Freshly baked breads, exotic macaroons and homemade pastries are what keep customers coming back to Manuel Rubiralta’s family-owned bakery.

Rubiralta opened Levure Bakery & Patisserie with his wife and brother in early 2015 in Creekside Park Village Center. Since then, the business has seen a steady stream of customers and a regular clientele come through the bakery’s doors.

“Our clients are regular and on Saturday and Sunday, it’s full of bikes [outside],” Rubiralta said. “On Saturday, we even sell out of croissants and baguettes. We get a lot of to-go orders from all the people who live here in this area in Creekside. We’re still getting a lot of new people here by advertising on social media and have just been received very well by people in the community.”

Rubiralta said he and his wife, Fatima, who is the pastry chef for Levure Bakery, live only 90 seconds from the eatery. The couple wanted to open their restaurant in Creekside Park Village Center because of recent growth and the sense of community they feel in the surrounding area.

“We’ve seen growth in this area and this location is a center for the community,” Rubiralta said. “We had a chance about 2 1/2 years ago to start looking for a location, and we didn’t want to be somewhere like Hughes Landing. We’re a neighborhood bistro here in [Creekside Park Village Center].”

Rubiralta said the neighborhood bistro serves a variety of popular pastries, breakfast, brunch and lunch items that are customer favorites, such as the Croque Madame French toast, the adult grilled cheese and the turkey-bacon sandwich. The bakery also offers pastas such as the Mac Et La Fromage, which is baked in a cocotte and topped with sourdough crumbs, as well as a variety of salads.

Plain and chocolate croissants are also ordered regularly, along with fresh baked country bread, baguettes and petits fours, which are small savory appetizers.

“We like that our customers can come here and have a different experience every time; our menu is always changing,” Rubiralta said. “Everything is fresh—from our breads, to our pastries, to our cream. It’s by design and necessity that we’re fresh—we’re an artisanal bakery.”

Rubiralta said the bakery offers breakfast, brunch and lunch menu items, but starting in mid-September, it will begin a dinner service. So far the bakery has had four pop-up dinners during which customers were able to experience a multicourse meal at the bakery. Rubiralta said he hopes to make dinner at the bakery a permanent and popular option.

More bakery locations are also a possibility in the future after Rubiralta’s family noted the success of the bakery’s existing location.

“We certainly will open more locations—this place has been very successful,” he said. “We want to get the dinner service in place here first.”

Popular menu items:

  • Croque Monsieur: country bread, bechamel, gruyere, ham and seasonal vegetables ($12.50)
  • Turkey+Bacon+Gruyere Grilled Sandwich: raw Vermont Gruyere cheese, turkey and smoked bacon ($13.50)
  • Adult Grilled Cheese: classic grilled cheese, corn poblano relish ($12.50)

Available French pastries:

  • Croissant
  • Kouign-amann
  • Almond croissant
  • Pain au chocolat
  • Sticky buns
  • Twice baked brioche
  • Brioche au tete
  • Morning roll

Available petits fours:

  • Madeleine: Shell-shaped sponge cakes are made with traditional, fine-ground organic almonds.
  • Financiers: Resembling solid gold bricks, these French tea cookies taste of almonds and caramelized butter.