Copyright Wilmington News Journal
Pastry chef Michele Mitchell, known for the Hotel du Pont's almond macaroons, is now baking at Janssen's Market. The hotel's restaurant, Le Cavalier, no longer serves the complimentary macaroons that were a long-standing tradition. Janssen's Market hired Mitchell to elevate its pastry department as it competes with larger stores. Michele Mitchell once made more than 3,300 almond macaroons every other day while working for almost 20 years as the executive pastry chef at Wilmington's landmark Hotel du Pont. The macaroons, made with almond paste, sugar, and egg whites, have been an enduring tradition at the hotel since at least the 1970s, possibly even earlier. A free plate of the signature, sweet-and-chewy confections marked the end of every meal served at the hotel's upscale restaurant, the Green Room, now called Le Cavalier at the Green Room. They also appeared at business meetings, parties, wedding receptions and Sunday brunch. When Mitchell left the historic hotel in February 2018, not long after the DuPont Co. sold it to the Buccini Pollin Group, the chef thought she had put the beloved pastries and the tradition behind her. Wrong. Seven years later, she's back in front of an oven baking fresh batches of the famous cookies, but this time at Janssen's Market in Greenville. The volume is much smaller at the family-owned Janssen's Market ‒ Mitchell said she now bakes about 600 macaroons a week at the store at 3801 Kennett Pike rather than thousands every other day ‒ but the cookies sell out so fast, she might have to start making more. "It's a Delaware thing. So many customers thank me for making them," said Mitchell as she stood behind glass cases that hold other pastries that she makes exclusively for Janssen's, including individual-size bittersweet chocolate tarts, cherry cheesecakes, pear almond tarts and opera tortes. "It's so nice to have you here," a shopper said to Mitchell on a recent afternoon as she stopped to buy the chef's mini key lime tarts decorated with tiny sugar daisies and sprinkled with sprinkles of fresh lime zest. Almond macaroons are still available for purchase at the front desk of the Hotel du Pont at 11th and Market streets in Wilmington. They come in containers of two dozen for $18. But there are no longer freebies in the hotel's dining room. More sweet news: Where to get Thanksgiving pie, holiday dessert in Delaware, from Selbyville to Wilmington "Unfortunately, Le Cavalier (formerly known as The Green Room) no longer serves the macaroon cookies at the end of meals," the Hotel du Pont wrote in an Oct. 23 email when Delaware Online/The News Journal asked about the now no-longer enduring tradition. Mitchell, a 1988 graduate of Johnson & Wales' pastry arts program, frequently represented the Hotel du Pont at culinary events and often demonstrated her pastry abilities at area cooking classes and on local and national television. She is known for her elegant, creative desserts, lavish wedding cakes, expert gingerbread houses, chocolate and sugar sculptures and savory breads. Since leaving the hotel, Mitchell has been in business for herself and has worked at exclusive country clubs in Jupiter Island, Florida; Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Philadelphia. She also recently worked at Longwood Gardens. Mitchell started working at Janssen's in March. Owner Paula Janssen, a longtime friend, asked her to run the store's pastry and baking department soon after learning Mitchell was available. "I wanted her to do whatever artistry she wanted to do," Janssen said. Janssen said her family's store took a hit in overall sales soon after the nearby Wegmans opened at Barley Mill Plaza in 2022. But longtime customers, who felt safe shopping in Janssen's during the pandemic, remained, she said, and in recent years, "we've slowly been narrowing the gap." The high-end specialty grocer, which also carries everyday essentials like toilet paper and laundry detergent, has been a Greenville landmark since 1952. It's best known for its gourmet foods and offering custom touches seldom seen in big box stores. The Janssen's staff shells fresh English peas for the produce department, where fruits and vegetables come from nearby farms. More than 250 cheeses available for sale in the cheese and deli department are carefully selected and sourced from around the world. Butchers at the high-quality meat counter not only help with selections, but they'll even offer cooking tips. The market also carries local Delaware products, such as coffee from Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co. in Newark, apple cider doughnuts from Fifer's in Camden-Wyoming, eggnog made by Lewes Dairy, and ice cream made by Wilmington's famed Fusco water ice family. Paula Janssen said she previously had been buying most of the store's baked goods, but hiring Mitchell now to make high-end, gourmet pastries is just one example of how the store is continuing to raise the bar for customers, old and new. "We have amazing items like Michele's makes, and we are back to what Janssen's is really good at," Janssen said. Mitchell said she is still getting used to working for a store, rather than a hotel. "It was definitely a transition," she said, and has been working to develop her team's pastry skills and figure out how to meet the customers' needs. "It's a lot to figure out what people like." While Mitchell was instrumental in installing French baking ovens in the Hotel du Pont kitchens so it could make and sell bread, she says she doesn't have the space right now at Janssen's to make her own. But, she did have a new oven installed, and the staff is busy making fresh-baked bread from purchased dough each morning, well before 5 a.m. Artisan breads also come from Philadelphia and New Jersey bakeries, and the store sells about 6,500 loaves a month. "If it rains or it's cold outside, they sell out," the chef said. Mitchell also has been making some former desserts she created at the Hotel du Pont, but with new twists. A raspberry frangipane torte she made for years used to be diamond-shaped, but at Janssen's, Mitchell builds the layers of cake and raspberries cuts the pastry into rectangular shapes. For the upcoming holiday season, Mitchell is baking her own premium homemade desserts such as pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cake rolls, apple cranberry streusel pies, fresh fruit tarts, chocolate mousse cakes, carrot cakes, and New York-style cheesecake. Orders for Thanksgiving are being accepted at the store until Nov. 21. Saying goodbye after nearly 20 years: Hotel du Pont changing menus, losing longtime pastry chef Michele Mitchell Sugar house: When baking becomes art: Delaware chef creates gingerbread version of New Castle mansion
