Matthieu Cabon
Magnol French Baking | Houston
December 2019
At 14 years old, Frenchmen Matthieu Cabon knew he wanted to be a baker. He was intoxicated by the aromas wafting from the kitchen when his grandmother and mother would bake in their Brittany home. Although Cabon wanted to jump into the world of bread and pâtisserie, his father required he wait until he graduated high school, thinking his son would change his mind. Cabon did not change his mind. From 18 to 25, he trained in two Brittany bakeries, absorbing all the new experiences and techniques as well as learning about the products of his roots, like buckwheat.
Wanting to venture out of his home country, Cabon flew to Las Vegas in 2007, where he was asked to work in Joël Robuchon’s MGM Grand as head baker. After six years of cutting his teeth on the strip, Cabon moved to Santa Rosa, California, in the hopes of opening his own bakery. The bakery fell through and in 2013, Cabon took to Orlando, Florida, to become chef-baker of the France Pavilion at Disney’s Epcot Center, designed by Paul Bocuse and now run by his son. When Cabon heard from former Robuchon colleague Otto Sanchez asking him to partner on a project, Cabon was intrigued. The two opened Magnol French Baking in 2019, the first organic bread bakery in Houston, where Cabon utilizes his classic French training to produce authentic breads (and some distinctly Houston, like his “briskepi” smoked brisket bread) and Sanchez creates pastries made with superior ingredients. The state of the art bread production space has a small onsite bakery and also fills wholesale accounts throughout Houston. Magnol is poised to change the bread game for the entire city.
