As of October 31, La Famille Bakery — the buttery baking start-up from French baker Lucie Eloi Rizzi — has taken up winter residence every Saturday at Marders (120 Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, 631-537-3700), bringing her traditional croissants, pastries and other gastronomic Gallic delights to happy sweet and savory pastry fans through the Christmas holiday.
“I had actually never been to Marders before, and didn’t know Kathleen or Charlie [Marder]. I was simply looking for a place to share my baking, but I knew I didn’t want just any space,” says Eloi Rizzi, who launched La Famille in 2025. “I wasn’t looking for something cookie-cutter or overly traditional. La Famille is very much about authenticity, about sharing where I grew up and that nostalgia. I wanted to find a place where that feeling could live, too.”
Lucie Eloi Rizzi’s La Famille Bakery fits seamlessly into Marders restored 19th century barn. (Photo credit: Grace Braaksma)
The suggestion and introduction was made by Eloi Rizzi’s friends Paige and Dereyk Patterson, the latter a specialty knife artisan, the former a staff horticulturist at Marders.
“Dereyk invited me over to his house for coffee and, as it turned out, had also invited Kathleen. Kathleen asked me what La Famille was all about, and I explained that it was much more than baking. It’s my roots and my story, the ingredients I choose, the local farmers I work with, and above all, the community of people who make it all meaningful,” she’s says. “And just like that, over coffee and a handshake, Kathleen said, ‘Let’s try it.'”
Eloi Rizzi visited Marders and found that, although their businesses are based on entirely different specialities, she felt something similar to her own motivations in the care and transportive feeling of the space, made board by board from a reassembled old barn sourced from Pennsylvania. “It has so much history and character. Everyone seems to put so much thought into what they do [at Marders],” she says. “You can feel how much they care about their customers, their employees and the place they’ve built.”
La Famille Bakery made its debut at Farm & Forage in Southampton last year. This summer, Eloi Rizzi kept up the momentum via her a weekly subscriber text notifications, taking pre orders for pick up at Honest Plate in Hampton Bays or delivery covering Hampton Bays to East Hampton.
At Marders, she comes bountifully prepared every Saturday with croissants (hand-laminated with Isigny St. Mère butter), Valrhona chocolate-filled pain au chocolat, canelés, tartes, quiches, and a rotating selection of seasonal treats like apple tarts, cake slices, financiers, and “whatever else inspires me,” she says.
La Famille Bakery will be at Marders on Saturdays starting at 9:30 a.m. until the pastry runs out. Visit Eloi Rizzi’s Instagram for more information
