“I heard we are the best bakery opposite a White Castle!” jokes Gus Reckel, the owner of the newly opened L’imprimerie (1524 Myrtle Ave) on their Instagram account. The French café and bakery opened on June 1 and it shares the pleasant whines of the elevated M train with the fast food chain.

“We want people to come here for our bread and croissants,” tells us Gus Reckel, referring to the fact that L’imprimerie isn’t just a coffee house, but first and foremost, a bakery. You may call him Monsieur Gus, if you’d like. Gus begins work a little before 4AM each day to first finish the pastries which were proofed overnight, then is onto mixing breads with sourdough or preferments from the night before.

The name L’imprimerie is French for “print shop” and the bakery’s building used to serve as one, though it hasn’t been touched for 60 years. Gus wanted to pay homage to the neighborhood and its history by calling it L’imprimerie. Believe it or not, the building was a bakery in a past life too and, though unused today, its original coal oven still resides in the building’s basement.