Overview:
The staff includes members of the Rivendell Community and each is trained on how to handle situations that may arise, such as a seizure disorder that can affect some with autism.
Stepping through the door of Chez Maryse, one is transported to the heart of France. Visitors are greeted by the scent of freshly baked sweet pastries as well as the cheerful voice of owner Xiamy Ly-Yang, who offers an enthusiastic “Bonjour!”
Ly-Yang’s melodic French accent is authentic, as is the French she exchanges with her chef and the French music filling the cafe. For Chez Maryse is the latest authentically French eatery to open in Fresno.
“The cafe is like the lens of my childhood, of someone who used to live there and grew up there,” Ly-Yang said in a recent interview. “You will hear the music, the language in the songs, and get a taste of authentic French pastry.”
The origin of the story behind Chez Maryse’s creation extends beyond Toulouse, the southern French city where Ly-Yang grew up, to her roots in Laos, her family’s Hmong homeland.
As with tens of thousands of Hmong people, Ly-Yang’s family was displaced during the Vietnam War. She and five of her siblings spent their early years in a refugee camp in Thailand. When she was 5 years old, they were given the opportunity to relocate to France, which had ruled Vietnam prior to World War II, and fought against communist forces alongside troops from South Vietnam, the United States and other allied nations.
Upon reaching France, the family was welcomed by the French Red Cross, which offered to help Hmong refugees assimilate to French culture and matched them with French families who wished to help.
Ly-Yang was paired up with a local woman named Maryse, who shared her love of baking with the girl by teaching her to make authentic French sweets. It is the name of this adopted French mother that inspired the name of the business Chez Maryse, meaning “Maryse’s house.”
As a child, Ly-Yang recalls spending her weekends and holidays with Maryse. As she grew up, she would stay with Maryse “all the time.” Yet, there was another location that pulled at Ly-Yang’s plans for the future.
She long had dreamed of living in the United States and, beginning when she was 12, taught herself English to prepare to do so. Upon turning 18, she told her father she wanted to move to the U.S. to join her grandmother and other relatives who had been separated from Ly-Yang’s part of the family while in the refugee camp.
“I was blessed because my dad was very ahead of his time (in terms of gender and traditional norms) and he was always pushing us to go as far as we can,” she said.
Eventually, Ly-Yang reached California and enrolled in college. In 2001, she earned her master’s degree at CSU Stanislaus and built a career as a social worker in Sacramento. But, she couldn’t escape the sense that she was not doing what she was meant to do. Then, about two decades ago, Ly-Yang decided to change direction after the loss of someone very close to her made her value time in a new way.
Her parents had settled in Fresno and she moved to be closer to them. She also decided to refocus her career on helping people with disabilities, particularly by learning to care for disabled adults. In 2005, she opened Rivendell Community, a care facility on McKinley Avenue that today serves 160 adults.
The inspiration came from Ly-Yang’s experience with a nephew who was born with autism. There is little knowledge of such conditions in the Hmong community and Ly-Yang said it was difficult for her to explain disabilities like autism to her parents.
Ly-Yang recognized that many of the people at Rivendell were eager to work. She became determined to find a way to help them do so.
“When I bought this building, I said I’m going to create jobs,” she said, referring to the site of Rivendell and Chez Maryse. “The most challenging issue I found out is that my clients were so smart and they wanted to be part of the mainstream community.”
So, as Ly-Yang approached retirement, she envisioned a new enterprise that would not only help the people she’d assisted at Rivendell, but honor the woman who’d cared for her like a mother during her years in France.
In March, just steps away from the doors of Rivendell Community, the new Chez Maryse opened its doors.
Today, guests entering the cafe see glass displays showcasing freshly prepared pastries such as glazed fresh-fruit tarts, colorful cream puffs dusted in sugar powder and almond croissants.
“We prepare these pastries overnight and our chef comes in at 4 a.m. daily to prepare the fresh cream,” Ly-Yang said.
Her staff includes members of the Rivendell Community and each is trained on how to handle situations that may arise, such as a seizure disorder that can affect some with autism. “My staff and I have been working with them for the past 20 years, so when they have seizures, we don’t panic,” she said.
The new cafe is part of a suite of businesses near McKinley Avenue and Fine Avenue, just south of the Fresno Yosemite International Airport. Last year, Ly-Yang joined others from the Rivendell Community to oppose plans to build an automated car wash on the corner, saying the increased noise and traffic were not compatible with the community. The city planning commission rejected the plan.
“We want the public to support us so we can implement more programs within this cafe and earn enough to provide more jobs for our clients,” Ly-Yang said.
Chez Maryse is located at 4945 E. McKinley Ave., and is open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sundays from 6:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.
