Boulangerie Maison Villatte Opens in Falmouth
Over the last fifteen minutes, at least three people have approached on the sidewalk, cupped hands around their eyes, and leaned into the glass front of what is in the process of becoming Falmouth’s newest bakery, Maison Villatte. They see pastry cases. They peer in at cute, round café tables. And farther back, they can make out a gleaming, refined monster of an oven—a four-decker beast with 120 square feet of baking space that can handle 250 loaves of bread at once. Their eyes wide, the peeping toms back away, smiling. Main Street in Falmouth is getting a new bakery.
By the time you read this, the wiring will be complete, the decorative tiles laid, and best yet, Boris Villatte will be arms deep in baking French bread and pastries at this Main Street boulangerie, across the street from the library and the weekly farmers’ market.
And he’s not messing around. Villatte came to the United States seven years ago to head up the bakery program for the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas, and oversaw a staff of 40 that produced between 15,000-25,000 loaves of bread daily. More recently, in 2009, he moved to Cape Cod as the B of Wellfleet’s well-beloved PB Boulangerie. Now he’s starting his own venture in Falmouth.
According to Villatte, the boulangerie will offer twelve to fifteen types of bread daily, displayed high on the wall. “As you can see, we’re cooking everything in front of the customer, and it goes straight on the shelf,” he explains. The pastry cases, which were custom-built in Spain, will hold a generous array of goodies, including croissants, danish and brioche, and alongside, a small selection of cheeses and charcuterie, ready-made sandwiches, quiches and soups, and French- and American-style coffee, all for eat-in or take away. There’s room for twenty at the café seating, as well as tables out on the sidewalk for warmer days.
The breads on offer will vary seasonally, and will include baguettes, farmer loaves and rustics featuring buckwheat, spelt and rye flours, and flavored types such as bacon and cheese, cranberry, white chocolate and walnut raisin. All breads will benefit from sourdough starters. Villatte explains, “When we say sourdough, it could be sourdough that’s very acidic, like San Francisco style, but you can also have sourdough that’s not very acidic. For example, you can make croissants with sourdough, but you don’t taste it. Sourdough is a way to work with a product, to give it more flexibility in the way of texture and flavor.”
The staff of twelve will include four to five bakers, and include both locals and some new to the Cape. The chef, from Paris, is a longtime coworker of Villatte’s, and will be his right hand man. There are no plans to distribute products wholesale, except perhaps very locally. “Quality first,” Villatte says firmly.
By now, the bakery will have been open for a few weeks and the former window peepers will be able to satisfy both curiosity and palate. There will be plenty of festive holiday offerings, including grand Bûches de Noël, and gift certificates for the baked-good lovers in your life. Ooh, la la, indeed.
Maison Villatte
267 Main Street, Falmouth
Open 7:00-7:00, Tuesday – Sunday
774-255-1855
Gift certificates available
