(Sponsored article) Since they were both in elementary school, it has been David Lewis’s and her fiancée Dianelle De Howitt’s dream to own a food service establishment. David got his start in the restaurant industry at 16, working in a small Italian restaurant as a busboy, and then in several positions in the front of the house. In 2009, he graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, with a degree in food service management, and then worked a few stints as a restaurant manager.
Danielle, on the other hand, was born and raised in Broward County. She developed a passion for baking as a child and fell in love with the culinary world. Her first restaurant job was at Brio, working on the line while she attended Johnson & Wales University in Miami. After completing two years there, Danielle transferred to the Johnson & Wales campus in Providence where she completed her degree in 2013 in baking and pastry arts. After graduating, Danielle stayed in the Northeast for many years, working in bakeries from New York to all over New England.
In September 2018, Danielle and David moved down to South Florida, settling into Pembroke Pines. “Having family members in Davie, Southwest Ranches, Hollywood, and Fort Lauderdale, it felt like a great place to start our life together,” shares Lewis.
It was there in South Florida that they stumbled upon a bakery that was for sale. “We came across Euro Bread & Café and instantly fell in love with the establishment,” Lewis recalls. Together they decided it was time to live out their life-long dream, and bought the bakery.
They closed throughout the rest of the holidays for renovations and reopened for business on January 2nd, 2019. “We rearranged the space slightly and took down anything that blocked our menus or products from being seen. The transformation has been to give it a more modern and clean feel. It is still an intimate and cozy café though, with seven tables inside and three tables outside,” Lewis explains.
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The bakery has become a go-to spot for residents of Broward County. “Our bakery is a scratch kitchen, meaning we make our products in house. All of the croissants, pastries, desserts, cakes, etc. are made on a daily basis on the premises. Even the shells for the quiche are made from scratch. Most bakeries don’t offer the wide range of products that we do with a scratch kitchen,” Lewis explains. Croissants, breads, breakfast pastries, macarons, cakes, prepared salads and sandwiches, along with an extensive coffee selection — this artisinal bakery makes a point to offer everything you could want.
Their signature item? Their croissants. “Unlike most bakeries, we make our croissants from scratch every day. We offer five flavors: butter, chocolate, cheese, almond, and chocolate almond. Our croissants are made with only the freshest ingredients and they’re rolled by hand. The secret ingredient,” confides Lewis, “is the European butter we use instead of the lesser quality generic brands. Another one of our secrets is we use actual puff pastry dough for the almond and chocolate almond croissants. Most bakeries use their regular croissant dough and fill it with almond cream. Our almond & chocolate almond croissants are made with puff pastry dough and then filled with our homemade almond cream. This gives the croissant a crispier and flakier texture.”
Lewis and his fiancé, regretfully, haven’t traveled to Europe yet, but it’s high on their priority list. It’s been “a popular choice for the honeymoon destination.”
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