Stephanie & Xavier
From Paris to United Street.
While visiting Key West in 2011, lifelong friends Stephanie and Xavier fell in love with the island and decided to make it their home. When you are French, everything worthwhile begins with love — and of course lots of wine. They moved their entire world from Paris, and within a few months had bought a building and set their plan in motion: to open Frenchie's Café.
Both passionate culinary aficionados, they found the idea of setting traditional French cuisine beside the local Cuban flavors of Key West an artful and intriguing pursuit. The local penchant for tiny cups of Cuban coffee, the bucci, only encouraged them: without the sugar, it is very close to the pure French espresso that runs through Stephanie's veins.
Stephanie worked for many years in Paris as a professional baker and pastry chef in the 5th and 12th arrondissements, and ran the Les Moulins de Paris baking school. In Key West she quickly won over locals and visitors alike with her fresh-baked pastries, homemade breads, French desserts and a daily selection of specialty quiche. Xavier, also a veteran of Parisian food culture, was chef-owner of a traditional French brasserie in the Bercy district for years; his fondness for French "feel good" food and his joie de vivre fit the Key West state of mind easily, and he brings that exuberance to the plate.
From coffee, espresso, pastries and French breakfast dishes to gourmet cheeses, chèvre chaud salad, salade niçoise, pan bagnat and a wide variety of French bread paninis — Stephanie and Xavier complement each other in the kitchen, and their recipes mirror their appreciation of Key West.
If you are fortunate enough to find yourself in the neighborhood, stop by for a bite… and maybe an espresso.
