Real French macarons have landed in NYC!
Beloved French tea salon Laduree has finally (finally!) opened a store in New York, at 864 Madison Ave. Renown for their delectable macrons, Laduree has been hinting at opening a New York branch for years, but only now have they officially opened their doors in America.
As you will recall (from the above picture), this was the bf and my's favorite dessert in all of France. We didn't know how much we would love the little almond cookies until we ate twelve in about ten minutes (after waiting in line for half an hour). The flavors are bold, the cookies crisp but yielding, and the goo holding them together is, what I believe to be, the essence of happiness.
The bf and I are still on vacation, so after a scrumptious Restaurant Week lunch (which I will describe in detail in my next post), we headed over to check out the new shop. We arrived at 2:50pm and were out by 3:15pm, so only a 25 minute wait. Not too bad for the first week. Plus, the line was entirely indoors, which made the wait much more pleasant. We got eight macarons - two chocolate, two vanilla, one caramel, one coffee, one pistachio, and one raspberry - for $23, which is insanely expensive ($2.70 per macaron is more than a Magnolia cupcake!), but worth it as a rare treat.
My favorite is the vanilla, and his is the caramel. The vanilla has the strongest vanilla flavor you can find in the United States aside from eating a vanilla bean straight up. I was amazed, but somehow they tasted just as good here in the United States sitting on a bench in Central Park as they did in Paris watching the sunset from the apartment. Unbelievable.
Serious Eats has a much more descriptive article here. They spoke with David Holder, the chairman of Laduree (he also runs Paul, the delicious bakery from our Paris adventure). He claims that we'll be seeing a Laduree tea room with a full kitchen in Soho or the Village sometime next Spring. What a treat! Although, I'm sure reservations will be incredibly difficult to get and the prices will probably be through the roof, but it will certainly be worth it.
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