Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Baker's Best
475
The Art of French Pastry
Star-Power Patisseries
Paris, France
Part of the pleasure of a Paris vacation is
finding your own little divine patisseries,
which lie waiting to be discovered all
around the city. But there's no denying
that two patissiers have set the bar in
modern-day Paris; they are the masters
whom all others either emulate or defy.
The first is the late Gaston Lenôtre,
the legendary pastry chef who in 1957
opened his first shop in Paris at 44 rue
d-Auteuil, near the Bois de Boulogne. As
its success took off, Lenôtre was never shy
about expanding his business; he pub-
lished cookbooks, started a cooking
school, opened restaurants, and cloned
his Paris bakery several times. (Other more
centrally located branches are at 10 rue St
Antoine, on the edge of the Marais and
near the Bastille; and 35 av. de la Mot Pic-
quet, near the Champs des Mars in the 7th
arrondissement). The Lenôtre chain now
has 16 sleek, stylish shops in France, plus
branches around the world from Tokyo to
Las Vegas. The quality of the pastries
remains impeccably high, if perhaps a little
too correct, and any visitor to Paris who's
interested in food should stop in at one of
them to view the extraordinary assort-
ment of frilly mille-feuilles, feather-light
meringues, dense chocolate mousse
cakes, glossy fruit tarts, plump éclairs,
jewel-like chocolates, and smooth ice
creams—the craftsmanship is simply
extraordinary.
As is so often the case, the master was
eventually challenged by his apprentice.
Pierre Hermé began his career at age 14
as a Lenôtre trainee, but 25 years later, in
2001, opened his own jewel box-like pas-
try shop in Paris, on the artsy Left Bank at
72 rue Bonaparte. Now he has a space-
agey second shop at 185 rue de Vaugirard
as well. The dramatic decor of these shops
is quite different from the glossy corpo-
rate look of the Lenôtre shops—which is
not surprising, given Hermé's avant-garde
flair. He's known for surprise combina-
tions of ingredients, for arresting sculp-
tural effects, and for intriguing “themes”
that organize each season's pastry collec-
tion almost like a couture collection. You
can see this in signature items like the
raspberry-layered Ispahan tart, the trompe
l'oeil effect of his vanilla infinity tart, or the
whimsical cake mosaic with its flaked pis-
tachio topping looking like a miniature Zen
garden. Visiting the Hermé shop is almost
The Pierre Hermé boutique.
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