Ladurée

Parisian tea rooms' history is intimately tied to the history of the Ladurée family. It all began in 1862, when Louis Ernest Ladurée, a miller from the southwest of France, founded a bakery in Paris at 16 rue Royale. Half-way between a Parisian café and a cake shop, Ladurée Fabricant de Douceurs is the temple of gastronomy and pastry innovation where each creation moment is of high intensity.  While in New York, I knew I wanted to visit Ladurée.

All the colors in the window display made my eyes widen and I felt like a little girl in a princess tea room.  The storefront itself is quite small, so we perused quickly and then decided to order a box of 8 French macarons.

Flavors change often, but today I picked Chocolate Passion Fruit, Chocolate Coconut, Caramel with Salted Butter, Vanilla, Orange Blossom, Chocolate, Pistachio, and Lemon.  I didn't pick a variety of colors, rather chose based on the flavor profiles that sounded good to me.

There were also many gorgeous and tempting pastries on display.  Since it was Keith's birthday, and I could tell he was not as impressed with all the 'girlyness' as I was, I told him he could pick out a treat for himself.  He immediately chose the Chocolate Eclair.

In addition to French macarons and other pastries, jams, candles and stationary are also available.  They packed up our treats with such fancy that we waited until we got back to our hotel before we ate anything.  The macarons were perfection - light and chewy from the almond flour with perfect ratio of intense filling and flavor.  I've attempted to make French macarons at home before, but mine did not come out anywhere close to how these cookies looked or tasted.  My favorite was the Chocolate Coconut and the Orange Blossom.  The Lemon was very tart and tasty as well.

Keith was generous to share his chocolate eclair with me.  The eclair was divine and a true Parisian dessert.  The chocolate filling was decadent and plentiful.  Overall, we were very happy with our little desserts and though a bit pricey, I was happy to splurge a little at Ladurée - what I call the mecca of macarons.

Total Rating: 4.35
Food:5, Price: 3, Service: 3.5, Ambience: 4, Accessibility: 5

What I ate:

Macarons

Chocolate Passion Fruit, Chocolate Coconut, Caramel with Salted Butter,

Vanilla, Orange Blossom, Chocolate, Pistachio, Lemon

Plus Keith ate:

Chocolate Eclair