Take a deep breath upon entering 3 Purdy Ave. and you might imagine you’ve been transported to a French café by the aroma of sizzling buckwheat crepes stuffed with ham and cheese and freshly brewed espresso.
That is the ambiance the owners of Petite Bretagne (“Little Brittany”) are striving for at the former site of La Fenice Gelateria. They started operating in early September.
La Fenice, with its display of 18 flavors of gelato and sorbet, generated excitement when it opened in 2018, but it had fallen on hard times over the last year after it was sold to a new owner.
As a recent posting on the Rye Moms Facebook page put it: “The former La Felice on Purdy is now Petite Bretagne — a second branch of the delicious spot on Mamaroneck Avenue. Ice machine is fixed, air conditioning fixed.”
A fully-stocked gelato display case will remain a mainstay of the eatery’s offerings, pledged new owners Jihaad and Kerry Ann Alyusuf, who have operated the original Petite Bretagne in Mamaroneck since March.
Based on their experience at the café in Mamaroneck, the Alyusufs expect that among the top sellers in Rye will be the Le Mixte sandwich (ham and cheese on a baguette), Quiche Lorraine, La Plouette (goat cheese, bacon, walnuts, and honey on a buckwheat crepe), and cappuccino.
The French items available in Rye are baked daily in Mamaroneck or made to order on site, said Mr. Alyusuf, who starts work most days at 4:30 a.m. so he can oversee the production of baguettes, Kouign Amann (a traditional Breton sweet pastry), and other confections.
To serve everyone from morning espresso patrons to nighttime gelato fans, Petite Bretagne is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
