Meet Jason Becton and Patrick Evans, Co-Owners of Charlottesville's MarieBette

BIENVENUE A MARIEBETTE!













Located right around the corner from the Alliance Française de Charlottesville. MarieBette is Charlottesville's one and only European-styled café and bakery.

Already well-known for their authentic French delights, the café/bakery combo also incorporates other European cooking styles. Because we are obsessed with finding the best baguette and pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant) in the city, we sat down with Jason Becton, one of the owners of MarieBette and picked his brain about ingredients, training, his personal love for all things edible, and why MarieBette?

Jason has always loved food. After he went to Paris for a semester with Wesleyan University, he was bit by the culinary bug but didn't start his culinary career until his late 20s. He attended the French Culinary Institute in New York City and afterwards worked at the Four Seasons Hotel and at L'Atelier De Joël Robuchon. After his brief stint at Robuchon, he moved on to become a sous chef and restaurant chef at The Garden restaurant in the hotel.

Jason eventually decided to open his own business with his partner, Patrick Evans, a Charlottesville native, who has worked at Blue Hill, 81, and Amy's Breads in New York before helping to open two French bakeries called Choc O Pain in New Jersey. They met in culinary school, and decided Charlottesville is better suited to raising their two children, Marian and Elizabeth, for whom the business was named.


As Jason reiterates, "raising kids in the NYC area is a whole different story, and we didn't want to go througall that. When we came [to Charlottesville], we decided to try to start a business," said Jason. "Because we’re partners, both in business and in life, it was appealing to have our own specialties (a bakery and restaurant). We compliment each other and it helps our relationship and not to get in each other’s ways." 

Thank goodness, too. MarieBette's selection of indulgences include items that can't be found elsewhere in C'ville. Items there are made with fresh, pure, and high-quality ingredients. In particular, MarieBette uses high-fat (about 83% fat) butter in their items, which, in combination with their high-quality flour and fresh fruit, makes for a tasty treat.

As Jason explains, "we want the flexibility to not always do things that are French, but French pastries and breads are big inspiration of what we do, both in the kitchen and in the bakery. And it’s been nice for us; we get a lot of French people coming in who live in Charlottesville, which really means a lot. It means we’ve captured a certain amount of authenticity."

Indeed, MarieBette has been named #2 in C-Ville's Top Breakfasts to Try and was featured to have one of C-Ville's best egg dishes.

Although everything on the menu is good, Jason especially likes their apricot frangipane tart, made with apricots, a bit of rosemary, and frangipane, which is essentially an almond cream. And, of course, he also enjoys the classic chocolate croissant, made with the best flour, the best chocolate, and incredible butter (yum!). Some items on MarieBette's menu are seasonal, like the apricot frangipane tart, but the chocolate croissant is available year-round; we highly recommend you stop by on your way to work!

Looking for proof of authenticity? "People say they haven’t had a chocolate croissant like ours since living in France," Jason admitted.

Even if you don't get a chance to go today, don't fret. MarieBette shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"This had really worked for us. We really wanted something that opened in the mornings, so we could go home and eat dinner together," Jason said, "we felt we filled the role of a niche that wasn’t really present in Charlottesville." When we asked if he had any regrets in opening up his business, Jason said "none at all."

And neither do we.