French « The Wandering Eater

Best Graduation Gift Ever from La Maison du Chocolat – Andalouise Cake

I’ve been a long time fan of La Maison du Chocolat‘s sublime French chocolates and pastries, founded by chocolatier Robert Linxe in 1977. I even had the privilege to have a tour of their factory in Paris two years ago because they were aware of my fanaticism.

Even though their name does mean (when [...]

Nicolas Feuillatte Rosé Tasting & Champagne Lunch

I had the honor and pleasure to be part of Nicolas Feuillatte Rosé Champagne tasting and lunch at Le Cirque in New York City earlier this week.

Le Cirque is an elegant, upscale French restaurant, tucked in the large glass skyscraper of the Bloomberg Building. The restaurant’s dining rooms (upstairs private [...]

Charcuterie Tasting at Épicerie Boulud

Charcuterie platter

About two months ago, I was at Épicerie Boulud for tea and pastries. Earlier the past week I wanted to try Gilles Vérot‘s famous charcuterie. Vérot is an internationally acclaimed master charcutier, based in Paris, France. Boulud and Verot have been working together since Bar Boulud in 2008.

[...]

Carrément Chocolat Cake

Slice of homemade Carrément Chocolat Cake

It shouldn’t be a surprise to most of you that I adore am obsessed with Pierre Hermé’s desserts and pastries. (I actually bought the same cake (different shape and styling) from Paris a few years ago.) I was craving the most indulgent chocolate cake (and I had [...]

Alliance Bakery, Chicago – Bakery Meets Pâtisserie

Alliance Bakery’s Exterior, Old-school neon sign, One of its display cases

Alliance Bakery located in Wicker Park, Chicago looks like an old-school American bakery with its neon sign but it’s a bakery as well as a pâtisserie.

This two-personality bakery, so to speak, is owned by Peter Rios. Mr. Rios was trained [...]

Spirits And (A Few) Still Wines Gift Guide 2011

Here’s my next holiday gift guide. As I’ve tweeted early this morning (as in around 12 AM), this mainly focuses for the cocktailian, a certain spirits connoisseur (Cognac, single malt scotch, etc.) and a few still wines that I found worth mentioning.

Like my previous guides, if you’re reading this from your iPad or [...]

Homemade Macarons – à la Pierre Hermé

If you’ve been one of my longtime readers, you know I have an obsession with macarons. I admit I go insane over Pierre Hermé macarons. (When I landed in Paris for vacation last May, the top “must do things” on my first day was to go to any of Hermé’s boutiques and have his macarons [...]

Holiday Sweets Gift Guide 2011

Here’s the next edition of the holiday gift guide: it’s all about sweets. Chocolates, cakes, cookies, confections, and ice cream. Hopefully, you won’t go into a sugar high by just looking at the photos but these are a number of notable sweets that I like a lot.

Have thoughts of other brands or sweets I [...]

Corton – An Extended Tasting Menu for My Birthday

Corton’s Exterior, Interior, and my birthday Champagne toast

For those of you who followed me over the years, notably on Twitter, it’s not a secret that I ate at Corton around the same date back in 2008. Pretty much, I live tweeted through that dinner as I learned back then, unexpectedly and [...]