New Bay Area bakery: Maison Benoit brings Parisian pastries to Danville

After living in the U.S. for 25 years, a Lafayette resident who grew up in Paris has created a taste of his hometown in the East Bay.

Benoit Vialle spent years working in tech at Microsoft, then in fine wine, most recently at Sotheby’s, before making a dramatic pivot. Last year, he decided to start his own French bakery. With a head baker from Paris and a pastry chef from Bordeaux, he just launched a new Danville bakery called Maison Benoit.

“Everything is made every day in a very artisanal way,” he says.

A lot of Danville residents have traveled to France, Vialle says, fueling demand for a high-quality French bakery here at home. Maison Benoit opened last week and is already drawing customers from around the Bay Area. At one point in its first weekend, there were so many customers, his wife and two sons stepped up to help out in the bakery.

“It’s super gratifying, to be honest,” he says.

Vialle worked with a designer from Belgium to set up the space, which offers about 60 seats, half indoors, half outside. The Maison Benoit menu includes croissants and pain au chocolat — which can sell out — as well as sandwiches, elegant lemon meringue tarts, Paris-Brest, Mille-feuille, baguettes and more.

“I’m trying to make it a no-brainer to come by every day,” he says.

The bakery also offers coffee sourced from Ecuador and is currently offering galettes des rois, traditional French cakes baked for Epiphany, which can be ordered via Instagram at @maisonbenoit.us.

Details: Open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at 402 Railroad Ave. in Danville.