He’s won a gold medal at the European Fair of Strasbourg by creating a small pulled-sugar Mozart with a violin, made pastries and appetizers for the French army, held second place in Toronto’s 2002 Bakery Showcase and is one of the most highly recommended bakers in the Pastry Chef’s Guild of Ontario. His name is Thierry Schmitt and he runs the much-loved Pâtisserie la Cigogne in Toronto, having started the Bayview location in 2003 and expanded to the Danforth in 2011.
But while Thierry was a celebrated and accomplished pastry chef in his native France, he found he had to work hard at building a reputation in Toronto. “I came to Canada…I think it was 1996,” he says. “I came to Canada and I worked first for established companies, hotel companies, and then retail companies before I opened on Bayview.” It wasn’t long before people took notice of Thierry’s skill, and soon Pâtisserie la Cigogne was attracting neighbourhood residents eager to sample his latest delicacies.