By Elena Kadvany
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I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community.
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Mademoiselle Colette has announced two big changes for the local French patisserie: a new chef and a third location.
Mademoiselle Colette, with locations in Menlo Park and Palo Alto, has a new executive chef in Nicolas Agraz. Agraz cut his teeth with French pastry chef Pierre Hermé, Christophe Michalak and Christophe Vasseur of famed Paris bakery Du Pain et Des Idées. He'll replace former pastry chef Orphée Fouano, who left in June.
"Leveraging his passion for amazing pastries and fine Parisian gastronomy," Argaz will be developing new menu items for Mademoiselle Colette, an announcement states.
Mademoiselle Colette's new chef, Nicolas Agraz. Photo courtesy Mademoiselle Colette.
Agraz will also help owner Debora Ferrand open her third location at 2401 Broadway St. in Redwood City, the former home of Pamplemousse Pâtisserie. Pamplemousse closed in December 2017 after 11 years of business.
Mademoiselle Colette's pain au chocolat. Photo by Veronica Weber/Palo Alto Weekly.
Ferrand, who was raised in France and attended Alain Ducasse's cooking school in Paris, opened the first bakery in downtown Menlo Park in 2015. She
expanded to downtown Palo Alto two years later.
Mademoiselle Colette serves pastries as well as brunch, lunch and wine.
