Your’e the RAISIN I SMILE.

BY SHARON SETO

I’M SUCH A LUCKY GIRL, LIVING NEAR NORTH BEACH WHICH is steeped in rich history and home to vibrant restaurants, bars, and a ton of cafés and cool establishments. I often hum happily as I step out the door to enjoy my “hood” in the city. Nestled here is a neighborhood gem, one of my favorite places to go for the most delicious French pastries—Maison Nico.

Nicolas Delaroque is a Michelin-starred, classically trained French chef and the owner of Maison Nico, a modern épicerie and café specializing in the traditional French culinary art of pâté en croûte (pâté in a pastry crust), viennoiserie, Parisian-style pastries, sophisticated French pâtés and aspics, wines, and other imported artisanal items.

With familial roots in Normandy, France, Delaroque was raised in Paris where he completed his culinary training and restaurant management degree. At the age of 23, he left France to travel and work in various countries throughout the world, learning English along the way.

Delaroque and his wife, Andrea, opened their first restaurant, Nico, in November 2013. The restaurant quickly earned critical acclaim, including a rave review from the San Francisco Chronicle and a coveted place on the Chronicle’s Top 100 Restaurants in its first year of operation and each year thereafter. He was named a “Rising Star Chef” by Robb Report magazine. In 2015, Nico received its first Michelin star, which it kept until the restaurant closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fall 2020, the Delaroques undertook a “pandemic pivot” and converted Nico to Maison Nico. Maison Nico is a grocery concept offering pâté en croûte, aspic, viennoiserie, and Parisian-style pastries along with a curated wine selection and imported items. The épicerie is the first and only one of its kind in San Francisco.

“I wanted to open an épicerie for years and to bring a concept to San Francisco that felt quintessentially Parisian and captured the charm of the little shops found in all the nooks and crannies throughout France. The pandemic accelerated the plan,” says Delaroque. “I also love the flexibility: the ability to provide a spot for both sweet and savory items where people can pop in at any time of day and enjoy a bite of something tasty and a coffee, buy a bottle of wine, or pick up something for later. It’s versatile and allows us to be creative in what we offer.”

At Maison Nico, Delaroque’s cuisine reflects his love of cooking, precision, and imagination, while honoring classic French culinary traditions. The inspiration for his menu derives from a mixture of sources: travel, French heritage, farmers’ markets, and the bounty of each changing season. The menu uses products from local California farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and purveyors as well as artisanal products imported from France, including Roellinger spices, Provençal olive oil, and cornichons.

HL: My husband and I work together as you both do. I love seeing husband-and-wife teams who are amazing as a couple on and off work. Please tell us your love story …

AD: We met 14 years ago when Nico came to my birthday party with a mutual friend, so I always tease him that he was a partycrasher! He had recently moved to San Francisco, and I had been in the city for about three years. Although we had not met before, secretly, I had noticed him a few times prior to that evening, so I wasn’t too disappointed that he arrived unannounced. After our first couple dates, Nico stopped by one morning on his way to work and presented me with a blood orange tart. It was unexpected and the most lovely and delicious tart I’d ever tasted! A year later, we were engaged in Paris and married six months after that.

Since then, we’ve opened a restaurant, I stopped practicing law (because a restaurant is a lot of work), we got a dog (Roxy, our 10-year-old Golden Retriever), had a little girl (Madeleine, eight years old), weathered a pandemic, and pivoted to Maison Nico. We’re a team the whole way! I think our partnership works so well because our skill sets are different. Nico has all the creative and culinary expertise, and I handle the operational details. Even though we spend the day together, we don’t see each other very much because we’re both doing our own things. In the evenings we are home together with Madeleine and Roxy.

HL: What inspired you two to name the venue Maison Nico and to create this gem of a place?

ND: The inspiration for Maison Nico comes from a desire to create a little piece of France in San Francisco. The Bay Area is home to so many talented chefs and exceptional restaurants. But, we didn’t have anything quite like a French épicerie where you could walk in and enjoy your morning viennoiserie and coffee, come back later for an afternoon slice of vanilla flan, and pop in for apéro hour with pâté and wine and enjoy something both savory and sweet. We also really felt like people would enjoy pâté en croûte It’s sort “old school” French and highly technique-driven, but it’s also come a long way from the traditional recipes. Now, we make modern versions with much leaner meats and clean flavor profiles. It’s also beautiful to look at, and it’s rewarding to introduce guests to something they may not have tried before.

The name was mostly a practical move. We pivoted from the restaurant, Nico, during the pandemic, and it made sense to keep that identity since we had enjoyed a great relationship with our guests. But we wanted to differentiate it a bit and make it more casual. Adding maison, the French word for home, felt like a nice way to welcome a new concept, new guests, in a way that feels casual and inviting.

HL: What is your favorite go-to meal at home?

ND: Roasted chicken and salad. You can never go wrong with a good roasted chicken, and it never gets old. We change the seasonings, but the key components stay the same—classic and simple.

HL: What do you two like to do on your days off?

ND: Sometimes it’s tough to find that balance with true days off, because it always feels like there is something we should be doing. The past couple years, we’ve made it a priority to take time for ourselves to relax and spend time away from the business, even if it’s only a day or two. Our typical days off are spent outside if it’s nice. We live in Sausalito and love to head to Rodeo Beach or up to Sonoma for the day, especially in the summer when it’s foggy at home. For bigger breaks, we try to get to France at least once a year, and in the winter, skiing is definitely a favorite.

HL: Any funny or bizarre, food- or restaurant-related story?

AD: Ever since our daughter, Madeleine, was born, Nico has spoken French to her. So, at a very young age, she had a decent vocabulary in French. Fortunately, she also has a good appetite and eats almost everything. Several years ago when Madeleine was about two years old, we had a funny experience at a petting zoo. We visited the goats and the chickens, fed all the animals, and were enjoying ourselves quite a bit. At the end of the visit, we passed the pig enclosure. For some reason, Madeleine immediately registered pigs as “food” and started pointing. She shouted “Cochon! Cochon!” and “Mange! Mange!” Of course, in English she was saying, “Pig! Pig! Eat Eat!” Needless to say, we hustled out of the petting zoo before we were perceived as a threat to the pigs!

Ingredients

Canel

Yield - 12 canelé

(Use a scale to measure ingredients.)

~ 2 teaspoons vanilla powder

~ 500 grams milk

~ 250 grams sugar

~ 2 eggs

~ 2 egg yolks

~ 50 grams butter

~ 100 grams all purpose flour

~ 100 grams dark rum

Instructions

1. Heat milk and vanilla powder and set aside.

2. Melt butter and set aside.

3. Whisk together sugar, eggs, yolks, and melted butter.

4. Add about ¼ of the warm milk to the sugar and eggs mixture.

5. Add flour and continue mixing until combined.

6. Slowly add the remaining milk then the rum.

7. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes with high fan.

8. Drop the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue baking for 45 minutes with low fan.

(Note: baking time may differ with different ovens and fans)

Tips

Copper molds tend to yield the best result. Coat the molds with clarified butter to prevent sticking.

INGREDIENTS

Financier

Yield - 12 financiers

(Use a scale to measure ingredients.)

~ 310 grams powdered sugar

~ 20 grams honey

~ 100 grams almond flour

~ 30 grams hazelnut flour

~ 345 grams egg whites

~ 335 grams brown butter

~ 140 grams flour

~ 3 grams baking powder

~ Pinch of salt

~ ½ vanilla bean

Instructions

1. Brown butter: In a small saucepan, heat the butter on low, occasionally swirling the pan until it begins to turn golden.

2. Remove the pan from heat when the butter turns golden brown.

3. Whisk the egg whites until lightly frothy.

4. Whisk in the dry ingredients and add hot brown butter.

5. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.

Add a crumble of your favorite nuts to the top of each financier prior to baking.