October Tour: Saint-Germain’s rich and dreamy chocolate trail

In honor of the Salon du Chocolat (which I didn’t go to this year) this month’s walking tour takes you to some of Saint-Germain’s best chocolatiers. After all, you can toss an M&M in any direction in the sixth arrondisement and hit a world-class chocolatier—especially now that Patrick Roger has opened two new boutiques there.

Start at one of them, 91 rue de Rennes, and see what magical window displays the creative chocolate genius has whipped up. After admiring the fantasies and inhaling the smells, select a few of his unusual bonbons to sample—perhaps the Jamaica, made with ground Arabica coffee beans; the Jacarepagua, a blend or tart lemon curd and refreshing mint, or the Phantasme, made with oatmeal.

A fun and under-appreciated spot awaits just around the corner. The tiny and whimsical Jean-Charles Rochoux (16 rue d'Assas) is cluttered with chocolate figurines and sculptures—everything from fist-sized bunnies, squirrels and alligators to imposing nude busts. While Rochoux works in his basement kitchen, a lovely vendeuse, donning a lace glove, will pluck the pralines, nougats and truffles of your choice. Don’t miss his signature Maker’s Mark truffles.

A quick jaunt east, you’ll find Christian Constant (37 rue d’Assas), a small but slick shop filled with decadent cakes and fragrant teas. In a case tucked along the right-hand wall, you’ll find delicious chocolates with spicy and floral notes such as saffron and ylang ylang.

On your way back into the heart of the shopping district, skip the long line snaking out of Pierre Hermé (72 rue Bonaparte). While his macarons and cakes are to die for, his chocolates, try as I might, aren’t as good as the others. Instead, make your way to another Pierre—Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini (89 rue de Seine).

Marcolini’s boutique is as elegant and refined as a luxe jewelry store. Study the display cases to choose your bonbons of choice. My recommends: the Pavé de Tours Fondant, an uber thin milk chocolate, filled with sugared almonds, hazelnuts and puff pastry cake, and the Coeur Framboise, dark chocolate ganache with raspberry puree, enrobed in white chocolate.

Is there anything better than chocolate??

Autumn is pear season

This I know because I went to Maison Baron-Lefèvre in Nantes and had pear crumble for dessert.

Crumbles are one of my favorite things to eat. (But for the record, what is the difference is between a “crumble” and a “crisp”?). This French version had the added bonus of a thick eggy custard in addition to the delicious pear morsels, the sweet crumbles and the light vanilla bean ice cream.

With every bite, I kept promising myself that I wouldn’t finish (this dessert was the third course of a very decadent meal, after all). But, what can I say? It was too delicious. It being pear season and all.

Gelato for all moods

I have no problem paying six euros for an exquisite pastry or gateau, no matter what its size. But I can also be horribly cheap.

The other day, I was feeling sorry for myself and wanted to throw a big ole pity party with a little bit of ice cream. But just a little. So when I saw the petit, petit carton of Ben & Jerry’s—basically the size of those Dixie cups of vanilla and chocolate you used to get in grade school—at the corner robber, I grabbed a container of chocolate fudge brownie and brought it to the cash register with glee. Until he rang it up for five euros. Five euros?! That’s $7.31. For about 8 ounces of ice cream. Trop cher pour moi.

Especially when you can go to a gelateria like Deliziefollie and get two homemade scoops of rich and decadent flavors for half that price. Don’t get me wrong—I love my Ben & Jerry’s. But I also love my hard-earned centimes. And pressing my nose against the glass display case of such deliciousness.

Rum raisin, cinnamon, hazelnut...

Mango, mint chip, banana...

Fleur de lait, black cherry, toasted almond...

Gelato: the ultimate mood enhancer.

7, rue Montorgueil
2eme

Two bites to euphoria

I’ve learned the most essential trick to pastry euphoria in Paris and maybe even the secret to happiness in life: When you go to a boulangerie, ask which pastries are still “un peu tiede.” It’s as simple as that.


If a pain au chocolat—with infinite layers of buttery, crispy pastry dough and just a touch of dark bittersweet chocolate—is a thing of wonder, then a warm pain au chocolat is a joy for life.

11 ice cream sandwiches for the books

Emily Luchetti, pastry chef and lucky author of such books as A Passion for Desserts and A Passion for Ice Cream, is having an ice cream sandwich creation contest. It got me to thinking about the possibilities… all the wild, wonderful, over-the-top possibilities. No wonder she wrote a book about it.

Since I don’t really bake, I drew inspiration from my favorite New York and San Francisco cookies and ice cream. The more I thought about it, the harder it became to pick just the right combination. But I think I have some winners. In order from most refined to the most ridiculous, here are my 11 submissions to the contest:

• Il Laboratorio del Gelato lavender gelato sandwiched between two light, airy sugar cookies.

• Ruby & Violette champagne strawberry chocolate chip cookies sandwiching tangerine sorbet.

• Jacques Torres double chocolate chip cookies sandwiching raspberry sorbet.

• Tarallucci e Vino pignolli cookies with vanilla rum gelato and a swirl of caramel.

• Two macadamia and white chocolate chip cookies, sandwiching Grom gianduja ice cream.

• Salted caramel ice cream from Bi-Rite Creamery in between two thin, crisp ginger snaps.

• This Chick Bakes vegan ginger molasses cookies with rum raisin ice cream.

• Bi-Rite Creamery roasted banana ice cream with a spoonful of Nutella, sandwiched between snickerdoodles.

• Chocolate peanut butter chip cookies sandwiching Bi-Rite malted vanilla with peanut brittle and milk chocolate pieces ice cream (hurt me).

• A chocolate chip whopper—either the walnut chocolate chip cookie from Levain or the wheatgerm chocolate chip cookie from Specialty’s—with the middle scooped out, an oversized dollop of toasted walnut gelato dropped in, and then the cookie bit placed on top again, like a dainty little chapeau.

• Momofuku compost cookies (pretzels, chips, coffee grinds, toffee bits, chocolate chips) sandwiching Ben & Jerry’s triple caramel chunk ice cream, dipped and frozen in chocolate.

September Tour: Giant palmiers, fleur du lait gelato and a double shot of chocolate

The residential eighth and seventeenth arrondisements get bad raps for being stuffy and boring. But right where the two neighborhoods meet is a sensational oasis of sweetness that’s pretty exciting, if you ask me.

Case in point: a small gem of a salon de thé/bakery/chocolatier, La Petite Rose, is just a couple doors down from one of the dozen + city locations of the famed patisserie Lenotre (11 & 15, blvd de Courcelles, respectively). This modest spot currently has beautiful fresh fruit tartlettes (apricot, raspberry, apple). Or you can save your pastry appetite for a millefeuille at Lenotre and leave La Petite Rose with a pretty pink and brown box of chocolate bonbons for later.

Once you cross the boulevard to rue de Levis, you enter the 17th arrondisement—and a long stretch of sweet possibilities.

At the tip of the street (6, rue de Levis), the charming Beaux Arts façade of Le Moulin de la Vierge will beckon you inside the pocket-sized bakery that packs in all of the classics: individual baba au rhums, tartlette aux noix and the palmiers the size of your head.

There are only twelve gelato and sorbet flavors at Pozzetto (21, rue de Levis), but still, you’ll have a hard time deciding. How could you not with options like fleur de lait, gianduja, peach and melon?

Personally, it’s all but impossible to walk by an Arnaud Delmontel (23, rue de Levis) and not get something. I devil dog dare you to look in the window and skip one of his bright and shiny fondant-frosted cakes or lemon-raspberry financiers.

Once you leave rue de Levis and go a little further into the 17th, you’ll be rewarded with a double shot of chocolate. The sustainable, artisinal chocolate salon, Puerto Cacao (53, rue de Tocqueville) offers multi-course chocolate indulgences (a pot of hot cocoa to wash down that chocolate-drenched tartine?). Or you can pop across the street where La Petite Chocolatière supplements its chocolate bonbons with freshly made macarons.

And the angels sang

There I was, walking down rue du Cherche-Midi, ogling all the shoes in the shop windows.

When I saw the window of Polaine, bathed in the autumn sunlight.

It was as if the clouds had parted from the heavens above to shine light on the most beautiful brioche and tartlettes in the city.


8, rue du Cherche-Midi
6eme

Dreamy pastries

La Patisserie des Reves really is the stuff you dream about.


Philippe Conticini’s new patisserie opened while I was in New York (eating cookies), and it’s rich, gorgeous, inviting, exquisite and inspiring—it’s Willy Wonka meets Cartier, and surely going to become the city’s next sweet addiction (or at least mine).

The cakes are magic, and, under the glass domes, it’s as fun picking the perfect treat as it is window shopping in Place Vendome.



Some are classics, like the lemon meringue, apple crumble and tarte tatin.




Some are clearly the work of a pastry master—they are divine inspiration. The chocolate éclairs and Saint-Honoré are like none other you’ll find in the city.




There are also viennoiseries—chausson aux pommes, brioche, financiers—for more modest pleasures.


With exquisite cakes like these, Pierre Hermé, watch your back!

93 rue de Bac
7eme