The original La Paix Bakery on Miramar Parkway closes at 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The new one at 9636 NE 2nd Ave in downtown Miami Shores stays open until 9 p.m. on those same days. Those two extra hours tell you a lot about this shop. A family bakery that has spent nearly 21 years in Broward County didn't open a small branch in the village. It opened a bigger operation, with ovens meant to supply supermarkets and a café meant for an evening crowd.
The grand opening was set for this past Tuesday, October 27, with an 11 a.m. ribbon cutting to be hosted with the Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce. If you've walked this stretch of NE 2nd Avenue lately, you may already have seen the doors open. The bakery soft-opened earlier this fall.
A bakery and a production site under one roof
The company's press release announcing the opening calls 9636 NE 2nd Ave a "hybrid manufacturing and retail location." It says the larger space "addresses capacity constraints to support growing distribution across regional grocery stores, supermarkets, and mass retailers." So the bread you buy at the counter here is likely coming from the same building that supplies La Paix's wholesale business.
For a shopper, that shows up in three ways:
- Size. The shop covers 3,200 square feet in a café layout, with seating both inside and out.
- A bigger menu. The Miami Shores location adds egg breakfast sandwiches, "fritay" fried appetizers and daily hot meals to the bakery's core lineup.
- More on the way. The owners plan to add custom cakes and a domestic shipping program.
Hoodline's write-up of the opening describes it as the bakery's second location. The other is the Miramar shop at 6035 Miramar Pkwy.
The hours, side by side
The capacity story explains the hours. Here are the two shops' posted schedules:
| Miramar, 6035 Miramar Pkwy | Miami Shores, 9636 NE 2nd Ave | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Saturday | 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Sunday | 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Weekly total | 84.5 hours | 94 hours |
Miami Shores opens half an hour later than Miramar and closes two hours later on weekdays and Saturdays. That works out to about nine and a half more hours a week. In practice, a hot dinner plate or a loaf for tomorrow's breakfast is still on offer long after most bakeries have closed. The 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. window you may have seen in event listings covered the grand-opening celebration only. The regular schedule is the one in the table.
The family behind the counter
La Paix opened in Miramar in November 2005. Its founders were Lucien Nozile, Yolande Derosier and Nadeige Sterlin. Lucien and Yolande had started their first bakery six years earlier, in 1999. According to the bakery's own history, the late Lucien Nozile was head baker, and Yolande ran the operations side. She now leads the business with her daughters, Natasha Nozile-Janvier and Nadeige Sterlin.
Their reach goes well beyond their two shops. The press release says Derosier and Nozile mentored and helped launch seven other Haitian bakeries across Florida and Georgia. The same release says Sterlin has more than 13 years of corporate experience in consumer packaged goods and food and beverage, and Nozile-Janvier works on marketing, operations and recipe refinement. That background fits a bakery that is growing into grocery distribution.
In that release, Sterlin explained the choice of Miami Shores: "Opening in Miami Shores allows us to increase accessibility for our customers in Miami-Dade County, home to the largest Haitian population in Florida, while introducing our culture and traditional food to a broader audience."
The name La Paix means "peace" in French. The bakery says it's pronounced "Pe," as in "pet," with a silent X.
What to order, by its Haitian name
The official menu uses Haitian names throughout. Here's a short guide, grouped the way the bakery groups them.
Breads. The bakery is known first for hard-dough bread. The menu lists Pain Long, Pain Yoyo and Pain Aubuerre. It also lists two sliced loaves, Pain Boites Kout and Pain Boites Lontan. The press release uses a photo of the Pain Long, the Haitian long bread, which makes it an easy first loaf to try.
Pâtés. The patties come in two styles:
- Fried: Pate Kode Herring and Pate Kode Poule.
- Oven-baked: Pate Morue, Pate Poule, Pate Boeuf and Pate Aran.
Sweets. Bonbon Siwo and Bonbon Amidon; Tablét Kokoye Rache, Tablét Pistaches and Tablét Noix; Dous Kokoye Graje, Dous Lét and Gateaux.
Drinks, porridges and meals. Akasan, Jus Grenadia, Mai Moulin, Espageti, Bouyon and Soup Joumou.
Several of these have a track record beyond the bakery's own marketing. When The Haitian Times put together its 2023 guide to Haitian food in South Florida, it included the Miramar shop and singled out the pâté kode, mai moulin, bonbon amidon, tablet and soup joumou. If you want the dishes with the longest outside endorsement, start there. For fritay, the new fried appetizers that are only at the Miami Shores location, ask at the counter what's on the tray that day.
Around the block this November
A shop open until 9 p.m. on NE 2nd Avenue lines up well with what's already on the corridor's evening calendar. La Paix sits a few doors from places that are already part of a downtown Miami Shores routine. Proper Sausages is at 9722 NE 2nd Ave and closes on Sundays. Carrot Express is at 9802, the Miami Theater Center is at 9806, and Tinta y Café is at 9840. A little farther north, Brockway Memorial Library is at 10050 NE 2nd Ave.
Here's what's coming up within walking distance, with times that pair well with a stop for bread or a pâté:
- Wednesday, Nov. 4, 4 to 4:45 p.m.: A Three Little Pigs Thanksgiving puppet show at Brockway Memorial Library.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m.: "The Miami Circle and Other Indigenous Artifacts" at the library.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.: The Greater Miami Shores Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year event, honoring Elizabeth Hitt, at Miami Shores Country Club, 10000 Biscayne Blvd.
- Friday, Nov. 13, 6 to 9 p.m.: Family game night at the library. It's $20 per family, and registration is required.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: A show in the Miami Theater Center's family series.
- Wednesday, Nov. 18, 4 to 4:45 p.m.: Creative Minds Storytime for ages 5 to 9 at the library.
- Through December: The StoryWalk book on display at Optimist Park, NE 94th Street and NE 2nd Avenue.
Since game night on Nov. 13 ends at 9 p.m., the same time La Paix closes, plan to pick up treats for the table on the way in. The bakery's phone number is 305-364-5467 if you want to check what's coming out of the oven before you go.
A new bakery-café on NE 2nd Avenue is something I like to keep up with as an advisor here, and I'm always glad to compare notes on the best Pain Long or pâté in the village. If you'd like to talk about Miami Shores in English, Portuguese or Italian, Neila Granzoti would love to hear from you. Let's Connect.
