Bonjour Bitterroot

French Canadians helped settle the Bitterroot Valley. The 1860 U.S. Census here found many such French-speaking folks among Native Americans and Irish, for a total of "258 people living in 53 households as free inhabitants in the Bitter Root."

As of 2010, the population of Ravalli County (the valley not including Missoula) was 40,212. There were no French influences that I could see when we vacationed here two years ago. Instead, there were lots of burly guys in cowboy hats, their dogs parked outside in pickup trucks,  and Montana grass-fed beef and bison in the grocery stores. Or there were older hippies -- for lack of a better term -- in denim, fleece and wool at the farmers' markets, with gray hair flowing as freely as their liberal (yay!) opinions.

But would you believe that the French are re-invading the valley? And in quite a wonderful way. Two young women -- who have no connection to each other -- have each opened a French-based business in Hamilton recently.

Laurence (pronounced law-rancé) Markarian is the proprietor of Taste of Paris, a breakfast and lunch spot just off of Main Street.  It features such "French Artisan Specialties" as a variety of fresh-daily croissants from Missoula's Le Petit Outre bakery plus brie-and-ham sandwiches on said croissants with homemade French onion soup and salads for lunch.

A poster at the Taste of Paris, in Hamilton, Mt.

Soon, a creperie will join the mix, says Laurence, who hails from Bourges, 150 miles due south of Paris. She met her husband in his native California. He told her that he wanted someday to retire to Montana.  They decided not to wait but to be adventurous and "to see the country," as she says. They visited the Bitterroot in 1994 while looking at properties.  And after dinner one night in a local restaurant, they made the decision to stay. Here's what happened. Their server said that the restaurant didn't take credit cards. The couple had no cash or checks with them. Says Laurence, "The people were so kind. They said, 'Just come back tomorrow to pay us.' And we said, 'We want to live here.'"

Laurence Markaria, owner of Taste of Paris

Home schooling of their two children came first. With a son now ensconced at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Laurence has more time to pursue her shopkeeping/restaurant dream.  The small store, at 109 N. 4th Street, across from the Post Office, will more than double in size soon, as a former clothing boutique next door gives way to her linen-covered tables and the crepe station. "The expansion may be a little premature," says Laurence, smiling. But they couldn't pass up a space that, she says, "gets morning sun. It's a very happy place in the morning."

Laurence also packs her shop with imported foods, just right for the holidays -- as treats for yourself or gifts for others. They range from salted caramels...

...to renowned Dijon mustards...

...to fine-milled soaps, such as this olive-oil bar.  Says Laurence,  the one thing that's surprised her is "the amount of people here who've been to France or speak French." She thinks that her busy little shop should do just fine. (Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and Saturday -- hours may expand with the creperie; phone: 406-369-5875.)

Karol Klakken May is the other new shopkeeper of French-inspired items. She's from Dillon, Mt., by way of Superior, Mt. -- 250 miles apart and each skirting a separate end of the Bitterroot Valley.  And she spent many adult years in Seattle before deciding to settle back in the valley during a housing boom. She's an interior designer by trade and now, also a savvy picker and seller of exceptionally nice, sometimes quirky French-themed decor.

Karol Klakken May in her Hamilton shop -- The Nook.

Karol remembers having, at the age of five or six, a little tin box painted with the image of a French girl in a little blue dress. "I just loved her dress. I thought, 'How cool is this? I want to be that little girl.'" In dusty, historic Dillon, she "immersed" herself in high-school studies of European history and French. "I was so into it, I actually knew more than the instructor." She audited classes at Dillon's University of Montana Western. French became her first major in college.

And then she traveled, whenever/however she could. She's been to France at least five times. "I've been back to my favorite village in the south, Forcalquier, three times. I would live there in an instant."

Hence, Karol's shop -- The Nook, 305 1st Street, in Hamilton -- carries French-inspired decor.  It's actually part of (or a nook in) a very prosperous antiques/second-hand shop owned by Donna Wiskoski.

This is one of Karol's own photos from the shop (Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4; Phone: 406-239-5458).

Chandeliers, especially take-offs on French inspirations, are a Karol specialty.

Wine bottles in a basket, at a very good price  -- ooh la la.

And pillows that Karol makes from beautiful French prints are so chic. "I've just always have felt that fun pieces with good design should be available to everyone," Karol says, "not just to the wealthy. It enriches your life so much." Mais oui (of course)!

All content copyright by Becky Homan.