LINCOLN SQUARE — The croissants are back at Beans & Bagels — and so is the chef who creates them, after a brutal beating left him with a 6-inch scar on his wrist.
Pastry chef Jean-Yves Martin recently returned to the coffee shop's kitchen after the attack in late September that left his right wrist crushed — so badly, Martin told DNAinfo Chicago, "I was worried I could not work again."
News of Martin's comeback, announced by Beans & Bagels on Facebook, was met with a chorus of "Hoorahs!" from customers, whose outpouring of affection continues to surprise the chef.
The flood of "get well" cards Martin received after the attack, many of them drawings from children, as well as offers to help pay his medical bills, shocked him, he said.
An introverted man who enjoys the solitude of working by himself in the middle of the night, Martin said he had no idea people even knew who he was.
"I don't know anybody. I leave early. I just do my work and go home," he said.
"It touched me," Martin said of the support he received from Beans & Bagels' surrounding community. "It really did make it easier to come back. I wish I could thank everyone personally."
It's been a challenging road to recovery, both physically and mentally for the chef, who was attacked after confronting a man he found urinating on the window of the shop at 2601 W. Leland Ave.
"I walked out and said, 'Come on man, don't do that here,'" and then went back into the kitchen, Martin said as he recounted the events of last fall.
Martin checked back minutes later and the man was still there, so the chef stepped out again.
What he hadn't noticed was two other men lurking on the sidewalk across the street.
"I didn't see them. If I had, I wouldn't have gone back out," Martin said. "If I had to change something, I would definitely not walk out."
The men rushed at Martin in a blur.
"One of them was a bad guy," he said. "I thought they were going to kill me."
His shattered wrist, now held together with metal plates, required surgery (paid for by workman's compensation) and intensive rehab as Martin worked to regain his strength and range of motion, critical for a chef who makes his living kneading dough.
He spent the first month after surgery recuperating in his native France, where friends and family, who already have an image of Chicago as a violent place, urged him not to return to the U.S.
"I started saying I fell off my bike" to spare loved ones the shock, Martin said.
Though he's left-handed, the loss of the use of his right hand made even the simplest tasks difficult.
"So many things ... like putting shaving cream on, or washing your hair," Martin said. "Stupid things you don't even pay attention to."
Through thrice-weekly physical therapy sessions, Martin gradually began to heal and eventually felt ready to get back to work.
Was he apprehensive about returning to the scene of the crime?
"Yes," Martin answered. "I'm happy to be back baking, but yeah, it's in my mind now."
He said he feels safe in the kitchen, but it's the 20-minute walk to work at midnight or 1 a.m. that makes him nervous.
"Right now, I still feel the insecurity," Martin said.
Equally worrisome to the chef has been the quality of his pastries.
He returned to a kitchen that had sat cold for months, something he didn't account for when mixing his first batches of dough.
"I was so disappointed in myself. I was worried people would say, 'He doesn't know how to make croissants anymore,'" said Martin. "I need to refind my groove again."
As he settles back into his routine, surrounded by the intoxicating smells of yeast and butter, Martin has a newfound appreciation for his role in the community.
"Making people happy, it's a nice job to have," he said.
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