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Flipping open Megan VanStone’s cookbooks, it’s pretty obvious to tell her favorite recipes from the flour, oil and other ingredients that mark the pages. VanStone is always on the lookout for a good cookbook or, better yet, a vintage magazine.
“I remember growing up my mother always got Martha Stuart Living magazine,” she recalls. “And from a very young age, I remember always flipping through the pages and loving how beautiful the pictures were. And the pastries and the treats and the cooking and the tablescapes — and just being so inspired to want to make things beautiful myself.”
She followed her calling, now co-owning Madeleine’s Café & Patisserie alongside her mother, Deb Green. Growing up, VanStone helped her mother with her catering business — Shake, Rattle and Boil — and also lent a hand when Green ran a small Café inside the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture.
“We always have dinner together as a family, and we’re always trying new recipes and experimenting.”
“There’d be weekends in college when I would come home because we had to host a gala or something, and we were catering for 500 people,” VanStone says. “And it would be her and I until 2 am shopping and cooking and prepping for it.”
France was also a defining part of VanStone’s passion for food. She took French classes in high school (using the French name Madeleine) and went on a trip to France during her junior year with her mom accompanying as a chaperone.
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Erick Doxey photo
Megan VanStone trained at the San Francisco Baking Institute before starting Madeleine’s Café and Patisserie with her mother.
“So that kind of sparked our beginning interest in French cuisine and pastries,” she says. “What’s not to love about French pastries?”
After attending the University of Idaho, graduating with a degree in marketing, VanStone departed the Inland Northwest for the San Francisco Baking Institute with a vision.
“I kind of thought, ‘If I go to pastry school and I really learn how to bake and [my mom’s] such an amazing cook, we can open a restaurant,'” VanStone says.
The mother-daughter duo did just that, opening Madeleine’s at its first location on the corner of Main Avenue and Wall Street in 2008.
Through the restaurant, VanStone befriended many regular customers and even met her now-husband, Aaron. Working down the street, he frequented Madeleine’s for coffee, and they got to know each other.
However, embarrassed that she still didn’t know his name, VanStone asked her mother to bus his table and find out.
“My mother, being the crass person that she is, walks right up to his table and says, ‘How is my daughter supposed to date you if she doesn’t even know your name?’ And I’m watching all this go down so at this point I’m bright red,” VanStone says.
Her husband proceeded to introduce himself, and the two hit it off, later holding their wedding reception on Wall Street outside of the restaurant.
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Alyssa Hughes photo
Deb Green co-owns Madeleine’s with her daughter.
In 2014, Madeleine’s lost its lease, prompting the restaurant to move to its current home at 415 W. Main Ave.
“It was kind of a sudden thing, and we were in the middle of building Durkin’s, so all of our funds were being put towards Durkin’s,” says VanStone about the nextdoor liquor bar co-owned by her brother and mother.
Though they lacked funds, family and friends rallied to help renovate the new space.
“My husband and my grandpa built most of the cases and shelves, and we had late-night painting parties and all the things,” VanStone says.
Madeleine’s previous shabby-chic theme was revamped with modern, yet cozy, French Café decor and a soft color palette of grays and blues with accents of yellow. Hanging above the kitchen door a sign reads, “Like mother, like daughter.”
Besides moving, Madeleine’s has significantly evolved throughout the years. The restaurant used to serve pastries, lunch and dinner and is now known for its breakfast, coffee and lunch offerings. When the U.S. figure skating championships were held in Spokane years ago, the restaurant decided to offer breakfast specials to accommodate the extra tourism and hasn’t gone back.
Tried-and-true staples include dishes like the croque madame sandwich. Take a peek at the fresh-baked case to see what pastries are available (snag the cinnamon rolls if you see them, they’re a favorite).
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While many of Madeleine’s recipes have remained the same, VanStone and Green still keep an eye out for bouts of inspiration.
“We love to travel as a family, and I think we get so much inspiration from that,” VanStone says. “So we will come home, and something will have inspired us to try a new recipe or try to recreate it.”
For instance, on a recent trip to Hawaii, Green tried a croissant that was similar to a croque monsieur but with a Mornay sauce and recreated it as a weekend special.
Once a recipe idea takes root, the family will first test it out at Sunday dinner.
“We always have dinner together as a family, and we’re always trying new recipes and experimenting,” VanStone says. “I think that leads to a lot of inspiration.”
While working with family has its expected challenges, those are outweighed by the daily time spent with loved ones.
“It’s been 18 years now, so we’ve figured something out and made it work. It creates new appreciation for each other,” VanStone says.
Since opening and running Madeleine’s, VanStone has become a mother herself.
Juggling kids and running the restaurant — spending many Hoopfests and Bloomsdays working with a baby strapped to her back — she doesn’t have as much time to bake as she used to, but she’s never lost her love for pulling something beautiful (and delicious) out of the oven.