Look Inside Bellegarde’s First Retail Bakery, Now Open in Leonidas

Bellegarde’s bread is a city favorite

by Clair Lorell Jul 19, 2019, 11:04am CDT

Bellegarde, the ubiquitous and beloved bread found in New Orleans restaurants, grocery stores, and wine shops, opens its first retail bakery tomorrow, July 20. Located in the Leonidas neighborhood at 8300 Apple Street (near the Claiborne and Carrollton intersection), Bellegarde Bakery will make its beautiful bread accessible directly to the public for the first time and triple output.

Bellegarde became a hit with the city not long after Graison Gill started baking in 2013, but other than a pre-ordering and pickup option, customers had to settle for finding his bread at restaurants and markets. Gill announced plans for the expanded operation last fall to the great joy of many, and launched an online retail shop for flour and grains that was well-received nationally.

The 3,200-square-foot bakery sits behind a small walk-up counter with a bread wall to the right, and a cut-out window that lets customers see the massive operation taking place behind the storefront. The shop is light and bright, and decked out with rustic wood that resembles, well, bread.

The store will sell its well-known wholesale varieties like the popular epi bread, as well as rotating specials only available in store. It will also stock the bakery’s flour, which is made with two in-house stone mills, and sell one-size-only cups of Congregation coffee. Eventually, Gill plans to add pizza, pasta, and breakfast pastries to the bakery’s menu.

Bellegarde joins a slew of recent bakery openings including Tiger Bakery in Broadmoor and Levee Baking Co. on Magazine Street. It also joins the recently opened Lamara Coffee & Kitchen in the bold move of going cashless, so bring your plastic.

On opening day, the bakery will host a public open house from 3 to 5 p.m. and give customers a behind-the-scenes tour of the bakery and chance to meet its team of bakers. After Saturday, Bellegarde will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.