That Is Some French Macaron…

For the past week I went to Madeline Patisserie in Chelsea since I remember reading recently from the NY Times that they sell macarons (Please don’t confuse them with the coconut macaroons; this is the almond meringue based cookies sandwiched with ganache or buttercream, ok?); one of my multitudinous food obsessions and my hopes to find a good one in NYC that doesn’t suck. I went here on two separate occasions. Why? Because from my first visit there, it was they were still baking it and the weather was crummy.

Madeline Patisserie (taken on the second visit)

Le Menu

On the first visit since the macarons weren’t ready, I ended up doing was have breakfast there by having their plain, regular sized croissant ($1.85) and their tiny, bite size chocolate chip financier (35 cents).

My breakfast and its innards

Looks enticing, no? Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned earlier that it was raining, the dankness made my croissant soggy and chewy. At least it tasted buttery and slightly light, if was a nicer day this might have been a pretty damn good croissant. The financier (it’s a French almond cake, traditionally made with almond flour and shaped like gold ingots) was very moist, buttery, and had a hint of almond flavor with miniature bits of chocolate chips. I really liked that financier that day since the croissant was a bit disappointing.

Here’s a couple of interior photos of this place. It looks really charming, like an eclectic French home with a bakery section. I can imagine myself lingering here for a couple of hours leisurely reading a newspaper…that’s if I had the luxury of time.

Seating area

Teaware on display window

Then on my second visit, on the morning of my friend Dave’s birthday lunch (a post on that in the very near future), I was adamant on trying their macarons. But since I was hungry and didn’t have any breakfast (yes, again) I ended up having a mini chocolate croissant (90 cents) and a pistachio madeline (75 cents)…as well as four macarons ($2.50 each) which will be discussed later.

My madeline

They had four madeline flavors that morning: pistachio (I ate and you see above), vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. I just wanted pistachio since I didn’t want to go chocolate overdose and pistachio is sometimes a hard flavor get it perfect. Anyways, this madeline was really delicious. It’s moist, buttery, light, and it has a good hint of pistachio flavor that it doesn’t taste artificial. Yummy.

It’s cute

Innards

The mini chocolate croissant fared better that day since it’s really nice, sunny, and hot that morning which equates to good croissant baking weather. The croissant was a tad crisp on the outside. Soft, slightly chewy, and buttery on the inside with two sticks of good dark chocolate possibly around 72% cocoa content. It’s pretty darn good for something under a dollar.

Inside my box of maccies!

Group shots and innards

The four macaron flavors I bought were Verger (Pear, Apricot, Mirabelle, Plum, Red Currant), Fleur d’Oranger (orange flower extract), Coconut, Blood Orange, and White Chocolate, and Argumes (Mandarin, Orange Zest, Cointreau, and Bergamote) out of the possible twenty-five or so they make according to the friendly French woman who helped me behind the counter. All of them were gratifying to my macaron deprived palate. These macarons are much bigger than any macaron I have ever encountered so far; they’re about three inches in diameter. The textures of the macarons are generally much lighter: the thin, crisp exterior meets a very moist, light cookie innards. They are sweet but not cloyingly so and the ratio of cookie to filling is enough to satiate my filling loving tongue.

But I should note, not every macaron tasted equal. The best one was the coconut, blood orange and white chocolate since it was the most moist, and the sharp acidic bite from the blood orange was the perfect foil to the sweet white chocolate ganache. The fleur d’oranger was the driest of the bunch but it tasted good nevertheless.

Now I kind of wish that they open another patisserie near my school just because I can have a macaron a week (if I can refrain myself from not buying more than one per visit) and be in my happy macaron-lovin’ mood.

Here’s a couple more photos of their pastries they offer but I haven’t eaten yet.

The Patisserie’s Counter

A silver tray of macarons!

My Mom’s and My Thank Yous…

I want to thank all of you who actually wished my mom well. It meant a lot to her when I showed and told her the previous post and its comments about your support. She did say, “Thank you.”

It also brought warm, fuzzy feelings of love for you all since you mean more than just my readers, I feel like I’m telling you a very small part of my life, even though this is a food blog but hell, it my blog and I have to put in some personality behind all the food I eat. So, THANK YOU! and I virtually hug every one of you…

Address:
Madeline Patisserie
128 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011