I’ll do this post in chronological order. Back on Tuesday, I went to Bouchon Bakery for dessert. I think this shouldn’t surprise you anymore to the fact that I’m getting a bit monotonous with this place but…I can’t help it. Their stuff is too tasty and pretty not talk about. Anyways, I had their “Le Mont Blanc” ($7.75) and a cup of coffee.
Split in half…
Zoomed in detail of sliced half
Innards
Those of you who don’t know what is a mont blanc is, it’s basically a classic dessert of sweetened, pureed chestnuts subtly flavored with vanilla. The mixture is riced and mounded into a high, fluffy mountain on a platter. This sweet alp is capped with whipped cream or crème chantilly. Mont Blanc (“white mountain”) is a peak in the French Alps near the Italian border (cited from The New Food Lover’s Companion).
This is a more sophisticated version than what the description indicated. This is a dessert set in a barely sweetened chocolate sucree, layered with vanilla buttercream (that’s the white dots on the base), a hemisphere of chestnut mousse, drizzled with a sweet, caramel-ly milk chocolate, mounded with chestnut buttercream, topped with a candied chestnut and an edible gold leaf to make it more luxurious. Yep, it tastes as good as it looks and sounds from what you’re reading. It’s not at all cloyingly sweet, it’s just sweet enough to soothe the sweet tooth.
On late Thursday morning around 11:30, I was dying from the humidity from this ethereal spring-like weather in New York City (since today and Saturday is snowing). Usually whenever I feel hot I would want two things: an ice cold drink (non-alcoholic, I’m referring) and ice cream or gelato. Since I was in Whole Foods and I didn’t really want to eat a whole pint of ice cream by myself in one sitting, I just went upstairs and have some gelato. Whole Foods recently have a small section where you could have some of il laboratorio del gelato‘s gelato. I opted for a medium cup containing a scoop of ricotta gelato, dark chocolate gelato, and blackberry sorbet.
I know the photo above has the chocolate all melted. I can’t really do much with that since it’s on the bottom and I took a bit of time eating my way down before I hit the chocolate portion. Anyways, all three flavors blend nicely. You have the creamy tang from the ricotta (which is a soft cheese for those of you who don’t know), rich dark chocolate, and the sharp, fruity flavor of the blackberry. My small complaint is that the ricotta and blackberry were too icy. I guess Whole Foods set their freezer temperature too low. It’s good but it’s too small to justify that it costs me $4.50 for the portion they have given me. I guess it could be worse…
I wasn’t so interested in eating other places around Union Square and the East Village Ice Cream shop that opened the past week was not opened yet when I stopped by there. So, I just went back uptown and had a real lunch at Bouchon Bakery. I know, I know. I’m getting redundant with Bouchon. I promise it’ll be the last mentioning of that name for a while and I will be motivated to eat somewhere else.
Since it was lunch hour (it’s 1 PM), the lines are starting form around the bakery side of Bouchon. I ended up ordering a Roast Beef sandwich ($9.25) and a Nutter Butter Cookie ($2.75). I requested it to be warmed just because it would be horrible to eat a sandwich that has been sitting in the fridge for a few hours; it would result in consuming soggy bread and no contrast of textures and textures since everything is cold. The wait was 5 minutes since ordering.
Roast Beef Sandwich served with a side of Cornichon Pickles
The Nutter Butter Cookie
Nutter Butter, in half
The roast beef sandwich was awesome! It was worth the wait since the bread is now crisp and warm, the Fontina cheese is warm, gooey, melted and the beef was tasty. The sandwich had a good proportion of bread and filling. Yums.
The Nutter Butter cookie is one of my favorite cookies here. It is a nostalgic (but gourmetized) reminder of childhood since my parents used to buy me a few packages of Nutter Butter sandwich cookies. I had and still love peanut butter but only the natural stuff since the manufactured ones have a weird gummy texture. Anyways, the cookies are soft and chewy with the visible chunks of peanuts gives it a nice touch. The peanut butter filling is whipped that it feels light and airy on the tongue even though it’s a calorie bomb.
Eh, indulgence is the key here. I’m having a rough week with school…too much work. Food is my therapy. Albeit, possibly an unhealthy one for me if I keep eating like this. No, I don’t eat like this at home; it’s much healthier and uninteresting than anything I post up.
Have a good weekend!
Hey Tina!
I swear that has to be the prettiest Mont Blanc I’ve ever seen. mmm, chestnut based desserts are soooo…sigh, sublime! If you’re ever in the neighborhood, Claude’s on West 4th sells these amazing meringues. If you ask, he’ll take it back in the kichen and sort of reconstruct it, spinning threads of cheastnut puree and cream whipped thick with just a touch of sugar. that and a cup of coffee, and I’d be just about the happiest person in the world! :)
And don’t stop going to Bouchon! You’ve become the all inclusive Bouchon on their pastries…and now you’re moving into the sandwich field. Conquer them all! hehe. no really. that would be so awesome if you had one of every single one of their pastries! :)
Hey Kathy,
All of Bouchon’s stuff are pretty, exquisite looking and tasting…so far. I think I pretty much covered their most of their basic pastries. I just need to try their exclusive weekend stuff (e.g. donuts and Marguerite), and a few more tarts. Then I need to move onto half of the viennosseries that I haven’t tried. Eeek…just writing this out is scaring me how much I’m going to eat.
Ooh…the Claude’s suggestion sounds wonderful! :)
Man, I’m imaging how Claude would make that magnificent dessert from that tiny kitchen of his… *sighs* I need to go there soon!
I love il Lab at Whole Foods. Better hours than the LES location and bigger portions!
I can vouch that the hours are better than the LES location but I don’t know about the portions. I think they’re about the same but I haven’t been to LES in a while, so I can’t really say.
Oh man, that mont blanc looks heavenly. The last time I had mont blanc was in Paris and it was SO SWEEEET, I think I felt sick afterwards (couldn’t finish it either). I need to get myself to Bouchon Bakery!
That mont blanc was GOOOD! I’m sorry that Parisian patisseries and bakeries disappointed you for that dessert…or you should have went to a different one. I dunno…
I just thought it was odd that you haven’t gotten the mont blanc when we went there today.