First Bites in Paris
By Robyn Lee | When one of my friends told me to eat a green macaron for her in Paris, she was probably referring to those of the pistachio flavored kind. Instead, the first green macaron I ate during my vacation was flavored with the fatty squeezings of olives and a hint of vanilla, borne from the incomparably distinctive kitchen of Pierre Hermé who I believe makes the best macarons in Paris. What did it taste like? Well...olive oil, if it had the texture of a solid, creamy ganache surrounded by lightly chewy macaron cookies. The first bite was oddly delicious, but after getting over the not exactly surprising shock of, "Oh my god, this reallllly tastes like olive oil," my tastebuds felt like they were hit by a bomb stuffed to 1000% capacity with olive-based fat. Unless you love olive oil to the point that you drink it straight, it's best to share Hermé's nugget of fat with another olive oil lover.
But you do have to try it. Don't be a wimp.
Until additional gelato hunting tells me otherwise, my favorite gelateria in Paris is Pozzetto. My two friends and I each forked over 3€ for a small cone or cup (which they will fill with more than one flavor if you want, but considering the baby-fist size of the portion I'd stick to one or two) of their creamy and intensely flavored gelato. I immediately went for my favorite flavor, pistachio, while my friends chose the lighter pear and kiwi. The fruit flavors tend to be stronger than the nutty ones, but the cioccolato fondente is probably the most, "Ohhh baby, I need this now," inducing. Since they only carry 12 flavors at once it's easy to try all of them if you visit enough times and order large sizes, both of which I would recommend doing.
Pierre Hermé
72 rue Bonaparte, 6ème
185 rue de Vaugirard, 15ème
Pozzetto
39 rue du Roi de Sicile, 4ème
21 rue de Levis, 17ème
Robyn Lee is interning at Serious Eats for the semester. Like what you've read here? See more at The Girl Who Ate Everything.
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5 Comments:
Great pictures Robyn. Me and my wife are going to Paris in June, so I'm diligently taking notes on all of your stops.
Marvin at 11:52AM on 03/13/07
Great post, Robyn. But are you dissing Berthillion, which is my favorite Paris ice cream spot.
Ed Levine at 12:30PM on 03/13/07
Marvin: You better get a pen with A LOT of ink for those notes. Robyn is nothing if not diligent about documentation.
Adam Kuban at 2:00PM on 03/13/07
Adam: I'm definitely hoping for much more documentation from Robyn, so yes, I will have lots of ink and paper :)
Marvin at 3:28PM on 03/13/07
Marvin: Thanks! I'm falling behind on my documentation though..which reminds me, time to write another entry!
Ed: I'm putting glaciers and gelaterias in different categories. :) Overall I will always prefer gelato over ice cream. BWAHAHAHAHA.
roboppy at 6:06PM on 03/13/07