Pastry princess joins La Belle Vie

Michelle Gayer-Nicholson made a big splash when she came to town from Chicago — and a stint at world-famous Charlie Trotter’s, where she also co-authored “Charlie Trotter’s Desserts” — to become head chef at Franklin Street Bakery in 2004. It was an odd move which she explained by saying both that she wanted to raise her children here and that she wanted to have the freedom to experiment, pastry-wise. Experiment she did. During Nicholson-Gayer’s reign, the hybrid corner bakeshop and social action site (the original business plan included support from the American Indian Neighborhood Development Corporation) at Franklin and 10th Avenue sported pastries made with green tea, candied pansies, and rosemary polenta. Shortly after seeing Franklin Street through a major expansion in 2005, Gayer-Nicholson left, putatively to teach at Le Cordon Bleu. But today, she’s back, in our local version of Charlie Trotter-style: teaming up with chef Tim McKee at La Belle Vie and sister restaurant Solera. Talk about a power couple.