Judith Davidoff
A storefront on Monroe Street with craft paper in its windows.
The One & Only space on Monroe Street, formerly Brasserie V, now has a new owner, Annemarie Maitri of Bloom Bake Shop and Lallande.
Bloom Bake Shop is set to expand again. Owner Annemarie Maitri bought the building at 1923 Monroe St., most recently One & Only, and has plans for a new restaurant.
Bloom has outgrown its space at 1851 Monroe St., but Maitri was intent on staying in the Monroe Street area, she tells Isthmus. “This is my neighborhood,” says Maitri, whose devotion to the area is clear and may stem in part, she thinks, from her childhood moving around as part of a military family.
Linda Falkenstein
Annemarie Maitri (right) of Bloom Bake Shop.
Mark Pavelovich, left, and Annemarie Maitri, the team behind Bloom and Lallande, are opening a new restaurant at 1923 Monroe St.
Bloom was originally a cafe as well as a bakery counter at 1851, but its baking operations took over the cafe space during the pandemic. Once on-site dining came back, the bakery still needed that space to bake. Maitri expanded into the space next door at 1859 Monroe St., initially intending to re-create the Bloom cafe, but ultimately opening the dinner-only Lallande in 2023 with head baker, business partner and husband, Mark Pavlovich.
Now, Maitri is realizing a dream by owning her own building. She’s long wanted to purchase the 1851 space, but the landlord is not interested in selling. Maitri knew that something needed to change. “We were just out of room at the bakery. It’s congested for the customer as well as our baking team. The last couple years we've had to rent refrigeration for the holidays and park it out back. I knew that we needed to come up with some kind of solution but I didn't want to move.”
Maitri met with one of the owners of One & Only over coffee and it turned out they were interested in selling. “I did want to own something and have that level of security” in this time of rising rents.
One & Only opened in 2023 in what had been Brasserie V, a Belgian beer bar/gastropub that closed in part due to the labor shortage following the COVID pandemic. One & Only closed in May.
Bloom, known for a variety of baked goods as well as its vegan and gluten-free options, first opened in Middleton in 2010 and on Monroe Street in 2017. The Middleton location closed in 2018.
Bloom also opened a satellite location at Northstreet in 2022.
“We don't plan on leaving any of our current spaces,” says Maitri.
Maitri says they will use part of the new space for production, “which will give us some breathing room to rethink 1851, our current space, and get a game plan for getting that reorganized.”
The new space doesn’t need much remodeling — the bar is beautiful and One & Only recently added windows that open to the street — but Maitri will be updating the kitchen and bathrooms and putting the Bloom stamp on it in little ways. “I have a pretty clear vision,” she says, but does not want to divulge too much yet.
She hopes that the bakery production space there will be open by December “because we sure need it.” She’s shooting for the new concept, whatever it is, to be open by spring.
“I care so much about Monroe Street, I want to add another interesting [element] — so it will have a new name. I don't want the whole corridor to be Bloom. It'll be another interesting concept that still has the essence of Bloom. Same values, same sourcing values.”
Expansion gives her team another chance to grow, too, says Maitri. She has credited her long-time employees for getting the bakery through COVID. “I have people that have been with me anywhere from 5 to 11 years. I want to keep giving them opportunities to grow in ways that they want to.”
Maitri says that after years of worrying about her businesses, she’s become better able to enjoy them. “I love the creative side, even just thinking about what the space is going to feel like when you walk in, and the menu. I enjoy this process so much.”
