La Maison Jaune brings French pastries to Fitler Square

For almost two years, Zahra Saeed ruminated on opening a French-style cafe that combined her two passions: delicious food and beautiful design.

“I just love French bakeries,” said the Pakistani real estate developer, who travels to France often and fell in love with the country’s architecture and cafe culture. Six months ago, she decided to begin construction for a cafe at one of her properties in Philadelphia.

Just four weeks after its opening, La Maison Jaune is bustling with customers seeking macarons and chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) from the corner shop at 22nd and Rittenhouse Square.

The 420-square-foot cafe, marked by a bright yellow sign, is outfitted with a black-and-white checkered marble floor and large and small ornate mirrors decorated with floral arrangements. Staff help customers navigate a display case lined with classically French pastries: Think palm-sized, salted caramel- and chocolate-filled macarons de Nancy (chewy almond cookies from Nancy, France, that predate their daintier, more commonly available cousin), crumbly financiers (mini almond cakes) topped with raspberries and blueberries, and glazed lemon madeleines.

An array of large, creamy quiches sit atop the case. Delicate China mugs are filled with rich chocolat chaud, lattes made with Rival Bros. coffee, and house-made specialty matchas. As French music plays in the background, folks nestle into the plush couches and armchairs, as well as comfy barstools pulled up to the window counters overlooking the Center City corner.

Sitting by the window, Alessia-Daria Mazza said the pastries reminded her of home. The foreign exchange intern from Paris, who lives in Rittenhouse, recently visited the cafe after seeing it on Instagram.

“I love the fact that there is French music,” she said. “You can find quiches and madeleines. I’ve tried the pecan pie and it’s really like one you can find in a good French patisserie.”

The Fitler Square cafe is just the first step in a larger business venture, Saeed said.

Pastries are currently made by an in-house chef at a rented commercial kitchen in South Philly. Saeed hopes to build out her own commercial kitchen space and assemble a larger team of pastry chefs to reach her ultimate goal: wholesale La Maison Jaune pastries across the city, plus two more cafes. (Her second space — a 1,500-square-foot Fairmount storefront inside another one of her properties — is currently under construction.)

“I’m trying to build the La Maison Jaune brand — anybody, wherever they go, they know they can pick up our macarons, financiers, and they know it’ll be the same,” she said.

Taking on her first food business venture has come with some challenges.

Before the construction began on the Rittenhouse cafe, Saeed encountered pushback from the neighborhood when she presented her business idea to the Center City Residents Association (CCRA), which is involved in zoning matters in Fitler Square. As The Inquirer reported, Saeed’s proposal elicited complaints from area residents who cited fears about rodents, trash on the sidewalk, and delivery trucks clogging 22nd Street, arguing that small businesses degraded the quality of life in Fitler Square. Despite the opposition, CCRA’s zoning committee did not oppose the project.

The previously expressed concerns have not affected business since opening, Saeed said. “So far so good — everything seems to be fine."

“I love seeing people hang out and notice the little details in the design,” she said. “There are such cute spots in Paris, and I just wanted to recreate that here,” she said.

244 S. 22nd St., no phone, instagram.com/lamaisonjaune.cafe; 7 a.m.to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, Friday to Sunday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.