Paris: Berthillon

Berthillon, perhaps the most famous ice cream maker in Paris, can be found on the tiny Ile Saint-Louis. The actual store front is closed right now for renovation.* But fortunately several shops on the surrounding blocks sell the ice cream in Berthillon's stead. And the one good thing about not being able to buy from the main shop is that the notoriously long line is now dispersed over many shops. In fact, my brother and I found a slightly out-of-the-way shop to buy from and didn't wait in line at all. But even if we had waited in line for an hour, I think this ice cream still might have been worth it. I can attest that its flavor is not overstated. It is some of the best ice cream I've ever had!

*It seems like 1/3 of Paris must be closed at all times for renovation: Les Halles, Berthillon, the Picasso Museum. I think they do it on purpose to force you to come back multiple times in order to see and do everything you want to see and do.

Mast Brothers Chocolate

I made it to Mast Brothers during my brief 26 hours in New York City! It was intoxicating. The smell of chocolate was intense but unlike any chocolate I had smelled before. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when someone uses extremely high quality ingredients and fine techniques, the end product will be nothing like your average Hershey's bar. But it was still an eye opening experience to sample the bars and actually be able to identify different flavors from each bean. As far as the basic chocolate bars go, I loved Moho River which has fruity hints. But I also tried some of the flavored bars. They are all very intense. By far my favorite was the Stumptown coffee bar. So good! Even better than actual Stumptown coffee, I think. If you find yourself in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Mast Brothers is an absolute must! And be sure to try a brownie too!

Dinner at Towne Food & Drink

Admittedly there were a few hiccups during our dinner at Towne (the pace of drink and dessert service could be described as glacial), but since the restaurant had only opened 24 hours earlier, I'm going to chalk that up to the normal kinks that need to be worked out in any new business. I'd rather highlight how delicious the food was, how enthusiastic the service was, and how beautiful the space is!

We tried a lot of their small plates since everything looked so amazing, and almost all of it lived up to or surpassed expectation. The best ones were the roasted carrots, which is actually a full on salad with avocado and honey comb and whole carrots, and the lobster pig in a blanket, which replaces the hot dog with a sausage made of shrimp and lobster. They were both absolutely fantastic. Also incredibly tasty was the lobster mac'n'cheese (though don't expect much lobster, it's more for a cheese lover) and the pretzels rolls with mustard butter that come complimentary. The only small plate that I wouldn't order again was the tuna tartar. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn't live up the other dishes.

For entrees I tried the artichoke pizza, Katie tried the scallops, and my boyfriend tried the burger. The burger and scallops seemed to be winners based on the fact that my dining companions left nothing on their plates. I thought the pizza was fine, but I wasn't in love with the toppings I chose. The crust is great, though, so I would order the pizza again but just choose different toppings. The squash blossom and burrata pie, in particular, is calling my name.

As for desserts and drinks, we had a mixed experience. Here's a thorough review of the ups and downs of the macarons, and in addition we tried the espresso chip cookie sandwich. No complaints about that! Katie went 50-50 on her cocktails. The first one, the CoCo Punch, was underwhelming. It just tastes like you dumped bourbon into your kids chocolate milk. The flavors did not mix well. She followed that up with the Eastern Mule, which she liked much more. I, on the other hand, was impressed with their liqueur and wine selection. They had my new favorite aperitif, Aperol! And they had the 2010 Kali Hart pinot noir that I tried at Corkbar! The only downside was the price; almost all the drinks are $12 and up.

Overall the meal was really enjoyable. When service was slow (or when or waiter forgot to order the tuna tartar), the annoyance was made up for by the staff's positive attitudes. Towne definitely left me wanting to come back to try more.

Macaron Taste Off: Bottega Louie vs. Towne

UPDATE: I went back and tired the lychee, per suggestion of the commenter below, and can attest that it is fantastic! I also got the pistachio and strawberry. The pistachio was mild but nice. The strawberry was the opposite, intense. Maybe a little too intense but still good. And I got the PB&J again. It is still amaaaaaazing.

Before I went to Towne on Wednesday ("went to Towne" ha! it's a pun!), my friend Katie and I picked up some macarons at Bottega Louie so we could compare them to the ones at Towne. First, Towne's shells were perfection! So light and airy! And creating a macaron that was at least 50% larger. I didn't even realize how dense the BL macarons were until I tried Towne's. So they win on the cookie shell aspect. However, Towne lost points for having a low filling-shell ratio. BL macarons are half filing, half shell in every bite. I would estimate Towne is more 30-70. But the filing-shell ratio didn't bother me as much as the inconsistent flavors. I think every flavor BL produces is fantastic (with the exception of matcha, but I'm not going to quibble over one bad flavor out of the 20 I've tried over the years). Of the 3 Towne macarons I tried, though, only one was a stand out. (PB&J. It was exceptional!) The other 2 (key lime and salted chocolate) were too sweet, almost cloying. Katie and I didn't even finish them.

So the defending champ edged out the promising new comer, but as Towne fine tunes their recipes, I think it has a good chance of over taking the original. The shell, the hardest part to make, is wonderful, and I'm sure the flavors will come. Plus, being 10 cents cheaper, 50% bigger, and 3 blocks closer to my apartment than the BL macarons makes me willing to try more until the filing recipe is perfected!

PS: A review of my whole dinner at Towne is coming up later today!

Bottega Louie Features Summer Strawberry

Bottega Louie is heavily highlighting on of my favorite things about summer: strawberries. Not only do they have a strawberry macaron flavor, but they have a ton of special strawberry tarts which will only be around for a short time. On my way home from the farmer's market I picked up the Harry's berries tart. It was so light and full of berries that it almost felt healthy. Almost. I think I'm going to stop back this tonight to try another option before strawberry season is over!

PS: I've got at friend visiting my tonight, so I am so so so excited Towne just opened yesterday! We're going to go, and I'll be sure to post a review.

Happy Hour at Corkbar

It took a recommendation from my parents to finally get me to try Corkbar. I had been avoiding it because their online wine list was quite pricey. But on a recent visit, my parents wandered in for happy hour and discovered $8 glasses of wine! It's not cheap, but $8 is within the range I can justify spending on a glass of wine. And it helps that their food (oddly enough considering their wine prices) is quite reasonably priced. So my boyfriend and I tried it out on a Friday, and it was lovely.

Corkbar is on the very very edge of the South Park neighborhood in downtown, which works to its advantage. The people who make the effort to come out there are serious about relaxing over some nice wine. So the atmosphere is calm and slightly sophisticated. It reminds me a lot of my favorite Philly wine spot, Tria. And the wine, oh the wine! Ok, to be honest we only tried one wine, the happy hour pinot noir. But it was the most delicious wine I can remember drinking in a long time. It was so fantastic that my boyfriend switched from beer to the pinot. It was so fantastic that we hunted down this wine at Bevmo this weekend. If you have $20 burning a hole in your pocket, order a bottle of 2010 Talbott Kali Heart pinot noir. It will be money very well spent. This seems kind of like an afterthought once I have waxed on about the wine, but the food is delicious too. The cheddar gourgeres are an absolute must. They melt in your mouth, and at happy hour, they're only $3 or $4!

I really wish I had been going to Corkbar for years now, but I hope to get the chance to go back before my impending move. I'd love to try it on a "Test Kitchen" Tuesday night. They make a new dish every week, and you get a mini portion of it for $2. Such a fun idea!

Dinner at Industriel

So what do you get when you strip a Carl's Jr. down to the concrete and infuse it with rustic accents and a honey bear art piece? Apparently, you get Industriel. The space is beautiful, if a bit quirky. But overall, a huge improvement from the previous tenant. We got to see most of the downstairs since we arrived just in time for happy hour in the foyer (4-6pm) and then followed that with a full meal in the dining room. We did not venture upstairs to the bar since you can't get happy hour up there. (Don't ask me why.) Based on happy hour and dinner, I was satisfied with the experience but maybe not enough to rush back.

The service was great, some of the best I've had in LA. The staff is friendly, available, and full of suggestions. But I have to take away points for not actually loving our waitress's suggestions. To start my boyfriend got the octopus and I got the emmer farro salad, both on her recommendations. The salad was not bad, but I felt a tinge of regret in not getting one of the others I was considering. The octopus, though, was a weird texture and, I think, too heavily seasoned. We expected it to be chewy, and it wasn't. Perhaps smoking the octopus removes its chewy texture? But if so, I don't think it's for me. We also started with the kumiai oysters with carrots and a cardamom mignonette. They sounded great, and the oysters themselves were plump and delicious. But I ended up wishing that the carrots had been on my salad and the oysters had been by themselves. I'm just not sure the flavors added to each other.

But there were some great things at Industriel. Another waiter recommended the pelmini, a homemade ravioli stuffed with rabbit and covered with shiitakes and pearl onions, so we got one to split. This recommendation was dead on. So creamy and flavorful and rich and comforting! Everything I would want from a French dish (even though it is apparently based on a Russian recipe). And no fault could be found with the salted caramel pretzel crusted chocolate tart we got for dessert. We were both scraping the plate hoping to get the last of the melted tonka bean ice cream. (I don't even know what a tonka bean is, but I now know I love it in ice cream form.) So overall, Industriel has a lot going for it. The service is good, some of the dishes are amazing, and there is an experimental spirit. Hopefully as it grows, it will create an interesting menu where the flavors in every dish work well.