There is an undeniably handsome baker in Gilbert making the internet hungry.
But Scottsdale has Heather.
Heather Restrepo is the Founder and Creative Director behind Depwah. While she builds the larger Old Town restaurant, bar and rooftop, she is not making Scottsdale wait. Depwah Provisions is already here, online and by pre-order, giving us a first taste through French viennoiseries, Vietnamese coffee and Japanese matcha.
And what a taste it is.
The pastries are works of art. Cream bursts from the middle. The layers are flaky, buttery and almost too pretty to eat. And they smell better than Paris.
“Depwah is the way the Vietnamese expression for ‘so beautiful’ sounds phonetically,” Heather explains. “I chose to spell it the way I hear it.”
It is not the literal Vietnamese spelling. The name came from the way Heather heard the language and the feeling the expression carried.
“Beauty is at the center of everything I create. Of course physical beauty matters... but the deepest beauty is the reason behind something’s creation.”
For Depwah, that “why” is unconditional love.
“To experience love through every layer of what we create.”
That love story begins with her family.
Heather’s heritage is Vietnamese, Spanish and Swedish, but Vietnamese culture has always held a particularly meaningful place in her life through her mother and grandmother, both born in Vietnam.
“My grandmother taught me so much about nurturing the people we love through acts of hospitality. A meal could comfort you. It could communicate love without needing to say very much at all.”
Heather carried that understanding into adulthood, motherhood and eventually Depwah.
“I’ve always been very affected by beauty, energy and the way something makes me feel. Food can transport you somewhere. A smell can bring back a memory.”
Somewhere along the way, she realized the most memorable experiences are not always the most extravagant.
“They’re the ones with soul. You can feel when someone genuinely wanted to give you something through what they created.”
So what does Depwah Provisions look like right now?
For now, there is no café door to walk through. Everything begins at depwah.com.
Fresh pastries, Vietnamese chocolates and French sparkling lemonades are available for local pickup on Friday and Saturday mornings at Depwah’s Scottsdale pastry kitchen. Vietnamese coffee and single-origin Japanese matcha ship nationwide. All orders and pickup details are handled through the website.
“I think of Provisions less as retail and more as little pieces of the Depwah world entering someone’s life. Your coffee in the morning. Whisking matcha. Opening a box of pastries on Saturday.”
And about those pastries… They are the first public glimpse of Heather’s creative partnership with Chef Remy Lefebvre, Depwah’s Head of Culinary.
Lefebvre is French-born and Michelin-trained. He earned his first two Michelin stars by age 25 and has spent more than two decades cooking around the world, leading kitchens and developing concepts across countries and cultures.
“His technical range is extraordinary, but his résumé and technique are only part of what makes him special. Remy is a man of tremendous passion and purpose. He understands that food has the ability to create a feeling. You see it first. Then you taste it.”
Their cinnamon croissant is a delicious example.
“It has this incredible depth from Vietnamese cinnamon, and the glaze is infused with star anise. Those flavors are distinctly connected to Vietnam, expressed through the traditional techniques of a French chef.”
French butter meets Vietnamese chocolate. Traditional lamination meets flavors rooted in Heather’s heritage. The result is beautiful, but the look is only the first layer.
“Yes, they should be visually beautiful. But then the texture needs to be beautiful. The flavor needs to be beautiful. How you feel eating it matters.”
The coffee tells an equally personal story.
Heather went to Vietnam specifically to find it. She traveled through coffee-growing regions, visited farms, learned everything she could and built real relationships.
And then she came home without coffee.
Nothing she found was quite what she wanted. She could have chosen something that was close enough. Instead, she returned to Arizona and kept searching for months.
“When I came home to Arizona, the search continued. I stayed in contact with farmers in Vietnam. Samples kept arriving. Tasting after tasting. I didn’t stop until I found what became Profond and Vivant.”
Profond is a honey-processed Robusta with cacao, dried fruit and natural sweetness. Vivant is a brighter Arabica expression with berries and citrus.
“They’re two very different expressions of Vietnam.”
The matcha did not come any faster.
That search took more than a year and included numerous farms, producers and tastings, sometimes several times a day.
“I wanted to understand the growing and production practices, and I wanted to know whose hands were behind it.”
Lumière, Aube Dorée and Sol Éternel came at the end of all that searching. Heather found and selected each one herself.
“I wanted three because once you taste them beside one another, you realize matcha has personality.”
Lumière is gentle and refined. Aube Dorée balances sweetness and umami. Sol Éternel is the reserve Koicha-grade expression, richer, thicker and more concentrated.
Together, the pastries, chocolates, sparkling lemonades, coffee and matcha give us the first chapter of Depwah.
“Depwah Provisions is Depwah arriving at your door. Old Town is Depwah inviting you in.”
The Old Town restaurant is where that same philosophy will become an entire physical world.
Vietnamese soul and French romance will come together through food, architecture, art, music, light and hospitality. The concept will include Comptoir, its bar, and Sur le Toit, a rooftop above the city.
“Ultimately, I’m creating a sanctuary.”
A sanctuary in the heart of the city Heather has called home for nine years and where she is raising her two sons.
“Motherhood has made me incredibly intentional about where I place my time and energy. I want my boys to know they never have to make their dreams smaller simply because someone else cannot see them yet.”
depwah.com