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A new Le Macaron French Pastries shop open in Downtown Fort Myers a few doors from Hotel Indigo and Standard Restaurant. Today is a perfect environment to have Macaron, sunny in 80’s with a light breeze. There are about 12-14 seats with several inside tables and two outside tables. The décor is trendy! This shop is really a 4-1 store which sell not only macarons but including French Gelato, French pastries such as eclairs, Madeleines, Napoleon, and cakes layered with fresh fruit, chocolate and meringue. There are over 20 flavors of macarons offered and they are made at their Sarasota confectionery. The owner of this franchise, Florence, is a native of Paris and very friendly! Today, I tried the almond croissant with a coffee first. The warm flaky croissant with almond and coffee just hits the spot! I ordered six macarons to go with Mint White Chocolate, Orange Grand Marnier, Raspberry, and lemon. The chewy-crisp meringue of egg whites, sugar, powdered almond and their fillings are so delicious and you cannot stop eating them. For drink beside coffee, they have variety make with Nespresso and something called Chocolate Cherry ice latte! Wow they even have a breakfast program from 7:30 am to 10:30 am, for $4.00, you have a regular coffee and a croissant or chocolate croissant or for $6.00 you can have a croissant with egg and bacon or ham with cheese or Riccota with spinach. The Chocolate confections are very appealing, ranging from Tiramisu, Raspberry lips, Dulce de Leche, Lipstick and Cigar. Needless to say, I’ll back to try that Cigar and the French Gelato!

Le Bon Macaron Menu with Prices 209 S 4th Ave, Ann Arbor

This cafe is the very definition of cute. Everything is dainty, from the signature macarons, to the plates upon which they are served, to the glasses of water. The clean white tones of the shop are the perfect backdrop for all your insta fantasies. And little touches like small vases of pink and white flowers on the table, complete the look. While I may be a large man, I have to confess a love for little treats. And here, Le Bon Macaron delivers. Now that the fall season is finally here, sipping chocolate is back on the menu. For those who don’t know, this is like drinking a molten chocolate bar. Luckily, this decadent drink is served in a demitasse cup and saucer. There are even house made marshmallows, perfectly shaped to float on top and melt into the hot ganache. I only wish that they had matching demitasse spoons to match. Mon Dieu. Still, for three bucks, I’d rather have one of these shots of chocolate than almost any espresso. Not only will it perk you up, but it will make you happier than you ever thought possible. Still, the success of a macaron shop depends on the quality and perfection of its signature confection. And what is a macaron if not the embodiment of the pursuit of perfection. Over the past few weeks I’ve tried a small handful of these little sandwich cookies, and they have been hit or miss. From a flavor perspective, the vanilla and rose have been the standouts. The flavors of raspberry rose were a little muddy, the jasmine didn’t read “jasmine” on the palate, and the nougat tasted only of coconut extract. But macarons are also all about texture. I do wish the display case kept the macarons a little bit warmer, because the temperature at which they are served is too cold. Those who can wait at least ten minutes will benefit from a much crisper exterior shell, and a better balance of textures overall. The vanilla shells spent a little too much time in the oven and caught more color than they should have from the heat. And the rose shells were not only smaller than the Le Bon Macaron standard, but were also lacking their feet. Plus, there are other macarons in the case with lumpy shells, presumably from almond flour that wasn’t thoroughly sifted before being added into the mixer. These are nits to be sure. Will they prevent us from going back? Not at all. Nor do they decrease my daughter’s enjoyment for these cute treats. But I do expect a little better from a place that specializes in these admittedly finicky morsels.

Danish Pastry Co. – Menu with Prices – 2031 Tyler St, Hollywood

Adorable bakery & coffee house with fantastic pastries & wonderful service. It’s a cozy place with about four tables, and a counter with a hand full of stools facing the street. It’s clean, well kept and has a shabby chic all white decor with nice natural lighting. I had planned to drop in early Sunday afternoon but time got away from me. So before heading out there I checked the Yelp app and it stated it was closing at 4pm. I arrived around 3:05pm only to find the door locked. Disappointed I stood there double checking the app. As I was doing so Diane opened the doors. She kindly advised they now close at 3pm on Sunday’s but welcomed me in anyway and to my surprise advised the pastries were half off! Awesome! Apparently right before closing they sell whatever is left of the pastries at half price. I’m not sure if this starts an hour or half before closing but it’ a nice bonus. ***GOODIES*** Butter Croissant Raspberry/Almond cream cheese pastry Five different mini pastries These are some fantastic croissants and pastries I must say. Their pastry dough for both the croissant & sweet pastries is lovely. It has a light flaky exterior with layers of soft pillowy delicious goodness in the interior. The filings and toppings were just as scrumptious. The jams they use as the fillings/toppings taste like someones grandmother made it. They had fresh bright natural flavors & sweetness. The chocolate and cream cheese fillings were just as yummy and luscious as the jams. The fact that I purchased these pastries late afternoon on Sunday had no bearing on their freshness and taste. Even the two mini pastries that survived the night tasted fresh and just as good the next morning. I can tell you the coffee is good too. I prefer lattes but the machine had been shut done for the day so Diane offered me some of their coffee to try. It was shockingly smooth with absolutely no bitterness, delightful cup of joe. I was really pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome, kind service and fantastic pastries. I will for sure be back soon!!

Little Gourmand – Menu with Prices – 2209 Bandywood Dr Ste D, Nashville

I visit Nashville often and stay in an area close to Greenhill. Today I was looking for a coffee shop that has a croissant and found this cute little shop! It’s a market place with French goodies and a bakery that sells croissants, financiers, quiches, macarons, and a few other patisserie items. There are seats alongside one corner of the store. The people who work (2 French people-couple?- and one clerk who also seemed to speak French) were so pleasant and helpful. And I love hearing French language! I got an espresso and an almond croissant to eat in and took a Lyonnais sandwich to go. * Almond Croissant ($4.50) was superb – a lot of sliced almonds with marzipan inside, great texture and flavor. I like it more with a crispier, flakier texture, but I still enjoyed this one very much. * Lyonnais sandwich ($9.95) was fabulous! It’s a very simple sandwich made on a baguette with dry salami, gherkins, and salted butter..but everything was of great quality, and the proportion of things was very much to my liking. Salted French butter was great! * Financier with raspberries was also excellent. Great almond flavor and soft texture, perfectly baked. * Espresso was fine..(a bit weak for my taste…but I’m very picky about my coffee!:)). They only have espresso or Americano. No cappuccino, etc. I also purchased a butter cookie tin that was so pretty! It’s a really cute place that serves well made baked items and sandwiches. It’s well run. It seems maybe a bit pricey, but I don’t mind it and will definitely go back. It brought me fond memories of visiting cafes and bakeries in France, and I think that’s what exactly this place is trying to do.

Lou, The French On The Block – Menu with Prices – 4007 W Riverside Dr, Burbank

A solid French bakeshop in Burbank Media District was unheard of 10 years ago. In an area known for basic food options, Lou The French on The Block, has joined other hipster dining spots in this revitalized neighborhood. Lou’s traditional croissants are made with French butter daily. I’m a purist and love butter croissants…and Lou’s can rival Chaumont in Beverly Hills. The croissants are shatteringly crisp and retain that crisp most of the day. The dough is satisfyingly savory because it has the notes of traditional French cultured butter…once you’ve had a proper French butter croissant, you’re ruined for life. There’s also an assortment of almond, chocolate, and chocolate/almond croissants. They look delicious, but I’ve only had the butter. The shop offers modest pastries, coffee, and a small lunch business. Their pan bagnat sandwiches are made with house made fresh baguettes. For about $12, you get a very sizeable sandwich (about 12 inches) for lunch. They are made in the traditional pan bagnat style where they are made in the morning and sit until lunchtime in the refrigerator…the time allows the flavors to marry. The bread still manages to maintain some type of crispness while allowing the fillings to shine. The tuna pâté is my favorite…fresh tuna salad brightened up with lemon, hard-boiled egg slices, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. The flavors become super cohesive. Hungry people can be satisfied with a whole sandwich…had I not skipped dinner, I would have been more than happy with half of my tuna sandwich. The raspberry financier and the eclairs are both great. Though the icing/decoration on top is a bit too sugary and artificial for me…so I rip it off and just eat the eclair…it becomes perfect. Everyone is so nice when I come in. The chef is always working in the back, so I imagine quality control is tight. There’s a cute little patio out front, but space is limited.

Little Red’s Bakeshop & Café – Menu with Prices – 1401 SW Yamhill St, Portland

I’m a sucker for a good bakery and there’s a ton Little Red’s Bakeshop does right. For one, their cookies are delicious. The sugar cookies may be small and rather spendy, but they’re perfect. Prolly best to keep the price point at $3.50 each as it deters me from polishing off the whole lot. The OR trail cookies, a mix of oatmeal, chocolate chips, cranberries, and all sorts of goodies, are equally delicious. Have also tried the almond croissant. The flavor in this is outstanding- there’s a hint of amaretto or something extra into the almond paste. Not sure, but it was delicious. The croissant had beautiful layers- was super impressed with the lamination of the pastry. The only problem was the filling made it wet inside and the dough surrounding the filling was raw. So raw that it gave me a bit of a stomach ache. The flavor was spot on, but bummer about the raw dough. Lastly, we just tried a small chocolate birthday cake with raspberry jam and raspberry buttercream. The cake, flavor of the jam, and buttercream were all delicious. I did ask for light buttercream, as I like sponge more than cream, and the cake still had too much cream. I probably scraped away most of the cream on my slices of cake, but it was delicious none the less. Would definitely recommend checking out this small bakery. They have a few indoor tables to enjoy your treats and coffee and tea as well.

Le Macaron French Pastries – Menu with Prices – 1700 W New Haven Ave #535, Melbourne

Le Macaron- Melbourne 4 Stars. Occasionally, you run into something you have never tried before. For me trying macarons was that new experience. These tiny almond flour confections which are punctiliously made truly melt in your mouth. I ordered a rose, Belgian chocolate and a lavender white chocolate. All three are flavorful and spot on. You can literally taste the layered flavors all brought together with the cream of tartar.Now for a few side notes. The shop is inside the Melbourne Square Mall. It is decorated how an American would envision France not a real Parisian decor. The gentleman that owns the shop speaks virtually zero English so if you are going to try these pastries as a result of my review I suggest you do some research first because the owner can barely explain who he is let alone answer questions about his offerings. I think this is a nifty clever idea. I would tell you to tell him the Big Boy sent you but he would just stare at you blankly.

AUX Delices – Menu with Prices – 15250 S Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers

I have this problem! I am terrified to enter French Bakery. My knee knocked a little then I ordered twice as much as I wanted! They look so delicious and appealing I just can’t control myself! I was in the neighborhood of Aux Delices, an Artisan Bakery and Café by Andre Gratesol. Beside Aux Delices, Andre also operated the Mon Paris Coffee Shop and Bakery by Reflections Parkway, participated in Farmers Markets at Lakes Park, Coconut Point, FSW College, Promenade and Sanibel during the season. Aux Delices serves breakfast and lunch with breakfast sandwiches, Croque monsieur, Quiches, Panni, salads, and of course French pastries. I walked in Aux Delices because they just put a big sign Expresso by the Eiffel Tower. That is a wonderful idea. I will have sip of Expresso with Mille Feuille. Guess what happened? As I was looking at their two glass display cases, I ordered strawberry tart, mixed fruit tarts, éclair, Almond croissant, Chocolate croissant, and ten mini Napoleon or mille feuilles to go. That is two boxes without my beloved Palmiers! They are mouthwatering and delectable! There is one minor problem, Andre, you have to put little more Chocolate in your Chocolate croissant! Otherwise, you are mon maître boulanger (My Master Baker?)

Mainwood Pastry – Menu with Prices – 113 W Elder St, Cincinnati

There aren’t too many places in OTR where you can get a croissant, let alone a good one. I was trying to go to French Crust, but they were closed on a Friday morning which was strange. Blue Oven Bakery didn’t have any croissants at that time of the day either. So I checked on Yelp and it pointed me to Mainwood Pastry. It’s a small shop, but I was happy to see that there were croissants. Even though the almond croissants looked great, I decided on getting 2 chocolate croissants (pain au chocolat). The outside pastry was flaky and the chocolate was well distributed throughout the croissant. The inside layers near the chocolate were a little stuck together and not as airy. But the croissants were still delicious and better done than your grocery store bakery. Great with a hot cup of coffee. Well worth aimlessly wandering around Findlay market.

Janjou Pâtisserie Menu with Prices 1754 W State St, Boise

I wish I had some photos to share – (I’ll get some and share next time) – but I’ve been meaning to review this place for some time. If you like quality baked goods/desserts/European pastries, this is the place for you. This is one of those places where you get what you pay for though. The pastries are in the $7 range, but you can tell the ingredients are top notch made with real butter, delicious Valrhona chocolate, and lovely fresh fruit. My favorites (and I get them often): Lola, $7: shortbread crust, almond cream raspberry confit, pistachio chantilly, fresh raspberry. Milky Way Tart, $6.50: almond chocolate crust, salted caramel, Valrhona milk chocolate. Loz, $7: almond butter crust, whole hazelnut covered with milk chocolate caramel, decorated with Valrhona milk chocolate Chantilly. Laurel, $7: shortbread crust, almond cream baked with raspberry, Tonka bean and lime chantilly, fresh raspberry. I’ve had the Pecan Tart, $6.50 (almond butter crust, pecans, organic maple syrup) and it’s good, but it’s just a really good pecan tart. I mean you can get pecan pies at Thanksgiving time. The other desserts are just really different that you can’t get anywhere else. Same with the Austrian Cheesecake, $6 (almond crust and smooth, fluffy cream cheese glazed with sour cream) it’s a delicious cheesecake, not as dense as most cheesecakes are, but again, you can get cheesecake anywhere. Don’t take this as a knock to these two items, they ARE delicious, I just like the uniqueness of the desserts mentioned previous. They also have a really good prosciutto and Gruyère cheese croissant that I adore. It’s buttery and cheesy and just unbelievably elegant. I usually get this on my way to work and don’t have the ability to heat it up when I get to the office. But I would imagine a 10-second zap in the microwave would take this to another level. They also make and package their own cookies. Someone at the office brought in the Orange Florentine Sablés, $14. Pâte Sucrée, spiced candied oranges, orange caramel and blanched sliced almonds. Crunchy yet a soft cookie with a unique flavor. It has that borderline burnt butter taste to it, which I really like (it’s NOT burnt). It’s probably the best “cookie” I have ever had in. my. life. I would have had more of them but felt bad because a co-worker had spent $14 on them and I probably ate $7 worth. I can’t spend $14 on cookies, but I do have them on my wish list for birthday and Christmas ? Buttery. Nutty. Orangey. Unreal. The service is always good; there’s usually someone + the owner (husband) working. They aren’t overly friendly, but the owner always thanks you for coming in. They package your pastries in these big, sturdy fancy boxes with a handle too. AND there are almost always samples by the register – yummy bits of cake or croissant. They have ice water and glasses there, and they do coffee as well, though I only pop in for pastry on the way to work. I cannot say enough good about Janjou Patisserie – it’s just heavenly and there is nothing else like it here in Boise.

Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates – Menu with Prices – 1801 L St #60, Sacramento

If you ever want to be paralyzed with a first-world problem, come to Ginger Elizabeth and try to pick out a dessert. My friend and I spent about 15 minutes agonizing over what to get. You’d think with so many small options, like a macaron and a truffle, it’d be easy to pick, but all the flavor options kept my head in a spin. Just when I thought the decision was made, the team offered some samples of their macarons – I assume because it was the end of the day – and it threw me back into choice confusion. My friend probably picked best, though. She got an Earl Grey truffle “stick”(around $4), which had such a soft and perfect flavor, and the gentle crunch made for a very unique dessert. Don’t get my wrong, though. My dessert of macarons and chocolate truffle cookie were also great. I went for a classic pistachio and vanilla almond macaron. The texture was perfect! Only as I was leaving did I notice the ice cream sandwiches listed on a menu high above the shelves. They all sounded so enticing, so I am glad I only saw it after the purchase was made.

The Place To Be – Menu with Prices – 2510B Main St, Santa Monica

Oui oui Monsieur! The Place to Be is like a little slice of Paris here in Santa Monica. It’s a quaint little coffee shop on Main Street near Venice. This place has veeeery strong coffee and absolutely amaaazing pastries!! Since I just had a negative experience with a gluten free bakery in RB, I had my concerns when I saw the gluten and vegan sign out front. Don’t let that sign scare you though. I didn’t! They have plenty of options available. I ordered a mocha, the Nutella croissant and madeleines. I thought OMG this is what madeleines should really taste like. I usually buy my Madeleine’s at Starbucks. You know the cookies that come in the pack of 3? Well, I won’t be doing that anymore because these little madeliene cookie cakes put the Starbucks cookies to shame. I actually regretted only buying two of them. Anywho, when I finally got around to eating my croissant I thought about a conversation that I had with a friend a couple of days before. He was eating a croissant left over from a work meeting and he was complaining about it not being flaky and buttery. I immediately agreed that the best croissants should always be flaky & buttery. A Place to Be”s croissants don’t disappoint in either one of those categories. The croissant was very fresh and it had the perfect amount of nutella. It wasn’t too sweet. It was just perfect. Kudos to the owners of A Place to Be. This Coffee Spot is the best and the French woman working the counter had excellent customer service skills. She had me try a sample of the white chocolate syrup that’s placed in the mocha. She made me a believer. That stuff was so good. It wasn’t seriously sweet like American white chocolate. I will definitely be back to pick up more Madeleines, a baguette, an Almond croissant and the chocolate croissant. I can’t wait!

A La Mode Gelateria – Menu with Prices – 14254 S Padre Island Dr #101, Corpus Christi

WOW – a gem gelateria with a national reputation from the owner’s appearances on the Food Network (Cooks vs Cons and Cutthroat Kitchen), located in an otherwise nondescript shopping center on Padre Island was an amazing place for outstanding desserts. We are not sure how much longer this place will be located here – parking is difficult and the space is tiny. If the owners keep showing up and kicking butt on the Food Network they will have to find a bigger space – and when they do, we will follow them there — the gelato a crepes are that good! Gelato is made fresh every day, and you can tell from the big flavors and the consistency of the gelato that they don’t cut corners on the quality ingredients! We had the crepe with Nutella and bananas, topped with a scoop of tart, tangy Raspberry sugar free gelato. Adding a scoop of gelato is a $2 upcharge, but the cold gelato paired with the warm crepe and fillings is a wonderful sensory experience well worth the money! ? The raspberry gelato was so delicious, providing needed acidity to offset the sweet stickiness of the ripe banana and the Nutella. Wow that was a great combo, and we hope to have that again one day ? Gelato offerings change daily, so we have hope!! The crepe itself was sweet and tender, thick enough to hold up to the fillings, but not rubbery or over cooked at all. It was just the perfect accompaniment to the fillings we chose, and was made to order with skill on a very cool crepe griddle. Another of our group got the Nutella and strawberry crepe with a scoop of sweet cream gelato – also delightful! We recommend this as a destination place in the Coastal Bend for gelato – go out of your way to come here. You will be glad you did! 5 not-so-secret-anymore stars ?