French Bakery Near Me in West LA: Ludivine Paris Canelés on Pico

Ludivine Paris is a French pâtisserie and café at 10509 W Pico Blvd in Rancho Park, on the West LA stretch of Pico across from the Rancho Park golf course. Its owner and namesake, Ludivine Bellahsen, sold to hotels and coffee shops for years before opening this boutique in September 2021, and the case now runs from $4.50 croissants to $12 entremets. If your french bakery near me search lands between Century City and Palms, this is where to find canelés baked in-house.

The bakery's About page tells the story without polish. Ludivine worked at a law firm for a few years and raised two daughters before deciding to focus on her lifelong passion, pastry. She began baking macarons, tarts and canelés in her small home kitchen, and the response from friends and family pushed her further. She trained at two of the best-known French pastry schools, Lenôtre and Ducasse, and launched the business in Los Angeles in 2016.

For its first five years, Ludivine Paris was mostly a supplier. The About page says her pastries could be found around LA in hotels, coffee shops and grocery stores, and the company still runs a wholesale program. The Pico Boulevard boutique, opened in September 2021, was the first place to buy directly from her, and it turned a wholesale name into a neighborhood café with a full breakfast and lunch menu.

Canelés are the house specialty, and the Square menu describes them as French pastries with a soft, tender vanilla custard center and a thick caramelized crust. Single canelés are $5 to $5.50, and the minis come six for $5.90 or twelve for $12. Macarons are $2.95 each, $19 for six and $36 for twelve. The signature dessert, the Sweet Ludivine, is $13: two raspberry macaron shells with vanilla buttercream and fresh raspberries.

Canelés are also what outsiders recommend. A 2024 guide to LA's French bakeries from Coucou French Classes, a French-language school, listed Ludivine second and named the canelés as the must-try, calling them one of the French classics that is harder to find in the US. It noted that they come in a variety of flavors but said the original vanilla version is still the best, which matches how the café presents them: dark, nearly black outside, soft and custardy inside.

Croissant prices sit below most of the Westside. A plain croissant is $4.50, the croissant chocolat $5, the almond croissant $6 and the chocolate almond croissant $6.50. There is also a croissant cinnamon roll at $5, a raisin roll at $6 and an apple turnover at $5.50. Six chouquettes cost $4.50, and the Crookie, the croissant-cookie hybrid, is $6.50. A baguette is $4.75, and three madeleines are $5.90.

The savory side of the case is small but useful for a quick lunch to go. A mushroom quiche with caramelized onions, sour cream and Swiss cheese is $10, a savory croissant is $9, and a tomato tatin is $13. For a breakfast table to share, the Parisian Bread Basket is $14, and fresh-squeezed orange juice is $8. A single espresso is $3.50 on the Square menu, and a small latte or cappuccino is $5.50.

The individual French cakes are all $12: a Paris-Brest of puff dough with hazelnut ganache and hazelnut chunks, an opera layered with chocolate, coffee and vanilla buttercream, a St Honoré, a Fraisier and a Royal, made with almond biscuit, crunchy hazelnut and dark chocolate mousse. Tarts are $9, including lemon meringue, almond pear and caramel pecan. The éclair is $8, and a slice of vanilla flan is $7.50.

Unlike many small pâtisseries, Ludivine Paris runs a real kitchen. Tartines are $19, including The Ultimate Brie on baguette with fig jam, honey, walnuts and candied pecans, and The Paris Roma with heirloom tomatoes, burrata, basil and pesto. Salads include the Nice Matin with tuna, tomatoes, egg and olives at $19. A build-your-own three-egg omelette is $18, avocado toast is $14, and French toast on brioche with orange zest and vanilla whipped cream is $18. Tea is Mariage Frères, $5.50 a pot.

Online orders for pickup go through the Square store linked from the website. Catering requests go by email to info@ludivineparis.com or by phone, and the catering page says all orders need 48 hours' notice and are considered requests until confirmed with an order form or email; large events are handled case by case, ideally a month ahead. The café is closed on Mondays, and weekends end earlier, at 3 pm, so weekday afternoons are the calmest time to sit with a slice.

The menu shifts with the calendar. In July the boutique sold a limited Bastille Day tart with vanilla custard, blueberries, whipped cream and raspberries, and for the World Cup it offered Allez les Bleus macarons in vanilla, raspberry and caramel. Ask what is new at the counter, because seasonal items like the mango citrus cheesecake appear on the Square menu before they reach the printed board.

The boutique faces the Rancho Park Golf Course, one of the city's public courses, and the quiet residential streets of Cheviot Hills start just south. Cheviot Hills Recreation Center, with its tennis courts and pool, is an easy walk for a picnic with a box of canelés. Westfield Century City is a short drive north on Avenue of the Stars, and the E Line's Westwood/Rancho Park station on Exposition Boulevard connects the area with downtown and Santa Monica.

Address: 10509 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. Hours: Tuesday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm; Saturday and Sunday 8 am to 3 pm; closed Monday. Email: info@ludivineparis.com. Croissant $4.50, almond croissant $6, six mini canelés $5.90, macaron $2.95, Sweet Ludivine $13, Paris-Brest $12, tartines $19. Catering needs 48 hours' notice. Pickup orders are placed through the Square store at ludivine-paris.square.site.