In the social media era, when phones eat first, a refined French pastry is more akin to a delicate work of art than a mere dessert. And by that metric, L’Arc Patisserie is more than a bakery; it’s a gallery of edible elegance. Found in a nondescript storefront at 9309 N. Penn Ave. in Casady Square—follow the aroma of French butter and cocoa wafting through the door—chef Isabella Li’s boutique is difficult to view as anything other than art. In this case, though, it’s art that begs to be devoured.
Born and raised in mainland China, Li is well-versed in the mastery of French dessert. Long inspired by watching French chefs cooking and baking online, as well as her time in culinary school, she cut her teeth at high-end institutions like the Hilton Hefei, a luxury property in the eastern Chinese city. She served as pastry chef for its on-site cake shop and buffet, as well as designing chocolate showpieces and sculptures. From there, she spent six years at the Grand Lisboa Macau, a sky-scraping lotus-themed tower with Michelin-starred restaurants, including a property from vaunted French chef Joël Robuchon.
sponge, strawberry pureé, strawberry cubes. Photo by Rachel Maucieri.
It’s quite the pedigree for a pastry chef, equipping Li with the requisite passions, skills and standout artistry. She came to OKC in 2012, but rather than dive right back into pastry work, she worked retail and limited her desserts to family and friends. Eventually, as is often the case with innate artists, her passion grew too big to sideline.
In May, she opened L’Arc Patisserie, marking the culmination of a career spent studying French pastry and sculpting culinary showpieces. The space is sleek and sparse, looking more like a contemporary art gallery than a bakery. Li sources the finest ingredients, like cacao and cocoa butter, directly from France—and it shows. On any given day, you never know what’ll be on display behind the case, as the chef shuffles through a roster of lustrous specialties that all look almost too ornate and intricate to touch with a fork.
One highlight is the Russian Tale, a chestnut-shaped dome of Valrhona 70% dark chocolate mousse enrobed in a glistening chocolate glaze, and filled with mango cream and raspberry coulis on a bed of sponge cake. Li describes her fruit-based confections as “3-D fruit,” including a mango dessert, designed and decorated to resemble the real thing, that hides mango mousse and compote inside a brittle chocolate shell; as well as a strawberry version that looks like an artist’s rendering of an actual berry. From peaches and green apples to Mandarin oranges and raspberries, the ingredient inspiration runs the gamut, along with classic French pastries like real-deal Paris Brest (crème mousseline, praline and buttery choux pastry) and Mont Blanc (chestnut puree, vanilla chantilly cream and almond cream swirled atop a tart shell).
At first, the desserts look too beautiful to dismantle with a fork. The best work of art, though, is the kind that doesn’t just look nice, but makes you feel something too. And between the buttery aroma, the gleaming glaze and the silken mousse, you’d be hard-pressed to feel anything but hungry.
