An Accomplished French Pastry Chef Is Now Baking World-Class Croissants in Los Angeles

Mr. T, one of Hollywood’s hippest dinner-only restaurants, opened its doors as a daytime cafe on September 6. Mr. T Cafe is in partnership with one of the world’s most accomplished French pastry chefs, Francois Daubinet, whose resume includes Paris’s Hôtel de Crillon, three-Michelin-starred Plaza Athénee, two-Michelin-starred Le Taillevent, and famed patisserie Fauchon. On the daytime menu are expertly crafted croissants, cakes, cookies, and desserts.

After a career in Paris and a two-year stint in New York, Daubinet came to Los Angeles looking to make a splash in the city’s pastry scene. “I love the city, the art scene, the music scene. I think there’s an opportunity to do something here with pastry,” he says. Mr. T’s owner, Guillaume Guedj, met the pastry chef a year ago for a brief but well-received pop-up in Hollywood. At the time, the two discussed collaborating to expand the restaurant’s presence and make good use of its sizeable outdoor patio during daytime hours.

In recent years, Daubinet has been creating more conceptual desserts working with non-food brands like watchmaker Omega, but he prefers baking more elemental creations such as the gorgeously browned pain au chocolat and almond croissants available at Mr. T Cafe. Other baked goods include an intensely flavored lemon poppy seed pound cake, a cookie-studded croissant called a Crooklyn, and airy chouquettes. Daubinet’s signature dessert is the Gold Digger, a hazelnut-topped ganache tartlet with gold dust.

In addition to pastries and desserts on the cafe menu, Mr. T executive chef Alisa Vannah has compiled a set of easygoing savory dishes, including smoked salmon toast with lemon creme fraiche, avocado toast topped with burrata, Caesar salad, and a beef burger topped with bruleed Comté and mimolette cheese foam. On the weekend brunch menu is a decadent French toast topped with vanilla cream and blueberries, as well as a chicken sausage breakfast burrito. The cafe also offers a full coffee menu, matcha tea, and freshly blended juices.

Mr. T Cafe is located at 953 N. Sycamore Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90038, and is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.