For the last 13 months, the smell of fresh croissants at dawn has lured high-country wanderers traveling Lookout Mountain Road to the front doors of Et Voilà! French Bakery.

The authentic boulangerie and pastry shop has become a local favorite in an area that had been starved for a decent hangout with excellent food.

Et Voilà! tables host community board games, book club coffees and wedding stopovers. 

Even a renowned White House chef who once visited was impressed by its high-altitude expertise and by an elusive brand of French tea he saw on Et Voilà! shelf, which is practically non-existent in American shops. 

“It took me a year to convince Mariage Freres to let us sell their tea here,” said co-owner Rachel Miquel Dufour.

In the pastry case are quiches, lemon tarts, blueberry custard squares and chocolate frosted treats.   

Even though business is booming, Dufour, her husband Eric, and her sister Ruth Miquel have been doing business under threat of a shutdown because they live on the property in two tiny homes, which are not connected to the bakery building. 

That turned out to be a Jefferson County zoning code violation.  

Under the county’s Commercial 1 zoning code, non-attached residential dwellings on a property intended for business are forbidden. 

The two 500-square-foot mobile homes are parked next door to the bakery structure so that Miquel can start baking at 1 a.m.  

Further, the Dufours said they need to be on-site to monitor the fragile pastry dough through the changing temperatures, numerous bear visits and electricity shut-downs. In addition to the Dufour and Miquel residences, a storage unit serves as a test kitchen for new recipes that can withstand the high altitude and low humidity of the Rocky Mountains. 

“We bake everything the old-fashioned way,” co-owner Rachel Dufour explained to the government board at a hearing in January. “To bake our product takes three to five days.”

Dufour explained that her sister has not had a day off since the place opened.

Miquel left the corporate world on Paris’ Champs Élysées as an economist to become the Et Voilà! pastry chef. The Dufours’ son, Dan, is the face at the register, taking orders for croissants au chocolat from Americans trying well-meaning but broken French.  

Time slows down at Et Voilà!, where a veteran of the Iraq War felt so strongly about the owners’ American Dream that he gave them the U.S. flag he flew on his Humvee as a tribute. 

Legal dosey dough

In January, Et Voilà!’s owners were in shock after it lost its months-long battle with county officials to allow them to live on the property temporarily while they launched the business. 

The Jan. 7 Jefferson County Board of Adjustment hearing lasted 12 hours, so long that Et Voilà! principal baker Ruth Miquel could not attend because she had to prepare croissants and bread for the next day.  

Development Review Planning Supervisor Nick Nelson began the evening by explaining that the homes on-site are illegal because they are “free-standing structures not inside a commercial structure.” 

If Et Voilà! had a second floor, he explained, “it would be allowed.”

Besides an 11,000-signature petition, the bakery faithful showed up in force, hoping to entice board members to their side with stories of how things used to be when the building was a restaurant that served alcohol. 

The hearing was so long because it included public comment from 60 Colorado residents and involved intense discussion over the legal definition of terms like “dwellings” versus “living quarters.” 

In the end, the board rejected the bakers’ request in a unanimous vote.

One of the board members, Paul Warbington, admitted that he frequents the bakery. But, he added, rules are rules.

“The concern is that we don’t create these pop-up villages around the county,” he said. 

Another board member, Tom Milavec, remarked that the Et Voilà!’s not-so-sweet situation was “tricky” because so many customers showed up to beg them to consider the request to allow detached dwellings.

“I want to, and it seems there has got to be another solution, but we don’t have the authority to grant a special exception,” he explained. 

Last hurrah for Et Voila?

After the defeat, the Dufours wondered if they would be kicked off the property, which they lease from a local landlord, who, Rachel Dufour said in a hearing, did not mind if they lived there. 

However, Et Voilà!’s attorney, Emma Donachie, changed her strategy to save the beloved bakery. 

After the temporary variance was shot down, Donachie regrouped with a new formal request to the board, this time to rezone the property at 866 Lookout Mountain Road.

On Tuesday night, she took the first step with a virtual informational hearing. 

This time, the meeting was not as crowded or as long as the January discussion. Some wondered if rezoning the bakery property to allow tiny home residences would mean their neighbors could do the same thing in their backyards. Others asked if the change would stay in effect for any new owners should the Dufours decide to move in 20 years. 

Donachie explained that the new proposal would be designed for Et Voilà!’s specific purposes, adding that “it’s not our intention that if someone else moves in, they will be able to throw a big house in there.”

Things lightened up when one resident expressed relief that Et Voilà! does not serve alcohol. 

Eric Dufour responded that people actually do ask why they don’t serve wine.

“We don’t want drunk people driving down the mountain,” he said. “Even though we’re French.” 

Jefferson County case manager Sara Homeyer said that the next road will be yet another long one. From here, Et Voilà! will submit documents to the development review planning team for rezoning, and “the county will verify everything required.” 

Postcards will be sent out to residents to get more opinions, and there will be future meetings and another vote. 

If Rachel Dufour knew who made the anonymous complaint that started all of this, she would brew that person a cup of strong Laotian coffee and have a conversation to understand how to move forward, she said.

To her, this saga is not about zoning, she said.

Et Voilà! wants to stay and has donated 30% of its tips to the local fire and police departments, family shelters and non-profits dedicated to stopping human trafficking. 

Et Voilà! translates to “and there it is.” 

Which about sums up the last 13 months.

“We have done something beautiful in just one year,” said Dufour. “It’s going to be a long battle, but we are up for it.”