PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The people behind Presque Isle’s Cafe Sorpreso have opened their new bakery and coffee shop, Cafe Demoiselle.
“We don’t know where this is going, but it’s a fun adventure for sure,” said Judy Boudman, who co-owns the two eateries with her husband Clifton.
During the cafe’s first day open on a humid Monday, a stream of customers trickled in throughout the day for bread, crepes and baked goods. Boudman said they processed about 50 orders.
Cafe Demoiselle opened in the same space formerly occupied by two other short-lived coffee shops going back to 2015.
Boudman said the new bakery will be open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, with baked goods also offered at the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market Saturday morning. After farmers’ market season ends, the couple likely will open the bakery for longer hours and more days, she said.
Boudman said Cafe Demoiselle evolved out of the success of Cafe Sorpreso, which opened in 2007, and the Boudman’s bed-and-breakfast, Rum Rapids Inn, at their homestead on the Aroostook River. The name Cafe Demoiselle was inspired by the Pablo Picasso painting “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” a copy of which hangs on the wall.
The bakery also is designed to supply Cafe Sorpreso with baked goods and may also become a wholesaler of sorts, Boudman said.
“Our whole idea was that we would get into production and Cafe Sorpreso would buy breads and desserts. There are also other restaurants that have talked to us about possibly selling baked goods to them. It could be that we wholesale.”
Boudman said the bakery’s menu is still being developed but will be rotating around items prepared by the head baker, Whitney McNamee. The Boudmans recruited the Fort Fairfield native, who studied culinary arts at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, and she started at the cafe several weeks ago.
“We’re really lucky to have her. She’s taking it to a different level.”
While Boudman said only time will tell if there is a market for the bakery, she said she and Clifton were interested in pursuing their passions with the new business. Both are retired professors, he of art and she of social work, and she recalls growing up in Presque Isle when small businesses on Main Street were numerous.
“Clifton has made a career of trying to bring people the arts. This is kind of in line with that,” Boudman said. “I remember Presque Isle from the ‘50s, all the stores were open for businesses and this was a thriving little community.”
