Le Chat Rouge Bakery May Not Open Due To Red Tape

Le Chat Rouge Bakery May Not Open Due To Red TapeDavid Carbonell. (Photos: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline)
Geri Koeppel
Published on September 08, 2015

David Carbonell has been trying for six months to open a French bakery called Le Chat Rouge (The Red Cat) at 1314 Grant Ave. But it may not open after all, due to reams of red tape.

A sign on his shop reads, "Be Patient: We're Almost There." But Carbonell said that he's running out of patience himself. "They give you a hard time with everything," he said of the city's bureaucracy. "This is terrible. So long. I’m getting crazy with this."

A retired international journalist who settled in North Beach about five years ago, Carbonell wants to open a historic-looking bakery, complete with authentic baked goods made entirely from imported French ingredients—down to the flour, salt and butter.

The bread recipe, also called Le Chat Rouge, is one that has been passed down from its founder since 1775. Although the recipe is more than two centuries old, Carbonell's family hasn't owned it the entire time; his great-grandfather actually bought the business.

Carbonell grew up in France learning to bake, and he said he wanted to bring feather-light croissants, pastries and real French bread to North Beach. "When you have the right ingredients, you have the real bread; the real croissants ... The bread in San Francisco is like gum," he said, making a stretching and pulling motion with his hands.

Inside, he wants the bakery to resemble a vintage Parisian shop, including an antique stove and cash register. He even restored an antique pulley system for hoisting heavy items. 


But Carbonell said he's been told to change the bakery's plans constantly. "They say, 'Yes, but this; yes, but this,'" he said. He said he has to get approval from the Department of Building Inspection to install a shelf, and they keep changing their minds on the specifics of its installation. "To me, it’s crazy," he said. "I don’t understand why to have a display, you need a permit. I’m not building a wall or a house.”

He adds that he paid someone $5,000 to help navigate the maze of regulations required to set up a business, but the guy took the money and didn't help. When he went to City Hall to do it himself, he kept getting the run-around, being sent from window to window, only to be told he had to go to a different window.

Carbonell also wants to improve the exterior of the bakery's building, which has been covered with decaying wood paneling, and install attractive tile. Historic preservation, he said, isn't allowing it. He finds it ludicrous that they'd rather leave the wood than let him spruce it up. "I come from a country that’s very old, and this city’s very historic," he said, adding that he would be the last person to want to negatively alter a historic building.


Carbonell has set a time limit: if he can't get all of the approvals he needs for Le Chat Rouge within the next four weeks, he's going to abandon the project. One person in his corner is his landlord, Giovanni Toracco Toracca, who would like more attractive businesses on Upper Grant and has offered to help. "He told me, 'Don’t give up. I want this bakery here. I care about the city. I know we can do something really beautiful on this street.'"