Sweet Madeleine

Happy things happen when you break from routine.

This morning, I walked west on 23rd Street to catch the 1 instead of taking the N, R or W like I usually do. (The sad reason being, I skipped yoga to go to the Sigerson Morrison sample sale, and I walked out empty handed. Booo.) Squeezed between the crappy shoe stores and gargantuan Duane Reades, I came across what I thought was a new café. But it's been around since last July: Madeleine Patisserie.

And to what did my eyes alight? Plain croissants, chocolate croissants, cheese croissants, almond croissants and, the flavor I chose, pistachio-chocolate croissants. Yum!

This pistachio-chocolate croissant is very nearly a pastry, with a slick-sticky coating on top that clings to pieces of crushed pistachios. Inside, an oozy rich chocolate is enrobed in pistachio paste. The dough was chewy and made me suspicious for some reason — like it's chockfull of preservatives even though the baking's done on the premises. Maybe it's just me.

In any case, it has nothing on Petrossian's apricot danish.

Madeleine Patisserie
128 West 23rd Street
212.243.2757