Sunday, August 24, 2008

Madeleine Patisserie

A little French Patisserie sits amongst the busy 23rd Street in Manhattan, awaiting pedestrians to look in at the lovely display cases filled with fruit tarts, croissants and of course a seemingly endless amount of macaroons. What? Did I just say macaroons? Despite this bakery’s name, it isn’t known for the Proustian delight, but the French macaroon. Macaroons epitomize luxury with their delicate yet ultra sweet quality. I mean, common, they were Marie Antoinette’s favorite. At Madeleine, macaroons come in many flavors: the common, chocolate, raspberry, pistachio, vanilla, and more intriguing and experimental flavors, Caramel Fleur de Sel, Port Wine and Chocolate, Lavender, Rose Water.


Here are the one’s I tried:
Pistachio Orange: I do not like the overtly green color, and lack of pistachio flavor, but the orange came through nicely.
Caramel Fleur de Sel: This one was one of my favorites. It had a nice balance between salt and caramel. A warmth and smooth quality permeated throughout this two-bite delicacy.
Port Wine and Chocolate: The port wine tasted more like grape juice, and the chocolate was much more of a milk chocolate, surprisingly lacking in chocolate flavor. Overall, in concept this one sounds interesting, but in fact, it fell flat and needs work.
Apricot and Champagne: Here you could taste more of the champagne; a light fruity wine came through. The apricot was a nice pairing and this one worked much more successfully than the port wine.
I will note, that since these macaroons are slightly refrigerated, they need time to come to room temperature, to restore their chewy delicate quality and for the flavor to release. Since being under a time constraint, I did not allow them to sufficiently come to room temperature, which I assume affected the taste and texture slightly. But these macaroons were still delicious. Although my favorite macaroons I have tried thus far in America have to be from Miette, the patisserie in San Francisco. They have the perfect texture and the grapefruit is well, incredible.

Madeleine Patisserie
128 W 23rd St
(between 7th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
(212) 243-2757

17 comments:

Helene said...

That looks like quite a very delicious loot!! Yest to caramel and fleur de sel!!

Dee said...

I love macarons! The Caramel Fleur de Sel sounds like something I'd really enjoy. Not that I'd turn down any of the others!

Lori Lynn said...

Macarons ROCK! My favorites are the more exotic flavor combinations.

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

I've been meaning to try their macaroons, but I'm allergic to artificial food coloring and last time I was there, the people at the counter didn't seem to know what I was asking. The caramel fleur de sel sounds so good though....might just have to stop in today.

Manger La Ville said...

Yeah, I bet they do use food coloring, and that was one of my qualms. I am all for food looking pretty, but I am a natural girl all the way. Also, the girls at the counter are all French, so they probably won't be much help unless you speak French. But you can get Miette macaroons shipped to you!!! Although I heard Bouchon has some great ones here in NYC.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what the more pedistrian flavors taste like. The others seem very intriguing and I am sure delightful, but give me a chocolate macaroon anytime and I'd be very happy.

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

I have plans to go to Bouchon next Monday. I'll make sure to test out some macaroons.

Dragon said...

Caramel Fleur de Sel sounds almost too good to be true. mmmmmmmm.

skp said...

I heard this place was really nice. Been meaning to go, and now I'll have to! Caramel Fleur de Sel will be my first choice. Though I might have to try the Pistachio to see for myself, since that's usually my favorite when they are not super green colored.

Manger La Ville said...

I know pistachio is usually my favorite. Too bad it didn't live up to my expectation of pistachio

michael, claudia and sierra said...

the caramel salt sounds great... i went to bouchon in july and had the caramel and it was very so-so. can you believe it? i couldn't. great post. it's nice that you did that macaroon eating in the name of your readers....

Manger La Ville said...

Yeah, it was soo hard, eating all those macaroons, for a blog post. I am sad that Bouchon was as good.

Clumbsy Cookie said...

Yummy! Thanks for sharing, i would love to pay a visit there and taste all those wonders!

Nic said...

Oooh, yum! Got any to spare?

Nate @ House of Annie said...

Those macarons look irresistible.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, I looooove those macarons!! AND they're gluten-free! YUM!

Manger La Ville said...

I never knew they were gluten free. I want to take a class on making them. SO then I can make them for you.