French-inspired bakery Red Cap Patisserie is now open in The Fan

I know you can’t judge a bakery by their website but I just drooled on my keyboard checking out the offerings from Red Cap Patisserie. Red Cap is located at (719 North Meadow Street) and looks to be a tasty new spot in the Fan. They had a soft opening yesterday and the grand opening will be on April 15th. I’ve never had a tourtieres and I can’t wait to give it a try.

From the press release:

What began as a quiet revolution at The Lab by Alchemy Coffee and the Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s has made its way into The Fan. Red Cap Patisserie is a new French inspired pastry shop offering sweet and savory pastries made fresh from scratch with the finest ingredients.

Owner Martine Wladar has a strong passion for French and European cuisine and 30 years of culinary experience. Having graduated from culinary school in 1993, she interned at Manhattan’s iconic restaurant, Le Cirque, under renowned chocolatier and pastry chef Jacques Torres. Martine continued honing her skills as pastry chef at a number of niche NYC restaurants, finally landing with a notable East Village cake designer and caterer with a portfolio of big name Manhattan clients.

Ratcheting down the pace in 2001, Martine focused for several years on raising her two daughters together with her husband, John. When it was time to venture out into the professional culinary world again, Martine developed relationships with local cafes and restaurants in the NY and Philly metro areas, turning out home baked classic French desserts as well as unique and original combinations.

Relocating to Richmond in the summer of 2013 was an opportunity to try something different. With a nod to the head gear adopted by 18th century French revolutionaries, Martine launched Red Cap, an endeavor devoted to the craft of fine French and European inspired pastry. Like-minded partisan Eric Spivack, owner of The Lab by Alchemy Coffee, became Red Cap’s first customer. Joining the family of vendors at the Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s, Red Cap began offering freshly baked sweet pastries, croissants, Kouign Amann and scones, as well as warm savory tourtieres – hand held pastry pies filled with a variety of distinct regional French flavors. The Market afforded an opportunity to connect directly with customers and bond with a fabulously warm and inviting Richmond community.

“The response has been awesome and the experience has allowed us to refine and perfect the flavor profiles we love most. For us, it’s a journey that satisfies and excites our own tastes as much as we hope to elevate expectations, and in our own small way, invigorate and ‘liberate’ the palates of our friends and customers” says Martine.

Opening Red Cap Patisserie represents the next step on the journey. While not a traditional patisserie, Red Cap is not a traditional bakery either.

“We wanted to continue building on something rooted in the idea of ‘pastry’ and ‘bakery’ but that also provided ample room for us to experiment and offer more unique and nuanced French and European inspired items. That is, borrowing from here and there and crafting something we think is really special. Surprise and delight – that’s liberating; that’s what Red Cap is all about.”

In addition to pastries and tourtieres, Red Cap Patisserie will serve savory tarts, signature sweet & salty pecans, and coffee made fresh from their friends at Iron Clad Roasters.

Red Cap Patisserie opened their doors Thursday, March 30th and will celebrate their Grand Opening on Saturday, April 15th. For more info, visit their website at www.redcaprva.com/.