Jean-Marc Chatellier’s French Bakery

After recently moving back to the area and seeing Rick Sebak’s «The Joys of Millvale» special, I had to visit Jean Marc’s. The croissants are made with real butter and are light, flaky, and just phenomenal. The breakfast pastries tend to sell out quickly, so get there early. Some gourmet breakfast pastries are only made on certain days of the week. The macarons are delicious too, some flavors are better than others. I love this little French bakery in the heart of Millvale and would recommend it to others!

Best macarons in Pittsburgh, and great prices! So many flavors to choose from. I love this place.

So far above average that it’s well worth the sightly increased prices. This place is like no other. The service is prompt and courteous, and you can taste the quality that goes into every bite.

Best. Bakery. Ever.
Let’s just say I’m lucky that I don’t live in Pittsburgh, because I would probably be visiting this bakery everyday.
For those who don’t know, Jean Marc is a French trained pastry chef who happens to live in pittsburgh. So you get world class french desserts readily available to you.
I’ll eat anything that comes out of this bakery, but my absolute favorite is the banana cream pie and coconut cream pie.
I’ve met Jean Marc once and he was very nice and even gave me directions.
Whenever I visit pittsburgh I always stop by and buy a hundred dollars worth of baked goods. The other place to check out in pittsburgh is Everday Noodles in squirrel hill for authentic Chinese food.

Get all the things, seriously! This bakery hits all the right notes; I love the cakes, the pastries, but can take or leave the macarons (a bit too cake-​y for my taste) but some people seem to love them.

I’ve been in love with this place for twenty years. The only thing I don’t like is that they haven’t yet opened a satellite location around the corner from my apartment. Apart from that, the relationship is entirely unmarred by disappointment or regret (no, not even for the extra pound or six I’ve put on from diving face-​first into the mille-​feuille).
I have to credit my high school French teacher for the introduction. Monsieur Marquis knew the shortcut to the hearts of disaffected teenagers was flaky pastry, and he’d put out a sign-​up sheet every other Friday or so that would have us (students and teachers alike) scrambling for change for a fresh warm pain au chocolat or crisp palmier or a simple, perfect baguette. On the day, he would dispatch a couple of students to pick up the order and we’d watch through the windows for the car to come racing back. Unpacking the boxes was an exercise in patience as we tried to keep from falling on them like wild dogs. Un homme sage, notre professeur. Proust had his madeleine; my classmates and I have our croissants.

Normally, sweets are not my thing. You will never find me eating a cookie or cake at random. But absolutely everything Jean-Marc’s bakery is so wonderful (not overly sweet — like most bakeries!) that I think I could happily survive solely on the goodies from this bakery. Millvale isn’t a quick drive for me, but I find myself making excuses to go there once a month to pick up a few macaron’s.

Outstanding. I love pastries and this place has the best I have ever tasted. Everything is so good. My daughter has a gluten allergy and we get the macaroons for her.

Their burnt almond torte is delicious! So light and airy with great flavor. Very friendly staff and fair prices. It was so hard to decide on what to purchase, that I walked out with about 5 different things. Can’t wait to go back and try some more. Fruit tart and black forest cake were also very tasty. Hidden gem in Millvale.

Saw this bakery on a PBS special about Millville and made a trip to see for ourselves.
Bought croissants, macarons, a French shortbread and enjoyed everything.
The croissants were extremely flaky, buttery and delicious.
The French shortbread was fantastic as advertised.
The macarons (we tried chocolate, lemon and salted caramel) were a little pricey but absolutely perfect.
On the macarons — the salted caramel were a perfect balance of flavors — not too salty and very rich in flavor and were our favorite. We tried the salted caramel macarons at Oakmont Bakery 2 days later to compare as the Oakmont macarons were slightly larger and less expensive but decided that the Jean-​Marc macarons would be our #1 with the Oakmont macarons being too salty and not balanced in flavor.
As someone who has traveled many times to France both to large cities such as Paris and Lyon and small towns in the countryside, I would say the Jean-​Marc bakery is as close to being in France as you will find in PA.

Kouign-​amann is a must-​get for any carb lover out there. Super moist and delicious, the «puff pastry» is filled with butter + sugar. They recommend heating before eating, but I just stuffed it in my mouth and it was fine.
The other thing I liked was their version of the Burnt Almond Torte. Unlike it more famous counterpart in Shadyside, this one had softer icing (not hard and crusty) and had a thicker middle custard layer. The cake itself was a more dense as well.
The macarons were OK. It is a little softer and slightly «cakier» than your typical, but this is probably my personal preference. The chocolate croissant was a little disappointing– the inside was pretty hollow and the amount of chocolate was pretty small.
Street parking that accepts nickels, dimes and quarters!

I am a big fan! We’ve ordered several cakes from here and every single time, it gets rave reviews. I’ve had family members from Ohio ask to pick up a cake from here!
Our go-​to cake is the white cake with raspberry. My goodness. The cake is always always moist and the raspberry center has a hint of tartness and sweetness that is balanced out with the fresh cream. The cream frosting is my favorite. Usually, I scrape the frosting off other cakes because i hate the gross greasy after feel I get in the back of my tongue and throat. Not this one! This frosting is juuuuuust right. Correct sweetness, freshness and lightness. Just perfect.
This visit we got two cakes. One with raspberry and one with strawberry. We’ve had the raspberry before but wanted to try something different too. Also, it seemed ridiculous to get two raspberry cakes :)
Must say, I’m still the raspberry fan. The strawberry was slices of fresh strawberry which merely presented a faint hint of strawberry taste. The raspberry on the other hand, is a raspberry jelly type of filling. Much more flavorful than slices of strawberries. Just my opinion. Both were still delicious nonetheless.

The macaroons … just salivating thinking about them. The loaves of bread are made fresh daily … get there early.
The owner replicated my parent’s wedding cake from a photograph for their 40^th anniversary … delicious and beautiful
This bakery is a huge asset to the Millvale community.

Another neighborhood hidden gem I found today in Millvale. There is much construction in the area once you exit Route 28 and get onto Lincoln Ave. I was able to bypass all of it and turn left onto North Ave.
There is metered parking on that street and again I was able to secure a spot. The bakery is very small but it shows its French authenticity by displaying an Eiffel Tower inside. There is no indoor seating. It is pretty much order and go.
They have added to their selection quiche with two desserts for $ 23.00. Since I had heard so much about the Kouign amani, I ordered one for myself and one for my best friend who was at work. I asked them to box it for me which they did so it would retain its freshness.
I also decided to order a dozen macaroons and split in half so both of us could sample some of the different varieties. I ordered for us raspberry balsamic, rose raspberry, vanilla bean, lemon, chocolate, and marzipan. The lady told me that they can be refrigerated but to take them out and put them at room temperature for 5 minutes before eating. They also had samples of the Breton cake so I tried one and it was melt in your mouth goodness. Again I purchased one of these to split with her since you can eat it as is or put various toppings of your choice on it. They Breton cake is basically known as French shortbread and sells for $ 8.00.
A dozen macaroons sell for $ 19.00 which is a bit cheaper than purchasing individually.
The rest of the baked goods were refrigerated that included almond tortes, eclairs, sliced cakes as well as multiple servings of dessert pastries. You can call and order ahead if you know specifically what you wish to purchase.
I completed my purchase and returned to my car to eat the kouign amani. It was light and flaky and of course messy since I forgot to grab a napkin when I left. However, it was one of the best pastries I ever tasted! I am saving the macaroons for another day but I’m sure I won’t be disappointed in my choice.
This is also a great French bakery tucked away in Millvale. I’m sure my friend will want to check it out once I give her the items I bought for her and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try a piece of Paris!

Based on previous reviews, I pedaled myself all the way out to Millvale to try this bakery out. I also decided to follow in bakery queen Laura M’s footsteps and get the same thing: a kouign amann ($ 2.75) and a half-​dozen macarons ($ 10, which is not bad for Pittsburgh).
These were good life decisions.
Kouign amann (pronounced queen amahn): this little beauty hit all the right notes for me. I enjoyed the just-​sweet-​enough sprinkles of sugar, the light and airy interior, and the crisp chewy outside.
Macarons: I chose the vanilla bean, pistachio, salted caramel, marzipan, lavender poppy, and espresso flavors. Having eaten and baked many macarons before myself, I can safely say that Jean-Marc’s are great examples of what they should be! The flavors were delicious (I think salted caramel was my favorite), and there was just the right amount of filling. While crisp on the very outside, the insides were soft and chewy. Appearance-​wise, they were smooth and mostly free of bubbles, and they had those characteristic macaron «feet.»
Can’t wait to sample more of what they’ve got!

There is a reason that every review for Jean-Marc’s I’ve read is 4 or 5 stars, mostly 5 stars. This place CAN’T BE BEAT. The butter croissants are well… there really are no words to describe how good they are. Get there in the morning, the croissants go fast! The Paris Brest is my favorite pastry, every time my boyfriend goes he buys a Breton cake. It’s a shortbread cake, not a cake cake. SO good. Last time I was there I got a kouign-​amann. Yeah I don’t know how to pronounce it either, but it was sooooooooooooooooooooo good!
It’s the best bakery in Pittsburgh in my opinion and I’ve frequented many a bakery!

As the resident bakery queen of PGH, Jean Marc’s bakery has been on my to visit list for at least a year, ever since seeing the favorable reviews on Unilocal and the segment by Rick Sebak on It’s Pittsburgh. As a denizen of the East End, Millvale isn’t exactly convenient to me, but I do pass through the riverfront park there regularly on one of my longer bike routes. This past Sat., I finally decided to make a slight detour into town to check it out, and I’m so glad that I did!
Having perused the other reviews, I knew that there were two things that this bakery was known for: the kouign amann and the macarons. Thus, I decided to pick up one of the former ($ 2) and half a dozen of the latter ($ 10). For the latter, I chose the following flavors: chocolate, Nutella, raspberry balsalmic, lavender poppy, lemon, and peanut butter and jelly. The shop was pretty small, but there weren’t too many people there at the time that I stopped by (11am), and the woman serving me was friendly. After having chosen my treats, I headed over to the park to consume them.
I’ll preface my evaluation by admitting that I’ve never had either kouign amann or macarons before. Having said that, they were both absolutely divine! The kouign amann, which is a buttery puff pastry, had a great balance of flavors (sweet and rich) and textures (light and flaky). As for the macarons, all of them melted in my mouth with minimal mastication, and the fillings added a burst of moistness and flavor. The only one that seemed a bit too delicately flavored to me was the lavender poppy. However, a friend who I split it with said she could taste both flavors distinctly, so perhaps that’s just my palate (after all, they are both delicate flavors!).
Needless to say, I was enamored with the baked goods I sampled at Jean Marc. I look forward to returning to try some of their other more general baked goods (chocolate mousse cake, lemon curd, etc.). While the macarons may seem expensive, they’re actually almost a dollar less each than those of one of their competitors in Squirrel Hill if you buy a half dozen. If you happen to be headed in the direction of Millvale, Jean Marc is well worth a stop to satisfy the sweet tooth!

For a small place they pack in the people. They have a nice selection of pastries the macaroons are a little cheaper then other French bakeries around.

Okay, I’ll admit it, sometimes I can be wrong. One morning, craving some pastries, I decided to head back to Jean-Marc’s. I got a few croissants and a few sweet treats for later. I’ve been back a few times since and when I want a croissant, this has been my first stop.
Part of the reason I’ve added a star might be because, with the addition of a few good breweries, Millvale has grown on me. It may also have something to do with Rick Sebak’s «The Joys of Millvale» reminding me how much Millvale has to offer. The small town feel and friendly attention given by local businesses is something special and there’s no lack of that here.
The bakery itself is a little small and when more than two or three customers are browsing for baked goods, it can start to get crowded. Some of the items are a tad on the pricey side for my taste, but they’re comparable to any other bakery around town. But what you get is good quality, all made by one man, fresh every day like he’s been doing for decades. Add a smiling face behind the counter, and okay, you got me, I’ll be back for more.

I learned of this place from watching Rick Sebak’s program, «The Joys of Millvale» on WQED (for those not familiar with Pittsburgh, that’s Pittsburgh’s PBS affiliate — they gave the world Mr. Rogers). Everything looked so delicious on the show that I knew I had to go see this place in person. So, on the way back from the Pittsburgh Mills, I stopped by Millvale and went and found it.
Millvale is a quaint little suburb, and the street where Jean-Marc’s is located is, as well. You will feel like you had driven back in time to the first half of the 20^th Century. It was a Saturday afternoon. The street was relatively busy, but I found metered parking right across the street from the bakery. A Quarter got me an hour of parking, which was way more than I needed, because the service was friendly and efficient.
I walked into the little bakery. Immediately, I saw Jean-​Marc behind the counter near the cash register, assisting some other customers. He was not the one who helped me, but it is just nice to see the owner and baker in the place, especially when he’s helping people. The lady behind the counter directly in front of me finished up with the customer ahead of me, looked me in the eye, and asked how she could help me. I told her that I was here for some Macarons. She asked me if i wanted a dozen or a half dozen. I looked at the prices and decided on a half dozen. Then she asked me what flavors I wanted. This was not an easy decision, because they have so many, and they all sounded delicious. I opted for Peanut Butter and Jelly, Marzipan, Lemon, Raspberry, Mango Passion Fruit, and Nutella. She boxed them up for me, I paid, and five minutes after parking my car, I was on my way.
I was supposed to come here with a friend, but since I made a spontaneous decision to stop by alone, I promised her I would save her one or three Macarons. Well, the whole half-​dozen made it home alright. But later that afternoon, I got hungry and wanted a snack. So, I decided to try one. I soon discovered that just eating one is not possible. They were so sweet and light and fluffy, and they melted deliciously right in my mouth. The six of them lasted only a couple of minutes. I guess I’ll just have to go back for more and try some of their delicious Palmiers (Elephant Ears, basically)!
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone! If I ever get married, it would have to be a woman who is willing to get our wedding cake from here, because that is a deal breaker!