A Taste of the French Countryside at Chocolatine
It was love at first sight for Sandrine Casanova-Paccallet, who says she was instantly attracted to Thousand Oaks and to Chocolatine French Pastry's charm while on vacation from Lyon, France, with her husband, Ludovic Gaudin.
As new owners of the quaint eatery hailed, appropriately, for its dessert offerings, the couple are putting their marks on Chocolatine by expanding their hours to be open seven days a week, and adding house-made breakfast and lunch offerings. Don't worry: There's still a tempting selection of handmade treats, truffles, macarons and custom French cakes.
Brand new to the menu is a ham and cheese croissant, a selection of salads inspired by the regions of France and savory and sweet crepes. Made the traditional way with buckwheat flour, the Provencale is a savory crepe with ham, tomato, herbs de Provence, garlic and egg. The Fromagere has goat, Swiss and camembert cheeses. On the sweet side, is a wheat flour-based crepe with house-made dark chocolate sauce and orange marmalade.
The couple earlier introduced a daily soup, quiche du jour, tarts and a rainbow of macarons.
"We brought our family recipes to make quiches and tarts. We brought some herbs de Provence and sel de Guerande (a hand-harvested gray sea salt)," says Casanova-Paccallet, adding that they are working to import fruit syrups and jams from a factory near where they lived in France.
