“This is not a ‘kosher bakery.’ This is a French bakery that happens to be kosher,” said Laura Athuil, 27, proprietor of Choux, a soon-to-open patisserie in San Francisco.

Laura Athuil with her cream puffs photo/facebook-natalie schrik photography

Choux will serve 13 different flavors of cream puffs from a little shop at 247 Fillmore St., near the corner of Haight Street. Athuil, a native of France who moved from Paris to San Francisco a year and a half ago, hopes to open before the end of the month, pending two final inspections.

Athuil is a member of the Chabad of North Beach community, and not only is her bakery certified kosher by Vaad Hakashrus of Northern California, but it also adheres to Chabad-friendly stricter forms of kosher for dairy (cholev yisroel) and  baking (pas yisroel).

“I will be the person on-site to turn on the oven,” she said, explaining one of the rules of pas yisroel, that a Jew must turn on the oven. “But, really, this is a French cream puff bakery, and kosher is just something I did to have it accessible to everybody. There is no kosher bakery in the city.”

Athuil says each variety of her ornately decorated cream puffs has “its own personality” as well as a name, usually after one of her friends. For more information about the opening date, Athuil’s baking credentials and the shop, visit www.chouxsf.com or follow ChouxSF on Facebook and Twitter. — andy altman-ohr