For the past three weeks those who live and work in the Tahoe Park neighborhood have enjoyed Cafe Lumiere, an American-French family-owned croissant bakery and cafe.

Co-owner Geoffrey Matsuyama, 28, has spent 13 hour days - seven days a week - at the cafe since the grand opening baking croissants, training employees, and making sure customers are happy.

"I always wanted to open up my own restaurant," Matsuyama said. "I saw it as something I wanted to do when I retired, but it's actually good that I did it young. It's really a lot of work, and it puts a lot of stress on the body."

The opportunity to open the cafe came through his connection to Peter Kuo, owner of Le Croissant Factory in the Greenhaven-Pocket neighborhood. Matsuyama is a longtime friend of Kuo's son from their days together at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Kuo approached Matsuyama as a possible partner in opening this cafe. Leaving Mitsubishi Logistics, a shipping company in the bay area, to open a cafe with Kuo was an opportunity he didn't want to pass up.

"I've always wanted to open something more like a Japanese [style] restaurant, but [Kuo] had croissants, so I went for the French-American fusion," he said. "It never happens exactly how you imagine it, but things work out in its own way."

Opening a restaurant in that part of the city was a risk. It might still be, but Matsuyama said things are working in their favor. He said most of their customers were not in their target demographic.

"We were trying to aim for the businesses, and give options to UC Davis Medical Center and the Department of Justice [and] DMV," he said.

Though Matsuyama still offers a 10 percent discount for any state, federal or UC Davis employees who come in, he said the foot traffic from the neighborhood and the grab-and-go morning commuters have been crucial to starting the cafe successfully.

During the week, there’s usually a rush at lunchtime, and the Thursday-through-Sunday breakfast has been consistently popular.

With a sandwich shop across the street up for sale, the only other dining options between 57th and 60th streets on Broadway are a donut shop and a Chinese restaurant.

"[Customers] act as if it's a community service for us to be out here, because there are no businesses out here," Matsuyama said. "You just have to have the right market. What we have is working, [and] the neighborhood loves it."

Matsuyama said he is hoping to organize a Second Saturday-type of event where they showcase local artists, and stay open late to help drive a sense of community and supporting local business.

The cafe offers a wide-ranging menu. Between croissants, pastries, sandwiches, salads and an Angus burger, patrons aren't lacking a variety of options. The cafe also serves Java City coffee and alcohol. They offer Heineken, Corona, Budweiser and Bud Light. No wine is served, but staff is working out a system to charge a corkage fee for customers who bring their own.

Matsuyama picked the menu himself, and he said trying to find exactly what customers want is a work in progress. He had planned on croissants being the main draw, but the little time they have been open has shown other menu items rise in demand.

Shanti Sugaree Kalstrom, 22, lives nearby and decided to visit Tuesday morning after discovering she was out of coffee at her house.

"My brother's been in here, and he told me they serve Java City, and that's definitely a motivator for me to come in," she said.

Kalstrom purchased a plain croissant with her coffee and said she is excited to have a place like this in her neighborhood where she can sit and relax while enjoying a midmorning snack.

Claudi Nolan was visiting her daughter-in-law in the area when she saw the grand opening banners and decided to stop and taste. She ordered a ham sandwich and a few baked goods. While she was waiting for her food, she talked about the importance of supporting local businesses.

"It takes guts to start a business [in] these economic times, and that ought to be rewarded," she said.

Brandon Matteoni, 32, works nearby and has been in three times since the cafe opened.

"It's nice and clean," he said. "We've been waiting for a long time for something to open in this strip mall. It's been sitting here for a while. It was nice to have something close to us that was new."

Cafe Lumiere can be found at 57th Street and Broadway.

Hours of operation:
Monday - Thursday: 6 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 6 a.m.-9 p.m.
Sunday: 7 a.m.-2 p.m.

Phone number: 916-456-2679