Our Partnership with La Madeleine
We are very proud of our partnership with the restaurant chain La Madeleine, which shares many of our values and aesthetics. Both of our businesses celebrate the beauty and tradition of the Old World, as is apparent from our name.
Since 2013, we’ve provided our cast stone fireplace mantels for six new La Madeleine Country French Cafe projects: Austin, El Paso, Flower Mound, Fort Worth and Lubbock, Texas; and Lafayette, Louisiana. Customers love to eat French country food while relaxing in front of a fire and we hope to continue this partnership as La Madeleine expands.
La Madeleine History
French-born Patrick Esquerre opened the first La Madeleine in Dallas in 1982. It started off as a bakery inspired by his upbringing on a Loire Valley farm. Esquerre’s mentor, Dallas-based retailer Stanley Marcus, encouraged Esquerre to start his bakery biz near Southern Methodist University, cultivating a customer base from college students.
The business quickly expanded, both in locations and in menu offerings. Esquerre added salads and sandwiches to the bread and pastry options, then more complicated entrees. To maintain authenticity, he brought bakers from France. In the 1980s, La Madeleine expanded to Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge. The company gave back to the community by raising money for local food banks.
La Madeleine has gone through several ownership and management chains in the ensuing decades and continued to expand. Albuquerque now holds claim to the westernmost La Madeleine outpost. The bakery café’s specialties include croque monsieur, a classic French baked ham and cheese sandwich, and its signature tomato basil soup. They’re also famed for their desserts, including Bûche de Noël at Christmas, king cakes for Mardi Gras and Sacher Tortes year-round.
Mantels for La Madeleine
In keeping with the French countryside theme, what better mantel could there be than our Normandy? Solid, simple, and elegantly arched, the Normandy looks very much at home in La Madeleine. This short video proves our point.
Could your home use a touch of French charm? We’d love to talk to you about installing your own Normandy. We recommend picking up some pastries and baguettes from La Madeleine to enjoy in front of your fire.