Browsing through the display cases, I was very disappointed since there were only a few selections. I asked the nice lady behind the counter about the desserts and she told me that they don't have desserts on the weekends :-( We finally decided to have croissant, French ham & Swiss cheese crepe and chestnut cream crepe. The croissant was very good -- flaky, chewy and buttery. Both the savory and the sweet crepes were excellent, thin and soft, especially considering they were pre-made and reheated.
Croissant
French ham & Swiss cheese crepe and Chestnut cream crepe
I knew that I wanted to try their macarons, so I bought one of each: chocolate, raspberry and pistachio. I also got the plain and pistachio madeleines, as well as 2 kinds of chocolates (gavottes and dark chocolate praline). I didn't try any of these until 2 days later, at that time the macarons were very dry while the madeleines were surprisingly still moist.
Chocolate, raspberry & pistachio macarons and Plain & pistachio madeleines
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Trois Crepes Patisserie
501 East 75th Street
New York, NY 10021
(888) 3CREPES
http://www.3crepes.com/
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Early lunch at Trois Crepes Patisserie
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A full day of food tasting in Chicago
Eventhough still very tired, we decided to start early that morning since I've made a list of food places to visit. We left the hotel at 10 am and went to Vanille Patisserie to get our breakfast.
First stop for breakfast: Vanille Patisserie
The croissant was good, buttery and crisp in the outside, but inside didn't have a lot of layer -- we still love the one from Patisserie Claude more but this one was pretty good.
Sophia was very good, I liked it a lot! The chocolate mousse was very chocolate-y with the crunch from the hazelnut crisp. Definitely a must have.
Croissant and Sophia
The two chocolates truffles (caramel and gianduja orange) were okay, not very special.
Caramel chocolate and Gianduja orange chocolate truffles
Before we left, I decided to buy their macarons to go. On that day they had 10 different flavors: chocolate-hazelnut, coffee, chocolate, chocolate-hazelnut, coffee, raspberry, pistachio, orange-ginger, coconut-passion fruit, rose, red velvet, black currant-violet. I asked for one of each with the exception of coffee and chocolate hazelnut -- which I got two of since I had to fill up a box of 12. I didn't get a chance to try them until we arrived at home (4 days later). They were okay -- a little bit dry (maybe because we didn't consume them soon enough) and not enough filling (especially after tasting Pierre Hermé's).
Assorted macarons
Next breakfast / lunch stop: Sweet Thang
The croissant was disappointing, dry and no taste of butter, but had a lot of layer. In my opinion, the one from Vanille Patisserie was much better in taste.
Croissant
The pear tart was good, the crust and the filling was perfect.
The chocomisu was good too, the chocolate and vanilla mousses were creamy. I could not taste any coffee flavor in it though -- I assumed it would have coffee since it mentioned tiramisu on the description.
Pear tart and Chocomisu
The quiche lorraine came at the end since they needed to reheat it. We had high expections because it was supposedly one of their specialy. It was very disappointing though, the crust was thick and hard, while the filling was very salty (maybe they forgot that the ham is already salty and put too much salt???). We didn't complain though since we were in hurry, so we just didn't finish it.
Quiche lorraine
Lunch #1: Superdawg
The hotdog was very good, crispy in the outside, firm and moist inside. They used something called 'Chicago relish', which was definitely different that what we're used to. The fries was okay, some still crispy, some a little bit soggy.
The shake was good, very thick and creamy.
Superdawg - with everything and Supershakes - mellow vanilla
Lunch #2: Hot Doug's
From one hot dog place, we go to ... another hot dog place. Our next stop was Hot Doug's to try another famous hot dog. When we arrived there, it was already 3:30 pm (they close at 4:00 pm) but the line was still long. We had to wait 30 minutes until we reached the front. While waiting we chatted with other people on the line, who were very enthusiastic about how good this place was and how much better it was than Superdawg. We also perused their menu which was located on the wall, so we knew what we wanted: duck fat fries, hot dog, corn dog, bacon sausage and orange cream soda. Doug Sohn, the owner and the one who took our order, was quite a character and certainly fit the off the wall atmosphere. It only took about 5 minutes for the order to arrive at our table, so fast!
Their famous duck fat fries was good, very crispy outside and soft inside.
The hot dog was not as good as the one from Superdawg, but still good.
The corn dog was my favorite here, the corn crust was crispy ouside and moist inside.
The bacon sausage was good too, perfect pairing with the toppings (wine-infused grainy dijon mustard, herb-garlic eurocreme and caramelized onions) that came with it.
Clockwise from top: Duck fat fries, Bacon sausage, The dog, The Sally Vega
We left most of the bread and the fries considering we would have our dinner right after this, crazy huh?!
From here we headed towards Everest, then to Tru since I've been wanting to try their dessert for a while now (because of Gale Gand, their executive pastry chef). You can read our experience on both places on my next post, since this post is very long already. Guess who we stumbled upon that night.
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Vanille Patisserie
2229 N Clybourn Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
(773) 868-4574
http://www.vanillepatisserie.com/
Sweet Thang
1921 W North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 772-4166
http://www.sweetthangcakes.com/
Superdawg drive-in
6363 N Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60646
(773) 478-7800
http://www.superdawg.com/
Hot Doug's
3324 North California
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 279-9550
http://www.hotdougs.com/
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Baked goods from Panera Bread
There are 4 flavors of baked egg souffle: Spinach & bacon, Spinach & artichoke, Four cheese, Turkey sausage & potato, all are excellent. The puff pastry was crispy, the filling was fluffy and tasty. Our favorite is the Spinach & bacon baked egg souffle, which I think is fabulous. Unfortunately we arrived too late, so the Spinach & bacon was already gone and the only one left was the Four Cheese.
Spinach & bacon and Spinach & artichoke baked egg souffles
Four cheese and Turkey sausage & potato baked egg souffles
We also decided to get chicken bacon dijon panini, French onion soup, as well as pecan roll. The panini was okay, the bread was too chewy but the filling was good. The soup was tasty but not as good as I remembered, it's been a long time since I had this at Panera.
Chicken bacon dijon panini and French onion soup
The pecan roll was very dry, I was disappointed since their pastry was usually pretty good. My favorite one is chocolate crumb, it has a soft texture with chocolate-y and buttery flavor.
Pecan roll and Chocolate crumb
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Panera Bread
http://www.panerabread.com/
Monday, April 21, 2008
Breakfast from Ceci Cela Patisserie
As I walked in, the store was empty, and the staff was still bringing pastries from the kitchen downstairs (that opening in front of the store leads to the kitchen). The last time I stopped by, it was late in the day and there were not a lot of choice, so I didn't get anything. This time I was determined not to leave empty handed. Browsing over the display, I picked up our safe choices for breakfast (plain croissant and ham and cheese croissant). In addition, I also bought mini fruit danish, mini chocolate croissant, mini orange brioche, bags of mini palmiers, mini madeleines and mini pistachio madeleines -- you can see a pattern here.
The plain croissant was good, I definitely could taste the butter, but the outside was not crispy enough. I still prefer the croissant from Patisserie Claude though, which in my opinion is the best croissant -- crispy and flaky outside, chewy and buttery inside, even thinking about it makes me happy :-)
Plain croissant
The ham and cheese croissant was interesting, with a baked melted cheese on the surface that gave it a crusty cheesy texture at the top. Again, I could taste the butter, but there was only a small amount of ham & cheese inside, considering the size of the croissant. I think if they make the croissant shell smaller it'll be perfect (or more ham & cheese inside, depending on your point of view).
Ham and cheese croissant
We didn't touch the rest of the pastries until the evening. The mini fruit danish was soggy by then, but still tasted good (your standard danish fare). Surprisingly the mini chocolate croissant held up well, maintaining the crispy outside texture and butter flavor. The mini orange brioche was disappointing, though, since the taste of rose water was too overpowering -- my husband actually felt a little queasy while consuming it -- so be forewarned.
Mini fruit danish, Mini chocolate croissant, Mini orange brioche
Next came the cookies. The mini palmiers were good, very crunchy texture and I thought just the right balance of sweetness and butter. Mini madeleines were also surprisingly good, moist and buttery enough, my husband liked it. The mini madeleines are normally drier than the regular ones, so I was pleasantly surprised.
The mini pistachio madeleines were a different story, though. They were dry and the taste of pistachio were not strong enough. This in spite of the visible piece of pistachio that was embedded in each cookie.
Mini palmiers, Mini madeleines, Mini pistachio madeleines
Overall, I liked the ham and cheese croissant the most out of everything that I bought from Ceci Cela Patisserie. I won't be back anytime soon though.
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Ceci Cela Patisserie
55 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
(212) 274-9179
http://www.ceci-celapatisserie.com
