French Bakery and Deli Maison Nico Is Back For Good With Pâté en Croûte and Pain au Chocolat

Nicolas Delaroque and Andrea Delaroque are giddy to announce the reopening of their much-acclaimed and much-redone restaurant and cafe on August 17. The space, which was once the one Michelin-starred restaurant Nico before opening again in October 2020 as Maison Nico, is now fully, unapologetically an épicerie. It’s like a specialty grocery store, but stuffed to the rafters with pâté en croûte, terrines, aspic, savory pastries, viennoiserie and patisserie, wines, and other imported items — and now with an expanded kitchen and pastry production space.

The restaurant closed for the last four months to prepare for the now heavily takeout-focused approach. “We weren’t sure whether it would be a permanent change,” Nico Delaroque says of the épicerie pivot. “We found that Maison Nico resonated with our guests and decided to make it permanent.”

Confusingly, there is still dine-in service for dinner and lunch; Andrea Delaroque says she’s excited to offer salade niçoise to downtown power lunchers. In any case, sidling up for wine, like during a proposed Aperol Hour set to unveil this fall, is as much a thing in the new rendition of the space as is grabbing a blackberry almond croissant (or nine) to go. It’s cool to drop by to pick up French-imported goods, like Provencal olive oil and Olivier Roellinger spice blends, or to stay a while for rotating seasonal quiche slices.

Patricia Chang

Maison Nico

So long as no other gap years go awry there should be no reason not to swing through for some exceptional pâté and pastry. As of September, farmers market fans can find the Maison Nico stand at CUESA’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at the Ferry Building on Saturdays, too. Don’t miss the chance to nab a paté de canard au pruneaux — duck and dried plum — and brioche feuilletée.