A touch of Paris is coming to Jersey City Heights.
Five-and-a-half years after opening her first Choc-o-Pain cafe in Hoboken, owner Clemence Danko is about to open her third cafe at 330-332 Palisade Avenue. The new location was three years in the making and Danko says it will radicalize how the Hoboken and Jersey Avenue locations operate.
That’s due to the fact that the new 3,900 square foot storefront will be part Parisian cafe and part production facility.
“The point of the new space is really production,” says Danko.
“Initially we were producing everything out of Hoboken — that was our first store — and then a year later we opened in Jersey City. We had to split the production in two at that point.”
Now with the new Heights location, the bulk of Choc-o-Pain’s production will happen at 330-332 Palisade Avenue.
The new facility houses a dedicated bread room, sandwich/catering room, pastry room, and an oven room.
“We are really obsessed with the quality of our product,” says Danko. “You’re supposed to make pastries at a different temperature from bread. The new space allows us to have different rooms for all those activities.”
The new facility also brings about many benefits for Choc-o-Pain staff. Bakers will benefit from a new filtration system that removes traces of flour from the air and every section will have proper air conditioning. There will even be a garden area in the back for employees.
This isn’t Choc-o-Pain’s first visit to the Heights. Previously, the French cafe opened a pop-up at 942 Summit Avenue.
“Summit Avenue was temporary,” says Danko. “It was good to get to know the people of Jersey City Heights, but we couldn’t keep it.”
Now Choc-o-Pain is here to stay. That means Heights residents will be able to get their morning croissant or afternoon sandwich direct from the Palisade Avenue cafe.
To celebrate Bastille Day, the Hoboken and Jersey Avenue cafes will have a series of French tastings this week. The Hoboken cafe will team up with long-time partner Cheese+Wine, whereas the Jersey Avenue shop will partner with Van Hook Cheese for a baguette and cheese tasting.
Choc-o-Pain’s new cafe and production facility is expected to open as early as this week. It’s located adjacent to Lo-Fi, a new bar by the team behind downtown’s The Archer.
“We are so lucky to have them [Lo-Fi] next to us. It’s the cherry on the cake,” says Danko.
