First Pics: French-style bakery called Creme Brûlée opened this week at 4th and Moore

The former Pancho Villa location at 4th and Moore has been replaced with something a little more sweet.

Earlier this week a new bakery called Creme Brûlée opened in the storefront, serving a variety of fresh, French pastries to the Dickinson Square West area.

Creme Brulee Patisserie is run by a man named Armando Tapia. He began his career in the United States as a teenager, not speaking English and without many skills in the restaurant business. Over the years he then worked his way up from being a dishwasher to eventually working with some of the top pastry chefs in New York. He’s worked in Portland, OR, Seattle, WA and various other locations. Just three weeks ago, Tapia and his wife settled down in Philadelphia for Armando open a shop of his own here. While he considered New York for a bakery, he settled on Philadelphia based on the cheaper rents.

At the moment, Tapia does almost all of the work on the shop himself. The pastries are made in small batches to ensure freshness. The selection includes things like tiramisu, cheesecake, fruit tarts, croissants, cookies and more. Pastries are $4.50 or $3.75 a piece. The shop has plenty of options to satisfy your sweet tooth, but also some salad and sandwich options to get you through the day. You can also grab a cup of coffee or tea at the shop. In the future, expect to see different specials on a weekly basis.

Seeing that Creme Brûlée just opened this week, there are still improvements set to happen on the shop. At the moment it is cash-only, but that should change at the beginning of next week. There will eventually be some outdoor seating (there are currently three tables set up indoors), and Tapia has plans to renovate the basement of the establishment.

The shop is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. You can find Creme Brûlée on Facebook here.