Laduree, Paris - the Mecca of Macarons

Laduree - visited January 1, 2014

Before Paris, I had never heard of Laduree. Oh I had heard people wax poetical about macarons (no, that's not a misspelling, that's how the French spell their ganache-filled meringue sandwich cookies, not to be confused with the American macaroons of coconut) and where to get them but since I've never really liked macarons, I never paid much attention. But since I was in Paris, I yelp'd where to get good ones and at nearly the same moment, I had no less than three friends tell me I must go to Laduree.

Fortunately Laduree has several locations, one of them being on Champs Elysees which is where we went on New Year's Day. Even more fortunately, they were one of the places actually open on New Year's so I had the opportunity to join the line of people out the door waiting to get in to line up some more inside. Boy, these had to be some kind of macarons, right? I figured if I didn't like Laduree's macarons, I wasn't likely to ever like them at all.

Despite not being a macaron fan, I enjoyed my visit inside Laduree tremendously. It was just so....French. Beautiful confections, not just macarons, were lined up invitingly behind glass counters manned by neatly attired Laduree personnel ready to help the customers and move the line along. When it was finally my turn, I wish I could've lingered and stared at everything but mindful of all the people behind me, I had to be decisive.

The  famous Laduree macarons

The smallest box of macarons you can buy is a box of 6 for 15.80 euros. Ouch ($21.50 USD!). The box was pretty but since I wasn't a macaron fan, that seemed excessive for 6 mini macarons. But of course you know I bought them anyway. They give you a flavor brochure while you're in line so you know what to select when it's your turn. I chose the praline (1), chocolate (2), lemon (1) and salted caramel (2) for my nieces and I to share. And, because I couldn't resist it and I was already there anyway, I chose two individual cakes, both having some form of chocolate, because they were pretty and I wanted them :).

And they have very pretty packaging as well so in this case, you can judge the book by its cover. I don't know the official names of the cakes I bought, just that they were chocolate and they were pretty. That's all I needed.

My review of the macarons: I can understand why people like them so much, some flavors are better than others, the ones from Laduree are the best of all the macarons I've had, the meringue cookies were crisp and airy while the ganache fillings were rich and creamy. The praline was good, the lemon was lemony, the chocolate was almost too chocolaty for me (as hard as that is to imagine) and the salted caramel was my favorite but probably the only one I'd get again if I happened to be in Laduree again. But I don't think I'd go out of my way for them. I'm just not into macarons. But I'm glad I've had what's reputed to be the best of them so I know what a great one tastes like.

Praline Macaron

But can I tell you this hazelnut praline confection (below) was one of the best desserts I've ever had?? While I can remain somewhat indifferent to the best macarons of Paris, I would line up multiple times for another one of these hazelnut praline slices. By all that's sacred in desserts, this is the Holy Grail. Or close. The bottom layer was crunchy, the mousse filling was creamy decadence and the overall look and taste was just scrumptious. It's just as well I don't live in Paris or I'd be as big as a house because I'd have to eat one of these every day just because I could. And as proof of how much I like this cake, it doesn't even bother me that it was 6.10 euros. $8.30 a slice? I don't care. It was worth it.

Hazelnut Praline slice

The second chocolate dessert I got from Laduree was this chocolate square, layers of chocolate cake sandwiching a chocolate mousse filling and topped with chocolate ganache and a decorative nut crunch with a bit of edible gold foil. This was good too and had similar elements as the hazelnut praline slice but it wasn't quite as good. On a scale of 1-10, this would be an 8.5 while the hazelnut praline would be a 43. Still, it was a good choice and I'm glad we were able to sample more than macarons from Laduree.

Oh and for anyone in Southern CA, rumor has it Laduree will be opening a branch in Newport Beach so you don't have to go all the way to Paris for a macaron or the hazelnut praline slice. Not that I minded the travel....

Paris Day 7 - 2014 A Quiet Day in Paris, dinner at an "American" restaurant

January 1, 2014 - Happy New Year!

The first day of 2014 was rainy in Paris. Instead of walking like we normally would, we took the metro to L'Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysees when there was a break in the weather. Champs Elysees is lined with shops and was fairly busy for a holiday but quiet compared to a "normal" day. Only half the stores were open so I imagine it would've been more crowded on a non-holiday.

Laduree (next post) was open on the Champs Elysees and other than a visit to the famous store, we didn't do much shopping. We tried going to Bon Marche but they were closed for New Year's. Lunch was at a casual, point-and-choose Chinese restaurant but I was getting weary of taking pictures of food places and what we were eating (I know, shocking) so I don't have any record of it.

After an afternoon of rest, downloading pics onto my laptop and catching up on my blog, I rallied for dinner though. My nieces and I had originally hoped to try out a crepe place and we had earmarked one from yelp that got great reviews which was within walking distance of our hotel. Unfortunately, when we headed out to find it, it was closed. It was raining again too so we had to find another option. After walking around a bit longer and checking out the sidewalk menus, we ducked into one restaurant too quickly for me to take a picture of where we were so I waited until after dinner to snap the shot above.

4-cheese pizza

I don't have a picture of the inside but, like most places in France, it was on the small side, with a larger room partitioned off to make 2 smaller rooms. We were shown to the room in the back and seated at a table right next to the kitchen which was mostly closed off except for the steel counter where they placed the finished orders and the wait staff came to pick them up. Some people may not like that kind of location but it turned out to be a great place to sit as we could watch the mouthwatering dishes being plated and see what made its way out of the kitchen onto the tables. The menu was mostly Italian with pizzas and pastas and the decor reminded me of Sardi's in New York with wall art depicting movie stars. Not quite the French experience you expect in Paris but we were hungry and lucky to get a table on New Year's without a reservation so we went with it. Besides, remember my mantra that it's probably impossible to eat bad food in Paris. This was no exception. We did "French-ify" our order though with the pizza. When in France, you have to have everything with cheese. So we went with the 4-cheese pizza. This was good (it's cheese, it's France). The only jarring note is one of the cheeses was bleu cheese and it tended to overpower the other cheeses.

Pesto Pasta

The pesto pasta was also tasty. You can taste the freshness and assume the chef probably plucked the basil leaves off the plant minutes before serving this up. I had a birds' eye view into the kitchen and it was really amazing to see how quickly they plated the food yet there was no one rushing around frantically and no histrionic sounds of tempers flaring. Instead, the 2-4 people I glimpsed all moved efficiently but weren't rushing or panicked. No reality TV restaurant shows in the making here.

Banana and Nutella "pizza"

Dessert was the "banana nutelle pizza" but it came out more like a calzone, hot with fresh caramelized bananas and nutella packed on the inside. We made short work of it and were happy. It also seems pretty easy to make and in between bites, I was advising my nieces on replicating the dessert: buy the fresh pizza dough from Trader Joe's, roll it out in a thin circle, spread nutella over it and lay sliced bananas over half of the dough, fold over and seal the edges to make the calzone and bake until brown. Easy. And don't think I'm not going to make it myself someday.

We were armed with knives and forks - the banana nutella "pizza" didn't have a chance

The joke was on us when we left the restaurant and I was able to take a picture of the outside to see where we actually ate at: an "American" restaurant that serves Italian food. I couldn't find them on yelp or google so I don't think they have much of an internet presence but it was a good find on a cold, rainy night. If we had planned better or if more places were open, we might have had a more typical French meal but for an American restaurant serving Italian food, it served our needs just fine.

Les Bateaux Parisiens - lunch cruise on the Seine

Les Bateaux Parisiens - lunch cruise on December 31, 2013

Thanks to my friend, we went on a lunch cruise on the Seine with Les Bateaux Parisiens. "Bateaux" means boats in French and Les Bateaux Parisiens offers a lunch cruise, dinner cruise and a sightseeing cruise. The boats depart from the dock near the Eiffel Tower so they're not hard to find. When we checked in at the pier, we were given our table number and handed a menu of our lunch selections. We made our way to where our boat would depart just in time as it started to rain when we got there. Fortunately the boat was flat-bottomed and fully enclosed so we could enjoy the views in dry, warm comfort.

I have to say, the cruise was one of the highlights of our trip, if not the highlight of the whole week and a half of vacation. When we boarded, we were shown to our table, offered a selection of nuts and libations and away we went. The tables are arranged so there's not really a bad seat. Since it's fully enclosed in glass, you could get a great view anywhere you turned. The tables right against the window were lower than the inside tables so even from an inside table, you had an unobstructed view of the sights.

Our starting point was the Eiffel Tower

Bread rolls, nuts and drinks to start off with while we waited to sail

But what really made the trip so fantastic was (of course) the food. I've been on dinner cruises before in San Francisco Bay and they've been fun but I can't say the food was really striking. Not so with Les Bateaux Parisiens. I'll be remembering this meal for quite some time and not just because I have a good memory when it comes to food. Everything was roll-your-eyes-to-the-back-of-your-head delicious.

Veloute of pumpkin, chestnuts and pine nuts

The menu lets you select a starter, an entree and either cheese or a dessert for the third course. For my starter I got the pumpkin veloute. Our very nice waiter served it initially with the cream in the center of the bowl then he poured the hot pumpkin soup into it in front of me. A completely nice touch, especially considering he and the other wait staff had to do that for every diner who ordered the veloute. The soup was hot, creamy and the perfect pumpkin flavor.

Duck Terrine with foie gras and fig chutney

Shyla got the duck terrine and Lauren the escargots. Both enjoyed their starters and they were literally a good start to our cruise. In the midst of the food being served, we were already under way, cruising the brown waters of the Seine. Since this wasn't the sightseeing cruise per se, they only made sporadic announcements of some of the sights we were passing, including Les Invalides, Le Musee d'Orsay, and La Bibliotheque Nationale de France but the announcements over the loudspeaker did offer some informational tidbits about some of the bridges and monuments we were passing.

Cassolette of escargots from Burgundy, 'Meurette-style'

For my entree I ordered the "Braised Pork spare rib with gratin Dauphinois". It was amusing for me to see the singular "rib" as I had in mind the American version of ribs, always in the plural. Were they going to give me one rib? Turned out the answer was "yes" but it was more like a boneless pork loin. Tender and very flavorful in a yummy sauce. I wish I had a better way to describe it other than, "wow, this is really good and I'm eating all of it". But my favorite part was the "gratin Dauphinois". The boat didn't have wifi so I couldn't look it up before I ordered it but I retained enough high school French to figure it was some kind of scalloped potatoes with cheese. OMG. The words "potatoes" and "cheese" are wholly inadequate to describe how good this was. Cheesy, perfectly cooked, and tender - did I mention cheesy?? They were so good. I never knew potatoes could be that good.

Braised Pork Spare Rib, gratin Dauphinois

Shyla got the shrimp and spinach in a crayfish sauce. The foam you see below is the crayfish sauce and she enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed my potatoes. As in, several hours later, she would burst out, "OMG, that foam was so good!" Yep, we're related.

Jumbo Shrimp, Spinach, Crayfish Sauce

Lauren got the veal stew. I didn't get the picture in action but, like my pumpkin veloute, it was served with an individual touch: our waiter brought her the plate then proceeded to spoon the stew onto it from an individual sized little pot. Very cute, very classy.

Paupiette of Veal cooked in a casserole dish, stewed vegetables

While we were eating, we were zipping along the Seine and I took random shots of what we were passing. Whenever I managed to look up from my plate, that is.

Le Grand Palais (I think)

The announcer over the loudspeaker also talked about some of the bridges we were going under but since I didn't write anything down, I confess I didn't retain the knowledge beyond our next course.

Since we were in France, our third and final course was a choice of cheese or dessert. We all opted for dessert but I managed to take a picture of the cheese plate before they delivered it to another table.

Fromage (cheese)

On my foodie bucket list of "desserts to eat in Paris", Tarte Tatin is one of them so I was pleased this was one of the dessert offerings. It's essentially a caramelized apple upside down cake. For a traditional Tarte Tatin, you line a cast iron pan with sliced apples, prettily arranged if you're skilled enough (I'm not), cover the tart crust, bake, then flip over onto the serving plate once it was done. If all goes well, you have a beautifully caramelized apple top with the tart crust underneath. If all doesn't go well, er, like when I made it in culinary school, let's just say, mine never came out looking like the one below. This was also good but it's hard not to like a warm apple tart. In Paris.

Tarte Tatin

Pot de creme (pot of cream)

Lauren got the pot de creme which is literally a pot of cream. Just like the creme brulee from Bistro La Petite Rotonde, this was sinfully rich and creamy and very good. And I say that as someone who doesn't often like cream-type desserts. Creme brulee and pot de creme are notable exceptions.

Praline Paris Brest

Shyla chose the Paris Brest which is a pate a choux filled with mousse. That was good too but each of us only had a bite to taste. She was already full and Lauren and I were focusing on our own desserts.

The Paris version of the Statue of Liberty

Did you know there's a Statue of Liberty in Paris? It's a smaller version of the one in New York City and was a gift to the city in 1889 from the American community in Paris on their centenary. Pretty cool. I think we passed this somewhere along the dessert course or shortly after so I did actually notice something other than what I was eating.

Coffee to end a delicious meal

The whole cruise took a little over two hours and we went along the Seine at a pretty steady clip, enabling us to circle the route twice while we ate. We got lucky in that our waiter served us first so we had plenty of time to enjoy our food before the cruise ended. We got even luckier that the rain stopped before the cruise ended so by the time we emerged, we could continue our travels without getting (too) wet. If you're ever in Paris, this is a fun cruise to go on and a great way to enjoy more delicious food.

Paris Day 6: city tour and Eiffel Tower by day

Day 6: Paris, France

Thanks to a great friend with awesome connections, our first morning in Paris included a city tour arranged by the Paris tourist office. We were driven around for an hour by our tour guide, Travis, who picked us up from the hotel in a cute little car that fortunately fit all of us. The car had to be that small in order to fit in some of the narrow streets Travis drove down. And I mean narrow.

Travis drove us around the Left Bank, pointed out Notre Dame, took us down the Champs Elysees and circled L'Arc de Triomphe, showed us the far-off view of Sacre Coeur, and stopped for a photo opp at the National Academy of Music.

At Acadamie Nationale de Musique

Sacre Coeur from a distance

L'Arc de Triomphe

We had a lunch cruise on the Seine planned for that day, also courtesy of my friend, so we had Travis drop us off at the Eiffel Tower so we could explore the area until our cruise. There's a cute little market just in front of the Eiffel Tower where we wandered around for a bit. The stalls sold everything from souvenirs to clothes to all kinds of food including waffles (or gaufre in French), paella, chocolate, coffee and teas. They also had tourist prices since it was so close to the most popular tourist attraction in Paris but it was still fun to walk around and explore even if we didn't buy so much as a gaufre.

Lots of paella in very large paella pans

Would you believe I didn't buy any? I just liked to look at it all.

But the definite highlight of Day 6 was our lunch cruise down the Seine, courtesy of Les Bateaux Parisien. Stay tuned.....