Wichita restaurant owner taps into his roots, introduces pastry program focused on eclairs
Gus Srour knows pastries: Before he and his wife, Therese, opened Cafe Maurice at 9747 E. 21st St. in 2010, they owned a wholesale bakery near Harry and Rock called Patisserie Maurice that supplied pastries to restaurants around the region.
Cafe Maurice has now been open for 14 years. And though Gus, a trained pastry chef, has been making desserts like tiramisu for his restaurant all along, he recently realized how much he missed his craft.
“I’m a pastry chef, and that’s what I love to do,” Gus said.
He’s just started a new pastry program at Cafe Maurice that’s focused on French eclairs — tubular pastries that are filled with cream and topped with a shiny glaze and bits of chocolate and fruit.
About a month ago, the Srours installed a new pastry case near the restaurant’s bar and have been filling it with eclairs and individual-sized fruit tarts that people can either order in the restaurant and enjoy for dessert or take home to share.
Each pastry is $6.95, though Gus said he’s considering a discount for people who buy a box of eclairs.
Eventually, he said, he’ll add more pastries to the case, including croissants — classic, chocolate and almond — and danishes. He also wants to add six more eclair flavors to the current lineup, which for now includes chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, coffee, and a tiramisu-flavored eclair that has a lady finger cookie inside of it.
Gus said he’s enjoyed putting his baker’s hat back on, and his customers have been complimenting him on the artistry of his pastries. Eclairs, in particular, are hard to find in Wichita, he said.
“I missed making them,” Gus said. “I’ve seen a lot of people making desserts, but I really want to introduce to the local residents of Wichita real, modern French pastries.”
For years, the Srours were known for the little piece of tiramisu they’d serve customers for free at the end of their meals at Cafe Maurice. But they had to end that offer, they said.
Customers can still get the tiramisu for dessert, but a small piece now cost $1.50.
“When I used to make it a long time ago, the food cost was very low and labor was very low,” Gus said. “Everything now is more than double, so I can’t really afford to do that.”
But he hopes that Wichita will be interested in trying locally-made French pastries that taste like what they could get on a trip to Paris.
“Save a trip to France,” he said. “Come here and eat French pastries.”
New coffee chain that previously flirted with Wichita is now coming with three sites
The Kansas State Fair opens Friday and will be a more digital experience this year
Flashback Friday: Wichita’s Cowtown Museum once had an on-site fried-chicken restaurant
