Miami chef Olivia Ostrow has (finally) recreated a true French baguette. Naturally, a sandwich concept is next.
The owner of Maison Ostrow this week launched the fast-casual Maison Baguette, with big plans for growth. She has been called “the queen of kosher” for her Glatt menu.
May 29, 2026
Miami Chef and restaurateur Olivia Ostrow is preparing to take over the sandwich world.
The Paris-born owner of Maison Ostrow, a French restaurant in Miami she opened last year, on Monday was scheduled to launch Maison Baguette. It’s a fast-casual sandwich concept with a menu of about 25 options—from a Wagyu Brisket with arugula and caramelized onions, to a duck leg confit a l’orange—all, of course, on a house-made baguette.
The menu will initially be available for delivery and pick-up only out of Maison Ostrow, but Ostrow said she’s hoping to move the sandwich concept into a brick-and-mortar location soon.
And then she wants to open 10,000 more in the next few years. But that might be a slight exaggeration.
Ostrow does, however, have big plans for brand extensions.
What’s unique about both concepts is that they are certified Glatt kosher by the Orthodox Rabbinical Board, or ORB.
That means the “butter” on the classic Parisian-style ham (made with veal) baguette with cornichon and the “provolone” on the pastrami baguette sandwich, for example, are plant-based. (It’s not kosher to mix dairy with meat, of course.)
When she chose the location for Maison Ostrow, the chef deliberately opened with a commissary-sized kitchen at the restaurant, where the plant-based dairy and cheese alternatives are made. In time, the plan is to develop those products as consume packaged goods for retail, she said.
“I’m a French person. I love cheese. If you asked me what I would take on a desert island, it would be bread and cheese,” she said. “This cheese is plant-based, and you can’t tell the difference.”
But the key to all of it is the bread.
“I grew up in Paris,” said Ostrow. “And like every Parisian—and French person—we are a little bit bread snobs. Especially about baguettes.”
Ostrow said she has lived in the U.S. for 30 years and has yet to find a baguette that comes close to what can be found in France. So she and the other (also French) chefs at Maison Ostrow set out to make it themselves.
They tested and tested, with different types of flour and different ovens. Finally, they felt they mastered the baguette for the restaurant.
“But then I started obsessing about the perfect sandwich,” she said.
A baguette to be served hot out of the oven is somewhat different than one used for a sandwich that might be delivered. But the team nailed that too, she said, leading to the launch of Maison Baguette.
On the menu are four flavors of baguette: a classic French crust; a Provençale spiked with a Levantine herb blend; a sun-dried tomato; and a harissa version flavored with North African spice.
With the perfect bread, Ostrow then created a global menu of dishes she loves to serve as a sandwich: steak au poivre (with the fries inside the sandwich), a spicy merguez lamb sausage with harissa, or a Greek version with grilled chicken, for example.
The sandwiches range in price from $16 to $29, and fries can come on the side or as part of a $10 Lunch Box combo meal.
Maison Baguette is also set up for catering, with a “shareable” baguette in the round (a “couronne,” which means crown in French) as a pull-apart option. And a Ring Box is a ring of stuffed baguette balls that can include a customizable variety of fillings in the signature blue box.
Ostrow, who was a contestant on the Food Network’s “24 in 24: Last Chef Standing” (season 3), has been called “the kosher queen,” and it’s a crown she wears proudly.
As a female chef who’s religious, but also tattooed and outspoken, Ostrow is looking to redefine what keeping kosher means to a new generation.
Her restaurants are closed in the afternoons on Fridays through Saturday evenings, for shabbat.
What she is building is under Ostrow Global, of which she is CEO, based in Miami. But Ostrow also has a developing partnership with famed chef Todd English on other projects, including new restaurant concepts. That’s under a separate operation she calls French English.
Ostrow believes the growth she has planned will come organically. Even before Maison Baguette opened, she had already begun getting knocks at the door from investors, she said.
But, for now, the chef wants to take the plan one step at a time.
“First, I want the product to be perfect,” said Ostrow.
About the Author
Lisa Jennings
Executive Editor, Restaurant Business
Lisa Jennings is a veteran restaurant industry reporter and editor who covers the fast-casual sector, independent restaurants and emerging chain concepts. Her experience includes other industry publications as well as the daily newspaper The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., where she was Food Editor. Her work has been cited in the Los Angeles Times, Business Insider, FoodBeast, The Huffington Post, Time.com and more.
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