine in Limoges, France for three years. But eventually I followed my passion.

How did you wind up in the restaurant business for good? In 2012, I went to visit my uncle and grandma in Minnesota and that’s where I met my wife. In 2017, I went to pastry school at École Lenôtre in Paris. I had a chance to intern at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris and Stohrer Paris, considered the oldest patisserie in Paris. We lived in New York for awhile, and I worked at a bakery there. I opened my bakery in January and the retail location in St. Paul opened this summer.

What’s your favorite item on your menu? Paris-brest. It’s a cream puff filled with hazelnut, pralines and buttercream. If it’s made right, the hazelnuts are well roasted and that brings in a sweetness. People love Nutella and they don’t know why they like it. It’s the hazelnut that gives it that flavor, and that flavor can be found in the Paris-brest too. As I mentioned, I used to think I didn’t like it. But then that time in Paris when I had it again and really loved it, it was from a place where the pastry chef went to this pastry school in Paris. So when I decided to go to pastry school, I wanted to go to the school that chef went to because I loved the way the Paris-brest was prepared so much.

What’s the last dessert or pastry you made at home? I don’t make anything at home for the sake of having dessert after dinner. I think it was a Ispahan, a rose, raspberry and lychee macaron cake. That’s the last dessert order from a customer I made before moving into my commercial kitchen.

If you could only eat or drink five things for the rest of your life, what would they be? Paris-brest. Sour pork rib from Thai Cafe just down the street from us. Water Cake from Ericka Trinh of Silhouette Bakery & Bistro that used to run out of this space. She still does custom orders and catering and the Water Cake is really good. Tacos. Foie gras.

What’s next? Once this place is up and running we’d like to add some seats and offer coffee, some savory items and French cuisine that is served in a French bistro. For people that don’t have a chance to travel to France, I want them to feel like they’re in France every time they come by my shop. I want to be able to share my love and passion of French cuisine with people in Minnesota. I’d also like to expand and have more shops across the Twin Cities.

MARC HEU PATISSERIE PARIS

Where: 383 University Ave W., St. Paul

Hours: Retail hours 7 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Friday; 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday. Pick-up for online orders 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

For more information: 651-666-1464; marcheuparis.com