Breakfast Club at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

For most Americans, pie season is over. Pumpkin, apple and pecan treats are of a season past, and the preferable winter indulgences are cakes and bonbons. But if you happen to live near Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Gowanus, then pie is a yearlong celebration.

(You might even want a slice of malted chocolate pecan, along with a baked oatmeal muffin, for breakfast.)

Super tarte tatin

Because I really do love Buvette so, so much, I thought it worth double-blogging about it. Especially the tarte tatin.

It's a feat, really. So dense, a titch gooey, and yet seemingly healthy.

Balanced between sweet and savory just so.

Created on the lighted bed of pastry dough. And topped with a dollop of fresh crème anglaise.

I mean, really, what's not to love??

Dessert tasting with Johnny Iuzzini

It’s not every day you’re invited to a dessert tasting. Much less a gum tasting. So when the folks from Extra gum invited me to test-sample three new flavors—root beer float, lemon square and bananas foster—I opened wide.

For it wasn’t just chewing some gum that was on the menu. Johnny Iuzzini was too.

And before sticking a new flavor of gum in our mouths, we sampled the actual desserts that inspired them.




The idea is to pick a favorite of the three, and the winning flavor goes to market. You can weigh in by going to their Facebook page.

Their whole line of Dessert Delights launched last year. Already on the menu are strawberry shortcake, mint chocolate chip, apple pie, orange crème popand key lime pie. And, yes, we got to sample those inspiring desserts, too.

So. Eight desserts in one afternoon.

My personal favorites? Well, I wouldn’t want to sway the voting. But anything with bananas gets my vote.

This is what peace and happiness tastes like

Squired away, upstairs at Thé Adoré...

...a lovely little breakfast of sencha tea and an apple-walnut scone.


Modest, moist...

... with lovely apple bits.

(And, for later, homemade French tarts.)

The most charming baker in Paris

Christophe Vasseur confesses: “I’ve always been good with my hands.”

Add this to the fact that he wanted to quit school at the age of 12 to become a baker—who were like magicians to him, “transforming something so simple into something so good and beautiful with their hands.”—and it makes sense that he’s running one of the most esteemed and delicious bakeries in town: Du Pain et des Idées.

Where to begin? With the bread? (Bonne idée!)

There’s the famous pain des amis, a wonderfully slightly nutty flatbread that is now served at Alain Ducasse’s Plaza Athénée restaurant.

Le Rabelais, a dense brioche with saffron, honey and walnuts.

The mini paves, jammed with deliciousness like sundried tomatoes or spinach and goat cheese.

But really, it’s all about the sweets, isn’t it?

Just look at his viennoiseries: millions of layers of crisp and flaky dreaminess.


They take 34 hours to make. Of course they do, he makes his own (divine) pastry dough.


The chausson aux pommes, made with real apples, not minced jam.

And, my favorite, the tendresse aux pommes, a dense brioche flan with raisins and apples and cinnamon.


Greedy me, I am already plotting my return visit so I can get my own hands on more.

Meanwhile, back in Paris

They’re serving up tarte tatin—at Le Bistro Gourmand (next door to Merce and the Muse), heavenly deep-dish tarte tatin.

Don't you want a slice of that beauty?

Heart to heart

For a year now, I’ve been a sucker for Coquelicot’s strawberry heart. It’s dense, sweet, spongy, and perfectly portioned.

But now my own heart is aflutter for a new cake: Merce and the Muse’s carrot-apple heart.

Same “love”ly shape. Another beautifully portioned and flavored creation. A new habit that I’ll need to control.

Milk chocolate + apple crumble = more trouble

Speaking of nostalgia, I found another Dolfin bar that put me over the edge.

It elicited an indulgent mood, recalling nights of Speculoos dinners and afternoons spent lingering over tea and crumbles.

Or maybe it was just the flavor: “Memories of Summer Apple Crumble”.

I’m sorry, how could anyone ever pass up a chocolate bar with a name like that??

Or maybe it was just me, looking for an excuse to buy another chocolate bar…

Crumbling at Les Deux Abeilles

Two years ago, when I visited Paris for the first time ever in summer, I was Velib’ing down rue de l'Université, when I slammed on the brakes and practically flew over my handlebars. The cause for this moment of graceless drama? The cakes and tarts beckoning from the window of Les Deux Abeilles.

This darling family-run tea salon is everything you envision a darling family-run tea salon to be: decorated with floral wallpaper and antique furniture and filled with warmth and light; run by a lovely, friendly staff that makes you feel at home; and, most important, a menu filled with homemade tarts and crumbles and cakes and scones, served alongside pots of tea or glasses of ginger lemonade.


I know all of this now since I finally made it back there for an afternoon indulgence.

Two years was worth the wait.

Out of all the irresistible-looking desserts, I came really, really close to selecting the pear-praliné clafoutis, which waved to me like a moist and dense, satisfying glimpse of heaven. I was also tempted by the tall, airy domes on the lemon meringue tart and the towering crust that surrounded the cheesecake.



But after a very laborious decision, I opted for the rhubarb-apple crumble.

It was served with a side of fresh whipped cream, and I ate it with French Vogue opened to the gorgeous Kate Moss spread. This was intended to inspire me not to finish the whole serving.


But it didn’t work. I crumbled (hardy har) and cleaned my plate.

189, rue de l'Université, 7eme

Dreamy pastries

La Patisserie des Reves really is the stuff you dream about.


Philippe Conticini’s new patisserie opened while I was in New York (eating cookies), and it’s rich, gorgeous, inviting, exquisite and inspiring—it’s Willy Wonka meets Cartier, and surely going to become the city’s next sweet addiction (or at least mine).

The cakes are magic, and, under the glass domes, it’s as fun picking the perfect treat as it is window shopping in Place Vendome.



Some are classics, like the lemon meringue, apple crumble and tarte tatin.




Some are clearly the work of a pastry master—they are divine inspiration. The chocolate éclairs and Saint-Honoré are like none other you’ll find in the city.




There are also viennoiseries—chausson aux pommes, brioche, financiers—for more modest pleasures.


With exquisite cakes like these, Pierre Hermé, watch your back!

93 rue de Bac
7eme