Former White House Pastry Chefs to Open Bakery in Northern Virginia

PHOTO courtesy of Praline Bakery

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FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- Coming this summer to Northern Virginia: Praline Bakery, owned and run by two former White House pastry chefs.

Owners Susan Limb and Patrick Musel opened their first location, Praline Bakery & Bistro, in 2006 in Bethesda.

Their second location of Praline Bakery is coming this summer to Virginia, to the Mosaic District, according to Eater DC and several other media reports.

Here's a little information about the chef owners' backgrounds:

After graduating from Georgetown and L'academie, Limb went on to work for Executive Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier at the White House. There, she met her business partner and co-owner Patrick Musel. Susan worked with Patrick in various kitchens such as Marvelous Market and Filomena Ristorante in Georgetown until 2006 when Praline opened.

Patrick Musel, co-owner of Praline Bakery, first knew he wanted to be a pastry chef at the young age of six, when he saw a Napoleon pastry in the window of pastry shop on his way to school. He went on to Les Diguieres in Grenoble, France, where he earned his CAP and BEP in Culinary Arts. He had numerous positions as pastry chef throughout Europe, including the renowned Negresco Hotel in Nice, France, working under Jacques Maximin, the Hotel du Rhone in Geneva, Switzerland and the Casino in Cannes, France.

He came to the United States in 1979 and was immediately recognized as a talented pastry chef and hired by Philippe Laurier at Palais des Friandise. From there, he moved onto renowned French restaurants of the time, such as Lion d’Or, Maison Blanche, and Place Vendome as well as the French Embassy. Patrick was then hired by the Ritz-Carlton Hotels as Executive Pastry Chef in Laguna Nigel, California. During his tenure there, the hotel earned a Five Star Five Diamond rating by AAA. After the Ritz-Carlton Hotels, he went on as Executive Pastry Chef at Sutton Place Gourmet, which at the time had six retail stores in the region.

While at Sutton Place, he was called by White House Executive Pastry Chef, Roland Mesnier to work part time at the Executive Residence. While working at the White House, he met Susan Limb, his current business partner, and they opened Praline Bakery in Bethesda 2006.