After spending his youth traveling the world, a 26-year-old Maurice Delechelle decided it was time to retire his suitcase.
Delechelle, a native of Tours, France, settled in New Orleans, where he opened his European-style bakery La Marquise on Chartres Street near Jackson Square in 1972. Six years later, the mustachioed baker picked up a side hustle as a landlord.
He bought a property on Ursulines Street that was housing the city’s first ice cream parlor, Angelo Brocato, at the time. After it closed in 1981, Delechelle opened another French bakery, Croissant D’Or Patisserie, at the location.
Though he retired in 2003, his enterprise lives on and is returning to its birthplace. A second Croissant D’Or Patisserie storefront is slated to open in two months at 317 Chartres Street, employee Kris Armand confirmed…