Spring Valley-area business welcomes customers at wholesale counter
By DANIELLE NADLER
VIEW STAFF WRITER
Louie Traub/ViewDominic Loiacono scores baguettes before placing them in the oven. The bakery?s orders have shot up since the retail wing opened two months ago.
Dominic Loiacono removes baguettes from the oven at Normandie Country Bakery, 3701 Sirius Ave., on Sept. 5. The bakery?s bread is delivered to various Las Vegas restaurants and hotels.Louie Traub/View
Louie Traub/ViewAndres Becerna cuts and wraps loaves of bread at Normandie Country Bakery, 3701 Sirius Ave., Sept. 5, to prepare them for delivery to various Las Vegas restaurants and hotels.
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Like any doting mother, Josette LeBlond was set to do anything to convince her son, a baker in France, to move closer to her in Los Angeles, where she lived at the time. So, in 1995, she opened a bakery in the heart of the city as a lure.
"He never moved," LeBlond said.
Even still, life turned out OK for the French native. Some of the biggest names in the nation's restaurant business are on her regular order forms. Her Los Angeles bakery has become one of the most sought-after bakeries in Southern California, averaging 3,000 baguettes a day.
LeBlond, a vivacious woman who knows no stranger, has made a name in Las Vegas as the owner of French eatery Josette's Bistro, 4983 W. Flamingo Road. In 2005, she opened a second wholesale bakery, Normandie Country Bakery, in the southwest area of Las Vegas. She also hosts her own cooking show, "La Cuisine" on the Food Channel.
"I couldn't believe how successful it's been," she said with a French accent.
In yet another strategic business move, LeBlond opened a retail addition to her Las Vegas wholesale bakery two months ago.
"I saw the market needed a good bakery with good service," she said. "We needed to be open to the public."
She moved Normandie Country Bakery into a larger building at 3701 Sirius Ave. with a retail bakery in the front and an 8,000-square-foot kitchen in back to give her bakers enough space to keep up with the slew of wholesale orders.
The retail bakery, with outdoor patio seating, serves freshly baked bread, muffins, pastries and, of course, croissants. Also on the menu are extravagantly decorated cakes made to look guitars, hats, animals and most anything else her imaginative bakers can dream up.
Following suit with LeBlond's successful history, her bakery's orders have shot up since the retail wing opened.
Normandie baker Andrews Becerra said that in the past two months, his daily baguette orders have spiked from 30 to 300.
"We're even busier," he said. "And we're happy."
Some of Las Vegas' largest casino-hotels and high-end restaurants are on the bakery's daily deliveries. Sahara has ordered wedding cakes, pastries and bread from Normandie's since the wholesale bakery opened.
"She (LeBlond) puts out good, quality products," said Tim Emert, executive chef at Sahara. "I can count on it to be good every time."
Even as LeBlond's businesses' swell, she still greets each customer with a boisterous "bonjour," and calls each employee "my love."
"I love people," she said. "I don't work for work. I work because I love it."
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