Megan Ray (right) and Caitlin Williams produce all the pastries at Miette, which, with its marble counters, toile shades, and satin ribbons, has the look of Paris or Vienna.
Four years ago, finding herself newly liberated from her dot-com job, Megan Ray decided to pursue a long-deferred dream of opening a European-style patisserie. She took the plunge modestly, setting up a pink tent at the Berkeley Farmers' Markets and arranging cakes made with local and organic ingredients on her collection of vintage cake stands.
"Thank god for that pink tent," Ray says now. "A lot of people came to know Miette because of that pink tent!"
Miette ("little crumb" in French) may have become synonymous for marketgoers with the pink tent and chic organic pastries, but for Ray the name means something else.
"I think of miette as the essence or the inner goodness of the cake," she says a little shyly, as if a belief in the inner goodness of cake were something to be embarrassed about, like believing in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy.
Caitlin Williams is a believer as well. The two women met when Williams approached Ray's table at the market and declared, "You have my dream job!" Both women had art backgrounds and a calling for pastry. The two became partners and last year opened Miette Pâtisserie in the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace. Their cakes have the charm of iconic line drawings, all elegant right angles and perfect domes and maraschino cherries that might have been placed with a compass.
"Pastry has such a different role in other parts of the world than it does here," says Ray. "We want to change that."
Bon appétit
Miette Pâtisserie (closed Mon; www.miettecakes.com or 415/837-0300) is in the Ferry Building Marketplace on the Embarcadero at Market Street in San Francisco.
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