May 17, 2013 By Christian Murray
The owner of a well-established Court Square cafe has some ambitious plans this summer.
Leslie Nilsson, the owner of Sage General (24-20 Jackson Ave.), plans to convert her well-established café into more of a bar/restaurant scene. Furthermore, she is in the midst of opening a bakery—with a focus on macarons– in the Hunters Point district.
Nilsson will be tackling her Sage General makeover first. She said that she will be closing the café down over the Memorial Day weekend to install a bar. She said that she expects to have her full liquor license by the end of June—and to have introduced a new dinner menu.
Meanwhile, she is also working on opening J. Marquette, a bakery located at 12-07 Jackson Ave, in August.
macarons
The bakery will put an American twist on macarons, a traditional French meringue-based confectionery, which comes with a variety of flavors in the middle.
“Our tag line is: ‘French in origin, American in spirit’”, Nilsson said.
Nilsson said the shop will bake flavors such as bourbon pecan, raspberry lemon, bacon brownies, malted milk balls, captain crunch—as well as chocolate and vanilla.
She said that she will be selling them at the LICFlea, which opens in June.
The shop is being named after Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan’s first European settlement. Nilsson said her parents are both from Northern Michigan.
Nilsson has hired Hans Baang, who worked for the now-defunct Little Oven, to bake the macarons.
Nilsson said that the new bakery will supply Sage with its baked goods—since she needs more space at the café/bar/restaurant.
J. Marquette will also offer dog treats and artisanal products—such as hand creams with special scents.
Nilsson has plans to open a number of bakeries throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and has a real estate scout looking for sites.
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