A dessert shop with an avid following is opening at Dallas' buzzy Mockingbird Station: Le Rêve Gelato & Pâtisserie, a highly regarded shop in North Dallas' Preston Valley Shopping Center, is opening a location at 5321 E. Mockingbird Ln. #135, in the former Milk and Honey ice cream shop which closed in 2025.
Le Rêve is from Andy Pham, a baker and entrepreneur whose carefully crafted pastries and gelato have earned him much acclaim and made him a social media star.
He's hoping to open the shop sometime in late March or early April.
Pham started Le Reve as a cottage business before opening the first shop in 2022.
"I love French pastry and the European style of baking," Pham says. "I'm Vietnamese, but my grandparents had a French connection and I grew up with an exposure to French culture."
Whether macarons or pastries, his work is both tasteful and visually stunning. And his gelato — in flavors such as pistachio, French lavender, and Vietnamese coffee — is now sold not only at his shop but also by the pint at Central Market stores.
He does a variety of French pastries such as eclairs, small cakes, and Insta-friendly confections whose appearance is perfectly fabricated to match the flavor; for example, a lemon citrus pastry that looks exactly like a lemon. It's reminiscent of shokuhin sampuru, a Japanese tradition of creating plastic replicas of dishes.
L’orange et Citron Jaune at Le Reve.Le Reve
Pham's fame and acclaim includes landing a spot on the list of top 10 pastry chefs in Dallas at CultureMap Dallas' 2022 Tastemaker Awards, as well as a list of top 10 desserts.
Le Reve was also selected to participate in a national promotion in 2024 to hype the anniversary of cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants — one of 100 restaurants across the U.S., including 10 restaurants around Dallas, called on to do their own take on a Krabby Patty, the cartoon's signature dish.
Le Reve's entry stood out not only because it was the rare dessert participant, but also for its crafty execution, using sweet ingredients to mimic burger components: vanilla sponge cake bun, pineapple patty, crêpe lettuce, strawberry mousse tomato, puff pastry sticks for fries, and strawberry ketchup.
Opening a second location was part of his longterm plan, and when the space opened up at Mockingbird Station, it was an opportunity he couldn't turn down.
"I've always been a fan of the area, and Mockingbird Station seems like a perfect place for Le Reve," he says.
He's currently outfitting the space, which will get its own unique decorative theme.
"The first store was my recreation of a classic French patisserie, but this will be inspired by the south of France, with warm tones and a Mediterranean design," he says.
There will be seating, so that customers can sit and enjoy a sweet along with his trademark Vietnamese coffee featuring specialty Vietnamese arabica coffee beans.
Supreme croissant from Le ReveLe Reve
The sweets lineup will be similar to the menu at the North Dallas location, incorporating a major expansion he's undertaken in recent years: viennoiserie, aka croissants, including the ultra-trendy "supreme" croissants that are shaped like a wheel and often capped with icing.
"When I opened the first store, it was all new and I wanted to keep things manageable," he says. "Croissants are their own category, and it was important to me to do them well. I have family in France — my aunt and cousin would never let me live it down if I did a bad job. But viennoiserie have become a vital part of what we do now."
He's been warmed by the reception he's received from natives of France.
"I've gotten to know some of the French population in Dallas, and it makes me happy when they tell me that what we're doing reminds them of home," he says.
