Finding a delicious or even a good French macaron in New York City is nearly impossible. Why? It’s because it’s not that popular in comparison to (the easily confused with) the coconut macaroon and the ones I usually find taste terrible. So, Robyn and I set out a journey to find the best macaron possible in New York City yesterday morning.
Let me set up some standards to let you know what is a “good” macaron. A good macaron should be sweet but not cloyingly so, it has to have a good ratio of cookie to filling, and the cookie has to a thin, crisp crust with a bit of a melt-in-your mouth texture once a bite has been taken. I will not do the normal rating system from my previous “best of” posts since it’s a bit hard to define a certain grade but I will give feedback on what is good and/or bad about that certain macaron.
First up is Silver Moon Bakery. They only have two flavors, Almond Chocolate and Chocolate for $2.50 each.
The macarons…
The almond chocolate macaron has a thinner cookie than the chocolate macaron. It is a bit large, approximately 3 inches in diameter, and a bit too yellow in color. The chocolate ganache, tasting 60% cocoa, was not exactly a superb chocolate but it was smooth and it’s fine. The cookie has the thin, crisp crust on the outside but the crumb of the cookie was a bit too dry to have that melt-in-your-mouth feel. The ratio of cookie to ganache is about 1:1, which is pretty much the desired ratio.
Almond Chocolate macaron innards
The chocolate macaron is thicker than the almond and a bit shorter in diameter, about 1/4 inch less. The macaron is not as crusty as the almond but it’s a bit richer and moist due to a thicker cookie. The ganache is exactly the same. Both macarons are fine and I do find it better than Bouchon Bakery’s terribly chewy macarons. It wasn’t the “blow my mind” greatness but they were not awful macarons either.
Chocolate macaron innards
Next up is Georgia’s Bake Shop.
Boxes of Macarons…
Starting with the chocolate macaron…
Innards
The chocolate was decent; nothing remarkable to note about. The cookie was fine. The chocolate flavor of the cookie and the ganache was there but it wasn’t tantalizing on the tongue that seduces one to be enamored with this macaron.
Pistachio Macaron
Innards
The pistachio macaron (pictured above) had the same texture like all the other macarons tasted: thin, crisp crust with a slightly dry, sweet crumb. The pistachio filling however was not to my liking. It lacked the pistachio flavor and it was sweet as Robyn correctly put it, “cupcake frosting.” Technically, it reminds me of a cloyingly sweet vanilla icing that someone has put too much confectioners’ (aka powdered) sugar. To the sugar lovers, this your macaron. This is not my type of macaron.
Cinnamon and Strawberry Macarons
Innards of Cinnamon and Strawberry Macarons
The cinnamon macaron was an interesting flavor choice to create a macaron. The cookie texture is still the same but the filling was too overpowered by the cinnamon. How it felt like eating a piece of this macaron was the initial sensation of cinnamon but after a brief moment or two, your tongue gets a wave of cinnamon flavor washing over your entire palate. It’s a nice idea but they need to tone down the cinnamon a few notches then it would be fine.
The strawberry macaron’s jam filling was sweet but not as bad as the pistachio filling. The cookie was a bit more crustier than I would like.
A box of five macarons (the fifth one was another chocolate) cost $7, which would cost $1.40 each. I do not think a $1.40 a macaron can justify for getting something that is 1 1/2 inches in diameter (think of the size of half-dollar coin but a tiny bit larger than that). If you want to go a little more particular with the cost, it’s 93 1/3 cents for each inch or so you are eating. Hmmm…with these mediocre macarons for that much, I would definitely pass if I had the choice to buy this again.
La Maison du Chocolat is the next stop. We went to the Rockefeller Center instead of the Upper East Side location, just because of the convenience of the location. Recently, La Maison du Chocolat has started a new line of flavors that have been released for the public to buy. Here’s the large sign that is displayed on their window and the flyer’s information.
The sign
The flyer’s info…
It’s tempting to see all of these maracons…
The macarons!
Our strategy was to buy a few macarons of different flavors (the small are $2 each and the large are $5). Robyn bought the Quito (chocolate), Guyaquil (Vanilla and Chocolate), and the Rigoletto (Caramel and chocolate) macarons, while I bought the Salvador (Raspberry and Chocolate) and the Romeo (Coffee and Chocolate) macarons. Here’s the photos…
My stack of macarons
Robyn’s Macarons
I started with my macarons. The Romeo macaron, that is the coffee and chocolate flavored, was wonderfully rich in flavor and texture. The coffee flavor was bold, robust but not at all bitter; the chocolate was smooth, dark (tasting about 70 – 72%), and creamy. I like this macaron; it’s a great macaron for the coffee lover.
The Salvador Macaron which is the raspberry and chocolate was fine. I’m not a big fan of the flavor pairing of chocolate and raspberries in the first place but for the sake of macarons, I’ll eat it. Back to the point, the raspberry flavor was vibrant, tart, and the sweetness of the filling is balanced since it to the chocolate ganache.
My macarons’ innards
Robyn’s macarons: I started with the Guayaquil, the one chocolate vanilla flavored macaron. The vanilla is from the macaron cookie and the chocolate is obviously from the chocolate ganache filling. The vanilla is delicately flavored. I tasted it when the cookie slightly dissolves releasing it’s beautiful, subtle flavor then it’s hit with the rich, dark chocolate (tasting about 70% cocoa) ganache melting on my tongue. It’s a wonderful combination but once the chocolate actually hits the tongue, the vanilla is practically an afterthought. I would like it if they did accentuate the vanilla flavor by actually adding some vanilla into the ganache instead of being purely chocolate and cream.
The Rigoletto Macaron, the caramel and chocolate flavor, was a bit unique to me. The caramel was nicely burnt (since that’s what caramel is supposed to be) with a slight hint of salinity to contrast the pure burnt sugar flavor. It’s a good macaron but somehow I do not like the flavor so much. I think the caramel was a few degrees too burnt for me that the bitterness is not making me truly happy.
And finally the Quito Macaron, the chocolate macaron. This is the dark chocolate lover’s dream of a macaron. It’s intense pure dark chocolate (tasting about 72%) ganache with the dark chocolate macaron cookie. It all melts in the mouth in harmoniously with tiny bits of crust that comes from the cookie. I like this one for being unadulteratedly chocolatey.
All of the macaron cookies are good. They have the thin, crisp crust of the macaron shell and they do have the flavor that was indicated on that macaron flyer/information sheet.
Robyn’s Macarons’ Innards
The last destination for the day was Almondine Bakery located in Dumbo, Brooklyn.
Boxes of Macarons
Robyn bought the box for $7.
The Box of Macarons
This was the first macaron we tried.
Initially we thought it was chocolate since it has the chocolate macaron cookie…but we assumed incorrectly when Robyn cut it in half.
The macaron came out to be peanut butter and chocolate. This is an innovative flavor for a macaron yet it is very American since it’s trying copy the flavor combination of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. (Just a side note, all these macarons are the softest in texture when trying to cut in half; meaning it is the freshest or the most moist.) The filling flavor was roasted peanut butter, which was the predominant flavor with the chocolate macaron shell actually is detected as a background flavor. It is wonderful. If this was done in a French style or Pierre Herme’s way, probably it would have been a hazelnut praline with caramelized banana…or something like that. Anyways, it’s delicious and it’s one of my favorites from this box.
Next is the apricot…
Innards
It was an unusual flavor since I never thought one would make one. The problem with this macaron is that the apricot filling was cloyingly sweet that once the macaron hits the tongue all you can taste was a hint of the apricot and everything else was screaming SUGAR! They need to adjust the filling recipe and cut the sugar in half. It’s almost unbearable.
The strawberry macaron…
Innards
The whole view of the macaron did indicate that the macaron was busted up a bit but it’s fine anyways since it’s all going down to the stomach. The strawberry, like the apricot filling was too sweet. Somehow in Almondine’s kitchen all the jam filled macarons have been awfully sweet. The macaron shell was melt-in-your-mouth goodness though.
The lemon macaron…
It looked like a miniature crooked tiered layer cake; it’s adorable. The lemon macaron fared a lot better than its jam filled counterparts. The lemon filling was bright, tart, slightly sweet and creamy which melds with the soft cookie shell harmoniously with textural offsets of the crust. It’s really good. This is my other favorite from this box.
Lastly, the pistachio macaron…
Like Georgia’s Bake Shop’s pistachio macaron, the filling is sweet like cake icing. I don’t understand why these bakeries are not creating a true pistachio flavored filling? This is a bust in my book but it’s not as sweet as the jam filled ones in this box of macarons.
That’s all Robyn and I have visited on that very Sunday, just because of small delays and side stops that prevented us to cover the last two stops that we planned: Payard and Trois Crepes in the Upper East Side. However, we do not totally regret it since I was not too thrilled with Payard’s cake from last semester and there was not much buzz about Trois that would make us go there. These establishments will be visited in the near future but for what we have tried today, I would say La Maison du Chocolat prevailed as the best macaron in NYC. All of their macaron flavors are consistently bold on the palate, not cloyingly sweet, and their cookie shell has some structure, not super soft as Almondine’s. But I will place Almondine as Number 2.
Note: If you do want to read about everything else but the macarons that happened that day (e.g. other pastries and pizza, etc.) please click here.
Addresses:
Silver Moon Bakery
2740 Broadway (at 105th Street)
New York, NY 10025
Georgia’s Bake Shop
2418 Broadway (at 89th Street)
New York, NY 10024
La Maison du Chocolat
Visited: 30 Rockefeller Center Plaza (on 49th Street)
New York, NY 10012
Other location: 1018 Madison Avenue (between 78th & 79th Street)
New York, NY 10021
Almondine Bakery
85 Water Street (near Main Street)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
I actually like Payard’s macaroons. I think the texture is great, but they taste a little marzipan-y. Everything at LMDC is great, but that looks like a lot of filling. I think Pierre Herme puts too much filling in his macaroons.
PH USES THE PERFECT AMOUNT OF FILLING, HEHEHHE HEHEHE HAHAHW AAWH HH AWHA (rolls over in a fit of…insanity).
I guess we gotta try Payard eventually or else we cannot say we properly tried everything in NYC! And with Payard we can go to a place with duck confit…and then die later.
Sunday was so much fun. I’m glad you invited so many friends so that we could spread out the macaron eating. ;D And I so so so so wish I lived right by Silver Moon Bakery or Almondine (although for the sake of my health, it’s best that I don’t).
We really love your blog. I mean, what a great concept: your buy food and cut it in half.
That’s amazing. We want to start cutting food in half, too. What kind of knife do you use? Do you have any tips for people new to this?
Do you consider yourself bisectual?
Write back soon, Cool.
Jessica: I’m not totally putting down Payard at all. It’s just that I’m a bit skeptical about eating his macarons due to the fact that I wasn’t entirely thrilled with his cake.
Robyn: YES! PH totally has the correct amount of filling! *sighs* I still want his maccies… :(
We will go to Payard soon…I just dunno when. OMG, duck confit + macarons…that’s heaven! Well…add a large cup of creamy gelato, then I’ll die happily. :)
It was FUN! I’m going to write about that portion of the day within a day or two…
Cutter: Thanks for loving my blog! :)
I don’t use any special knives: just your typical plastic knife or if I don’t have one, I’ll just take a bite or two…the only time I’ll ever use a real (paring) knife is when I’m dealing with chocolates.
I saw your blog and had to comment becuase I am always on the look out for good macarons. Whenever I am in NYC, I go to LMDC for a large coffee macaron to take back with me to SF. If you are in SF, go to Boulangerie/Bay Bread on Pine St at Fillmore. They always have at least 5-6 flavors.
I tried a lot of Macaron and agree that La Maison would/should win since you gals are searching for a French Macaron.
Nice Pics and review
Tracy: Oooh! That’s sounds great! If I’m ever going back to SF (that was 5 years ago since my last visit) I’m going to be there once I’m off the plane!
Pookguy: Thanks! :)
I never knew there were so many places to find macarons in NYC! I’ve been wanting to try macarons for ages and on a recent visit finally got my wish. They were from Fauchon (which we apparently got to just in time – I understand they’re temporarily closed right now). I have nothing to compare them with, but I was not disappointed! I tried lemon, chocolate, pistachio, and raspberry. Lemon and chocolate were the best, pistachio was fine, and raspberry was too sweet and had sort of a fake flavor (it also had a jam filling – sounds like that doesn’t work!). Anyway, I am going to jot down these addresses with the hopes of sampling them too someday – thanks!
Cathy: You’re welcome! I’ve tried Fauchon a little more than half a year ago and I find them to be fine but nothing great to remember.
I still LOVE Pierre Herme’s macarons that Robyn had brought in for me from her recent trip to Paris.
I tried some macarons from La Maison du Chocolat today and was soooo disappointed. I’ve never had them before, but after reading about macarons & seeing pictures on people’s blogs, I went and got some. So overpriced, so not worth it.
GJR: They were expensive in the size that one should purchase but they are the closest to the best in NYC…so far. Robyn and I are still searching for one that is closest to Pierre Herme’s macaron,
I have to ask, what were you expecting exactly from LMDC’s macaron? Or even in more general, an ideal French macaron?
I’m with Jessica on PH
TOO MUCH FILLING and very fatty..
I scraped some out and I couldn’t wash it off my fingers- I could have used a Brillo pad :(
Interestingly this last trip, I bought a nice box of 12 petit Macs in the Paris supermarket, Champion, to use in my still lifes.
They were terrific!
I miss the old classic macs at La Maison-minus all that chocolate thick ganache..
Aw, that’s so sad about GJR, but they don’t really give any indication was to what made the macarons bad (or if they like macarons?).
I think that’s the closest we’re gonna get to the grand PH. :[
Carol: I love macarons with lots of filling! That’s the whole point of a good macaron; some cookie with lots of delicious filling.
Robyn: I know…I really hope PH would have a store that would sell their maccies in NYC (e.g. Whole Foods, Dean & Deluca, etc.), since they’ve emailed me back that they don’t intend to open a boutique soon. :(
Due to your most fabulous macarons descriptions, I sought them out on a recent trip to Paris. Thank you for the salavation, since your marvelous descriptions reaped great rewards. http://www.flickr.com/photos/icecream/
Ingrid: Thank you for your liking my macaron descriptions and going to Paris and finding them! You’re so welcome for me being you’re salvation. :D
Update on my earlier comment (#5). Bay Bread/Boulangerie doesn’t really compare to what you have already tasted. Please disregard my earlier suggestion. Go for the breads, etc. at Acme Bakery, Tartine, etc.
After reading about your adventures, I dragged my husband to Pierre Herme and Laduree on our recent trip to Europe. He can’t stop talking about the glace/ice cream ones from PH and is so glad we stopped there. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any home b/c we were headed to Rome.
Tracy: Aww… :( I guess I’ll cross that off but I LOVE bread anyways. I’ll write to you when I’m really going to visit the area.
Ooh Pierre Herme…me love that place. I wish I live nearby that place and eat a few macarons a day but that would kill me even faster. Anyways, I haven’t tried their glaces before but it seems like another thing to eat on my list. Too bad you can’t bring it home. Couldn’t you ask them to ship it to your house? Or it’s too pricey to do this particular venture?
You have to eat the glace ones there. It’s an ice cream sandwich with 2-3 flavors of ice cream with macarons as the “bread”. If I can get my act together about our pictures, I can send you a pic with one of us holding them so you can see.
I loved the comments on NYC macaron tasting – thanks! I have a quick question: do you have a good recommendation for ordering macarons by mail? I don’t live in a major city and want to use them to decorate my wedding cake in a month and a half.
Thanks! Martina
http://www.madmacnyc.com has the real thing and does mail order Martina. The chef was at FAUCHON for eons!
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I love macarons, especially the one from Laduree, being French and from Paris, I agree it hard to find good ones in NYC, but ‘OH MIRACLE !!” a Macaron Cafe just opened 2 blocks from office, and I tried the macarons they are sooooo good i got addicted :) the place is tiny it is called MACARON CAFE right on 36th street and 7th avenue, finally some good patisserie and coffee in this area ! you should check it out !!! PS: the owners and cooks are French too ;)
Lolo is correct! The MACARON CAFE on 36th and 7th is the best going! And the make some of the best coffees on this side of the pond.
check it out!
Hope Ladurée will soon land in NYC. Not only their macaroons are among the very best, but their boxes are gorgeous !
here is MACARON CAFE NYC website and address http://www.macaroncafe.com, and address 161 West 36th street, right off 7th avenue, On my way to get my Nutella Macaron now ….
Ok…it seems like no one is really reading my updates about macaron places I’ve tried. I have been to Macaron Cafe a few months ago and I find them relatively inexpensive for what they charge you but I don’t find them extraordinary like Pierre Herme’s. Just to let you in what I tried, please follow the link.
Has anyone tried KEES SoHo location, 80 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012 macarons?
There is a couple of places in SF that makes really good macarons; Bittersweet Chocolate makes the best chocolate macarons and Patisserie Philippe in SOMA has the best fruit flavor macarons which are not sweet or fatty (passion fruit, raspberry, cassis, lemon). Enjoy if you visit SF….
Macaron has opened on 36th just off 7th—-they seem to be v good
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I like your article. I just found it after writing about 2 spots I like in NYC for marcarons. One in Greenpoint you will want to check out.
I’m curious to know what you think of bouley bakery and their macarons
Elaine: Thanks! Where are you talking about? I’m interested!
Beth: Look through my Places Visited So Far page and look for Bouley Bakery.
I know they have Pierre Herme’s Ispahan and would assume that their macarons are also his recipe.
The best macaroons I’ve had are from a little place on Shelter Island called Mark It With G ( http://www.markitwithg.com ). I’ve sent them as gifts all over the country (and have enjoyed quite a few myself).
have you guys tried Macaron cafe midtown? its actually not bad… i guess what happen to the american macarons is that they dont make them fresh everyday like Laduree does so it wont taste as fresh and the american ones tend to be sweeter.. way too sweet!
Carmen: Yes, I’ve tried Macaron Cafe much later. I thought it’s ok. My heart still belongs to Pierre Herme.
Here’s the link: http://thewanderingeater.com/2007/12/07/mini-summaries-of-the-past-and-del-posto-enoteca/
I think you should check out Financier on Stone Street in Manhattan. I am a big fan of their macarons!!