If you’ve ever had the opportunity to walk down the bustling streets of France or New York City, chances are you would encounter bakeries, almost one on every street, featuring crusty loaves of fresh baked breads.

The good news is you don’t have to go that far anymore if you live in East Sacramento. Just head to the corner of 51st Street and Folsom Boulevard to the new Les Baux bakery and bistro.

Co-owner Trong Nguyen showcases two breads from Les Baux – the French rye and the épi type baguette. / Photos by Corrie Pelc

Why East Sac?

Co-owned by Trong Nguyen and his wife, who also founded La Bou Bakery & Cafe, Nguyen says the vision for Les Baux came from their travels to Europe. “We thought maybe (with) our experience, knowledge, resources and skills, (we could) put together a cool neighborhood bakery cafe bistro – the kind of place people would come and hang out and have a good time, like the places we would love to (go) … in other parts of the world,” he explains.

For this concept, Nguyen says they decided on East Sacramento because they loved the neighborhood. “It’s a really wonderful neighborhood on both sides of Folsom Boulevard, and very accessible to bicycles and foot traffic, and near the parks,” he says.

Nguyen appreciates the support he has received from the East Sacramento community since Les Baux first opened its doors about six months ago, with many customers already becoming repeat customers and others returning with their friends. “The people in East Sac are just incredible,” he adds.

One fan of Les Baux is East Sacramento resident Ed Christenson, who has become a frequent customer for the store’s bread and pastries. He says the bread is a very good quality and with a good flavor. He says it’s nice to “have a good bread store nearby” and feels Les Baux is a “nice addition” to East Sacramento.

And South East Sacramento residents Rosemarie Bertacchi and M. Teresa Lew say they have become consistent customers of Les Baux, and feel the restaurant is unique and neighborly. “(It) has the ability to be casual, as well as beginning to be in the class of epicurean,” Lew adds.

Breads from Les Baux. / Photos by Corrie Pelc

The Bakery

For the bakery part of Les Baux, Nguyen says they wanted to make a traditional bakery that you would find in France, New York and San Francisco.

The star attraction of the bakery is the bread. Les Baux offers a variety of breads, from baguettes to pain au levain (country white) to a multigrain bread. The bakery also offers types not normally seen, including the French rye and épi type baguette – rather than a straight loaf, the baguette has angled sections making it easy to break pieces off for eating.

According to Nguyen, all the breads are made each day from scratch from a natural ferment. The starter for the dough is made the day before baking. Each day at midnight, staff members come in to make the dough, which Nguyen says takes a few hours.

Then the bread is baked. Nguyen says these types of breads require a traditional deck oven, which requires a certain set of skills to operate as the dough is dropped directly on to the stone hearth. “It makes the best bread – it has a really good steaming system and even heat,” he explains. “That’s the kind of setting for making wonderful bread.” To help ensure his bread would be great, Nguyen even brought in bakers from Europe and New York to teach him how to make this type of bread.

In addition to the bread, the bakery at Les Baux features a variety of pastries, including croissants, scones, pain au chocolat, and different types of cookies.

Pastries from Les Baux. / Photos by Corrie Pelc

The Bistro

For the bistro, Nguyen says they wanted to create a place that was more of a neighborhood hangout than a restaurant. “A French diner where people would come to eat a few times a week,” he explains.

To accomplish this, Nguyen says they focused on making an interesting and diverse – yet affordable – menu using classic French bistro dishes. “I want everything to be affordable prices, the kind of thing a neighbor could walk over and have dinner – they don’t have to wait for their anniversary or birthday to come here,” he adds.

On the breakfast menu, dishes include the “3 Day” French Toast, so named, Nguyen says, because the French toast takes three days to create – two days to make the bread, and one day for it to naturally air dry, resulting, in what he calls a very light French toast. Other items on the breakfast menu include a breakfast focaccia and a continental breakfast.

For lunch and dinner – Les Baux just began offering dinner Tuesday through Saturday – Steak Frite (steak and French fries) Nguyen says is a very popular and traditional French bistro staple. Nguyen says other well-known French bistro dishes on their menu include Moules Frites (mussels and French fries) and raw oysters on the half shell, as well as three different types of tarts.

Patrons can also enjoy a glass of wine with their meal. Nguyen says they have developed what they call the “Left Side Only Wine List,” where every bottle on the menu is $25 and every glass is $6, so there is no right side of the menu with prices listed. “People can concentrate on just the wine that they like,” he adds.

“A Luxury”

Now with six months under their belt, Nguyen says that so far he is very pleased with the outcome of Les Baux. He says although people in this area do not buy as much bread as Europeans or those on the East Coast do, “little by little the people are beginning to come in and buy bread.”

“For those living in East Sac, the fact that they have a real artisan bread bakery in their neighborhood is a luxury because most America does not have this – it’s rare to have such an entity in your neighborhood,” he says. “You can walk over or ride your bike over and grab a loaf of bread for dinner.”

And he’s happy with the feedback he’s been receiving from community members that have found Les Baux and are very pleased to have done so. “Those kinds of encounters really motivate us and keep us going,” he adds.

Find It:

Les Baux
5090 Folsom Blvd.
916-739-1348
www.lesbauxbakery.com

The Raley’s supermarkets chain is celebrating a very special anniversary, as this year marks 75 years since the chain’s first store opened.

Since its founder Tom Raley opened this first location on Main Street in Placerville on Feb. 16, 1935, Raley’s has grown extensively and is a rich part of Sacramento area communities.

Recognized as the state’s 11th largest private company by Forbes magazine, Raley’s owns and operates 133 stores: 85 Raley’s, 21 Bel Air Markets, 22 Nob Hill Foods supermarkets and five Food Source stores.

These stores include Raley’s stores at 4850 Freeport Blvd. in Sacramento and 5159 Fair Oaks Blvd. and 4005 Manzanita Ave. in Carmichael, and Bel Air stores at 7465 Rush River Drive and 1301 Florin Road in Sacramento.

 

 

First link in the chain

The road to Raley’s establishment is one with long roots beginning in Lead Hill (Boone County) Arkansas – Tom Raley’s birthplace.

Raised in a family of seven boys and seven girls, Tom Raley was taught to have good virtues, as the son of a Baptist minister and farmer, named Reglus Raley.

Following his high school years, Tom Raley earned a business degree from a business college in Missouri before moving to Los Angeles, where he worked for an ice and cold storage firm.

Eventually working for a Safeway grocery store in Los Angeles before transferring to a San Francisco store, Tom Raley was later offered, but declined an opportunity to serve as the district manager of San Francisco Safeway stores.

In 1934, despite being a Depression year, Tom Raley opted to instead establish his own grocery store.

In a 1972 interview with The Sacramento Bee, Tom Raley described the challenges he faced in opening his first store, which had a price tag of $9,000.

“I wanted to build a store in Placerville and I had only $120,” Tom Raley told The Bee. “I needed credit, so I listed the chairman of the board of Safeway as a reference. Suddenly everybody was willing to help me.”

Opening his Placerville store with only two assistants – a clerk and a butcher – Tom Raley experienced much success with his store, which led to his additional success in Sacramento.

His good fortunes with the Placerville store ended when it was destroyed by fire in 1942.

Less than a decade after opening his first Sacramento store, Tom Raley was at the helm of a chain of eight stores, including a store at 1700 Capitol Ave., where Compton’s and Rick’s Uptown markets were later located.

And this was definitely only the beginning of Raley’s growth, as the chain continued to expand throughout the years, making possible Tom Raley’s goal of establishing 50 stores by Raley’s 50th anniversary in 1985.

 

Starting the superstores

The aforementioned Freeport Boulevard store was established in 1958, which was the very year that Raley’s made history by opening the nation’s first grocery store-drug store combination, which was known as a superstore.

Raley’s was obviously proud of its superstores, as is indicative of an advertisement, which appeared in the Dec. 7, 1977 edition of The Sacramento Union.

“If there’s no Raley’s Superstore near you…move,” the advertisement read.

The advertisement also invited The Union’s readers to the day’s opening of the 5159 Fair Oaks Blvd., at Walnut Avenue, location in Carmichael.

The Fair Oaks Boulevard store became Raley’s 10th superstore.

Raley’s also once had a presence in East Sacramento with its former store at 2815 L St., near Sutter’s Fort.

Although it never materialized, during the late 1980s, plans were made for a 99,000-square-foot shopping center, which was to be known as Pocket Landing and anchored by a 61,000-square-foot Raley’s Supercenter at the northeast corner of Pocket Road and Greenhaven Drive.

 

Raley’s acquired Bel Air

In 1992, Raley’s acquired Bel Air Markets from the Wong family and like Raley’s, Bel Air also has a very rich history, which has left a positive impression on many people throughout the region.

The roots of the store began in the 1930s, when Chinese immigrant Gim Wong, who came to America in 1916 and eventually helped found his family’s supermarket, Bel Air, began selling produce that he grew on his 5-acre farm in Penryn, about 30 miles east of Sacramento. Assisting him with his business was his wife, Lee Shee and their children.

After establishing his produce-selling business on his farm, he eventually opened his own store in Penryn. And moving to Sacramento in the late 1940s, he opened a grocery store at 28th and P streets.

The Wong family’s establishment of their first Bel Air Market at 6231 Fruitridge Road was, according to the business’s corporate history, “still a novel concept at that time.”

The same can also be said of Raley’s during its early years as a supermarket.

Even by the early 1960s, the concept of the supermarket remained somewhat in its infancy.

In 1961, for instance, The Bee published an article that in today’s world can be considered amusing to reflect upon.

The article explains that the Department of Agriculture created a pamphlet covering the topic of “why the American housewife’s supermarket bill seems so high.”

The pamphlet responds to this inquiry, noting that “she buys better food, spends less time in the kitchen and buys cigarettes, (lipstick, toilet articles), face lotion and even clothes” at the supermarket.

Committed to its mission of offering superior products and top-notched customer service, Bel Air capitalized on its success and had expanded to a chain of six stores within its first decade.

Today, the now-much larger Bel Air chain, which was formerly led for 40 years by its president, George Wong, has stores as far east as Cameron Park and as far north as Yuba City.

Among these stores, the Arden Way store opened on Aug. 14, 1958, the Florin Road store opened on Aug. 8, 1966 and the Rush River Drive store opened on Nov. 16, 1988.

 

The local store

Other highlights in Raley’s history include the opening of its first Food Source warehouse format store in Folsom in 1994 and its purchase of the Nob Hill Foods chain in 1998.

Tom Raley passed away at the age of 88 on Dec. 27, 1991 and the company is now owned by his daughter, Joyce Raley Teel, who also serves as a co-chair of the Raley’s board of directors. Her husband, James E. Teel, is the other co-chair.

Tom Raley’s only grandson, Michael J. Teel, serves as Raley’s president and CEO, while each of his four sisters, Claudia Doerhoff, Diane Perry, Laurie Struck and Lisa Davidson, serve on the board of directors.

Today, Raley’s, which has its headquarters in West Sacramento and about 13,500 employees, continues to add to its legacy.

Raley’s spokeswoman Amy Davis said that Raley’s is proud of its 75-year commitment to providing quality products and services for its customers.

“We are thrilled to celebrate Raley’s 75th anniversary with the community,” Davis said. “It’s been an honor to serve the greater Sacramento area since 1935. Although our offerings and services have evolved over the years to meet the needs of today’s consumers – including a recipe database on raleys.com, accounts on Twitter and an iPhone app for customers on-the-go – the foundation of customer service built by our founder, Tom Raley, remains constant as we welcome a new generation of customers through our store doors. As a regional, family-operated company, we look forward to serving you and your families for many years to come.”

 

E-mail Lance Armstrong at lance@valcomnews.com.