The Bakery That Houston’s Top Restaurants Lean On Makes a Big Chef, Cafe and Heights Move — Magnol French Baking Is Rising

It just takes one bite of a slice of kalamata olive loaf or crispy epi baguette at the table of some of Houston’s most notable restaurants, from Annabelle Brasserie to Le Jardinier, to know you’re in skilled hands. An important prelude of what’s to come, a simple slice of bread is often your initiation to a new restaurant, telegraphing the quality it strives for and the journey it aspires to take the diner. And in many of Houston’s best restaurants, the only bread baker trusted is the talented Otto Sanchez, pastry chef and owner of Houston’s Magnol French Baking.

This is no ordinary bakery or ordinary baker, Sanchez, born in El Salvador, arrived in Houston at 19 and diligently worked his way through the ranks in kitchens all over the globe run by some of the most formidable Michelin-starred French chefs in the world. Including Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon.

Trained in the French culinary classics, Sanchez yearned to come home to Houston with his young family and finally open a bakery of his very own. The name he chose — Magnol — is, in fact, an homage to the Bayou City, which in the 1800s was dubbed Magnolia City for both the magnolia blossoms that grew in profusion there and the French botanist Pierre Magnol, who lent the flower the root of his surname.

At Magnol, (1500 North Post Oak Boulevard), the baking process is a labor of love, one which has also garnered accolades locally and nationally, including being touted by Food & Wine magazine as the best bread feature. The process begins with organic flour and culminates in the custom-made deck ovens imported from France. These ovens are a testament to Sanchez’s commitment to his craft and his dedication to his signature product: la miche, a two kilogram boule that many know as pain de campagne.

This bread, made famous by the late Paris-based baker Lionel Poilane, is a staple at Magnol. Never one to take shortcuts Sanchez admits: ‘We create simple but technically sound bread and pastries. We do a few things well and don’t compromise on technique or ingredients.”

Take a glance at Magnol’s refrigerated sweets case, and it’s readily apparent that striving for pastry perfection is the goal. For instance, Magnol’s cannele de Bordeaux, those dark lilliputian fluted pastries replete with a caramelized crust conceal a rich custard at their center. The beautifully balanced lemon tart is crowned with meringue singed at its peaks. While the classic rendition of gateau opera is one even the fussiest gallic chef would swoon over.

Best yet, you can be assured everything here from the puff pastry and the roasted hazelnut praline to the bittersweet chocolate ganache is made in-house from scratch and with the best butter Normandy can produce. The humble Sanchez is a stickler about quality.

“I like to repeat to my team what I was once told: Pretend your mom is coming to dinner,” he says. “Are you going to serve her that? If it’s not good enough for mother it’s not good enough to serve to anyone.”

Sanchez plans to open a second Magnol location in The Heights in the former home of Andy’s Home Cafe (1115 East 11th Street) later this year. Having purchased the historic 88-year-old building late last year, he reveals that the largely 2,500 square footprint of its last inhabitants will stay the same. He has brought on Gin Braverman’s Gin Design Group to assist in the remodel.

Like his first bakery, you will be able to walk in and not only smell the aroma of fresh baguettes baking but see them baking too at this new Heights location.

In addition, Sanchez will have a new creative collaborator joining him. Longtime friend and fellow Alain Ducasse and Joel Robuchon alum Nicolas Berrais will be Magnol’s executive pastry chef who will lead the charge in the kitchen as the company expands.

“Otto and I have spoken about this for years,” says Berrais, who relocated from Las Vegas to Houston for this enterprise. “He’s a great friend, and he’s doing an incredible job. Better than many French bakers I know.

“Otto and I will work together to bring Magnol to another level.”

As the two chefs work towards opening the new Heights Magnol around the holidays, they envision their new location will also house a small cafe open for breakfast with dishes like oeuf a la crème, French toast and crepes, as well as for lunch with an array of salads, quiche and sandwiches like croque monsieur with his pain de mie. You can expect an even greater variety of French pastries too.

For those who care to imbibe, Otto Sanchez and Nicolas Berrais invite you to BYOB when the new Magnol opens in The Heights.

Magnol French Bakery is located at 1500 N Post Oak Road. It is open 7:30 am to 5 pm Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 am to 2 pm Saturdays and 8 am to 1 pm Sundays. The new Magnol in The Heights will be found at 1115 East 11th Street with an opening around the winter holidays expected.