I wish all Parisian pastries were stunning works of art that operated at the absolute limits of complete tastiness. Sadly, most are just vaguely amusing to regard and pleasant enough to enjoy eating....
A few months back, I reached out to Café Pouchkine to see if I could arrange a photo shoot of their boutique and, more awesomely, a special session with their chef pâtissier – his majesty Emmanuel Ry...
Sometimes my pastry eating and photographing schedule get so intense that I literally don’t have enough time to edit photos and write something thoughtful about the goodies at-hand. This week has bee...
One of my pastry pet peeves is the maladroit use of savory ingredients in sweet goodies. For every incredibly delicious black sesame éclair from Sadaharu Aoki or too tasty coriander-laced macaron fro...
Do I know more about chocolate than I’ll likely ever know about coffee? Yes. Does that keep me from drinking the equivalent of 10-15 espressos a day? No. After all, I’m only hooked on Coutume Café li...
Much as I’m looking to hunt down new taste sensations here in Paris, there’s a big part of me that loves to re-experience past knockouts. I go to Pierre Hermé every single day and buy a Montebello, w...
My plan this year was to have more upbeat reviews. But the more I explore the 2012 landscape of Parisian pâtisseries, the more I realize that I’ve already posted almost all the good stuff here over t...
Much as I think Jacques Genin makes the sun rise and set over the Parisian pastry scene, I’m growing to love Pierre Hermé a little more with each passing year. Why? Because, of all the Parisian shops...
Since arriving back in Paris on Wednesday, I’ve been overindulging in everything: pastries, croissants, hot chocolate, marshmallows, poppy syrup, caramels, macarons, fine coffee and more. Starving my...
If I could criticize Café Pouchkine for one thing, it would be that they make it way too easy to feel disappointed in the other shops. There’s no way to visually take in something like the Tutti Frut...
When it comes to the flavors in a pastry, there are two broad schools of thought. The first is one of simplicity. You take a singular dominant flavor or two complementary tones and coax perfection fr...
Last week, I wrote about my love of the pistachio. Together with maple, tonka and licorice, it’s among my absolute favorite flavors. True, those four parfums have absolutely nothing to do with one an...
Back in October, when I was putting together my list of the best pastries in Paris, I went through all my notes and photos about three or four times. I wanted to be sure I included every single one o...
I have an admitted soft spot for pistachios. Not that I don’t love almonds, Brazil nuts, macadamias, pecans and beyond, but there really is nothing quite like the lusty charms of the pistachio. Lucky...
The lives of too many Parisian pastry chefs, chocolatiers and confiseurs are, in many respects, very insulated from one another. From about the age of 15 onward, many have either woken up before dawn...
The other day, I wrote about how frustrating it can be when shops change their pastries out — either too often or not often enough. When it’s done too frequently, you show up one day to buy a favorit...
When I returned to France last year, I was excited to see the newest work from so many of my favorite shops. I’d ravaged their cases in 2010, and I was expecting a fresh lineup for 2011. But, no, alm...
Back in June, I had a little Paris Pâtisseries get-together at Jacques Genin’s shop. One of the attendees came up to me, as things were winding down, and asked why I never put up anything from Lenôtr...
I sometimes think about what the ultimate Parisian pastry would be. I don’t mean that in the sense of what I would think is the ultimate – since I know my tastes are more esoteric than that of the av...
Every now and then, I post something people go nuts for, and I think today is one of those days. Even though I love Pierre Hermé for his pastries, it’s his macarons that most people know well. And am...
There are a few ways your pâtisserie can become famous in Paris. You can create amazingly delicious work. You can do a masterful job of marketing your products. You can get lucky and become a media/b...
After a couple years of writing the blog here, there’s something that always strikes me as a little bizarre. People can get really angry and defensive about my and others’ criticism of an indiv...
The other day, I was telling someone why so many of my reviews wind up being a little “suggestive” and/or why they can occasionally invoke religious imagery. It’s simply that there are only so many w...
There are so many different garnish philosophies in the world of Parisian pastry. Many chefs have a thing for “peacocking” their work with inedible garnishes that have to be picked off before you can...
Pierre Hermé has been on my mind quite a bit recently. Why? Because his team was kind enough to send me an advance copy of his new Pierre Hermé ‘Pastries’ book last week. And I wouldn’t s...
Happy Valentine’s (one day early) everyone! I had a difficult time deciding what the most appropriate pastry to share today would be. It ultimately came down to La Fraise here and Pierre Hermé’s Ispa...
My friend Julie asked me the other day what my first stop would be once I got back to Paris. My reply was of course that I would head straight to Un Dimanche à Paris for a candied clementine and some...
There are certain flavors that are virtually a guarantee for a good time. While I pretty much enjoy every one out there, I’ve found pistachio, réglisse, passion fruit, coquelicot, and maple are extre...
With about ten weeks to go until I get back to Paris, my special entries and reviews of the best work are heating up. You’ve been getting a taste of it since the start of the year with everything fro...
I’ll always remember the first time I had Jacques Genin’s Baba au Rhum. This is mostly because it was the first baba He had ever served to a customer, and as the crew from France 4 flanked us, camera...
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