Temporary French Art
TEMPORARY BECAUSE you can eat it—which you will do… quickly.
We’re talking fresh pastries, baguettes, and macaroons made daily by a superior French pastry chef at the new Macaroon Boutique on John Street.
The front door is usually open, delectable pastries loom on open shelves, enchanting co-owner Fabienne is at the cashier, and maestro Fabrice—usually in the back stirring and mixing—makes regular trips to the front of the store to greet his growing number of loyal customers.
They are genuine people with a genuine product that you will love.
Fabrice in the kitchen
Fabrice was born in France where he attended Relais Desserts International, a European trade association of the continent’s most talented pastry artists. He later worked as pastry chef for Olivier Casanovas, who today caters for the king of Morocco with Fabrice as his pastry consultant.
Among the bakery’s popular items are the “petit baguette” (French bread with butter, gruyere cheese and ham), galettes des rois, éclairs, and chocolate croissants. “If I make blueberry muffins, no one buys them,” Fabrice says, laughing. “It’s the French things that sell.”
So what exactly is a macaroon? Two wafers of meringue mixed with almond paste, sandwiching a flavored buttercream (like vanilla, caramel, pistachio or rose).
Perfect macaroons
And very difficult to make. Stir the batter too little and the bottoms of the wafers don’t spread into the essential ruffled “skirt” (known as the “feet” in French), and the tops peak. Stir too much and the wafers are flat, cracked, and tough.
A perfect macaroon is prized for its texture and consistency as much as for its flavor: a crisp break followed by weightless and melt-away creaminess. The ideal macaroon has paper-thin shells, a sheen like a pearl, and a top with a subtle curve like the horizon.
It is truly an art.
To learn (taste) more, visit the Macaroon Boutique at 45 John Street—just off King Street, across from the Children’s Museum.
Macaroon Boutique
45 John Street
(843) 577-5441
Sounds delicious! Will check it out today- like the title!