Pretty Delicious

Macarons are the supermodels of the cookie world. I’m almost 100% sure they are the most photographed cookie in the world, at least by professional photographers. It seems like they are the go-to confection for photoshoots involving fashion, decadence, or girly parties. And they practically co-starred in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette! You would almost get tired of them, if they weren’t so pretty and so, so delicious.

The crème de la crème are from Ladurée. I tasted my first in London, dragging my friend to Harrod's, where they have an outpost. I bought three and made my friend sit down with me while I ate them, so I could really enjoy them. (She didn’t even want to try any, which boggles my mind!) It was love at first bite, but we never made it back to that part of town, so I was left pining for macarons. Despite my best efforts, I never found a macaron in the US that was even close.

A couple years later, I got to experience Ladurée in Paris, the real Ladurée you might say. There was one in Saint-Germain, the neighborhood where we stayed. While I stopped in for macarons at least twice, and once to pick up goodies to smuggle back home (including a box of macarons for myself), I also visited the tea salon, which was gorgeous, of course. The perfect place to eat the prettiest and most delicious desserts I’ve ever seen. I had a St. Honore, which is named after the French patron saint of bakers. (Don’t you just love how every saint has it’s own super-power?)  In fact, maybe they just canonized the guy who invented this, because seriously, it's heavenly.

My Saint Honoré, before I DEVOURED IT

Anyway, I basically ate as much Ladurée as I could while I was in Paris, which fit nicely into my diet of steak tartare, wine, foie gras, espresso, and baguettes. (All of those things, every chance I could get.)

A few months later, they opened a Ladurée in NYC, which I have not managed to visit yet, although I think it’s been there close to a year by now. I guess I can’t hear the macarons calling from all the way up on 72nd street, I really don’t get past 18th much. I did consider going after my trip to Ouidad, which is on 57th, but it would have been a twenty-minute walk and it had started raining on my new hairdo.

The big news is: I just heard this November (or possibly December), Ladurée is opening a shop in SoHo! While SoHo is it’s own kind of awful, and can make me feel downright violent, I do find myself there frequently for errands and occasional shopping. From what I understand, not only will the SoHo location have a tea salon, but it will also be the biggest Ladurée in the world. I don’t know how I feel about that. Part of it’s charm is that it’s small and precious, just like it’s macarons.

While I suspect Ladurée might get an obnoxious line out front, like that terrible Dash store, or played-out-for-years-yet-still-always-with-the-giant-line Magnolia Bakery, I hope I’ll have success with my usual tactic of doing my errands early, to beat the tourists.

If only you COULD beat the tourists, without getting arrested.

My souvenir box of Caramel a la Fleur de Sel Macarons