Paris Pâtisseries :: Au Revoir, Paris!
By Paris Patisseries in General Blog Posts
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“Hey, Monsieur Marletti. Wouldn’t it be funny if I was on the ‘wrong side’ of the case and pretended to lunge at the 100 pastries you have out, while you looked on disapprovingly?” Carl Marletti agreed with a chuckle. We’d just finished a shoot of him preparing his Marie-Antoinette, and I thought a humorous photo or two would round out the spread. At least that’s what I led him to believe. I simply wanted a glass barrier and the few seconds of advantage it provided to inhale as many pastries as I could before he and the store manager restrained me. But when it came down to it, the most I could bring myself to do was blatantly licking my pinky and then dragging it across one of his award-winning tartes citron, before loudly declaring it, “MINE!”
There’s likely no better way than that photo to visually summarize my unhealthy relationship with Parisian pastry and the greats who bring it to us. I’ve been to their shops virtually every single day for 3 months and have eaten everything in my path. And now, with the pastry cases of Paris clear-cut, it’s time to head home.
But don’t think the reviews are about to stop. The last seventy critiques were merely the prelude…the appetizer…the opening act…the sablé at the foundation of this little treat. Having eaten and photographed 15-30 pâtisseries every week I was here, I have a “small” stockpile of material. There’s been some amazing work put in front of you, but you will not believe what I’ve been saving. You didn’t think I was dishing out the best this whole time, did you?
Even though I know you could never get tired of staring at the finest pastries known to man, every few weeks I’ll also begin to feature interviews with some of the top chefs, photo shoots from their shops, and even some one-on-one pâtisserie creation sessions with those very same pastry deities. Plus, I’ll finally give you what so many readers have been clamoring for . . . the “Best Pastries in Paris” list and “Best Pastry Shops of Paris”. They were very much the goal from the get-go . . . the “definitive” lists I could never find anywhere else on the internet, minus the hype.
Postings will, sadly, not continue to be daily, as that was an intense pace I set to get the blog established. But they will be routine, twice-a-week. Tomorrow’s post will be the last for seven whole days, but it’s perhaps the most important – the announcement of Paris Pâtisseries’ La Meilleure Pâtisserie de Paris 2010 (the best pastry in Paris). Thereafter, you can expect the latest every single Friday AND Monday. While I might occasionally toss out an extra feature on another day, you can always count on something tasty to nibble on over the weekend and then another to start off your workweek. Staying on top of the postings is of course incredibly easy when you’re a Paris Pâtisseries Facebook friend, so if you aren’t already my BFF, now’s the time.
I’d like to extend a gigantic thank you to Carl Marletti, Jean-Michel Coppens, Sylvain Blanc, Hugues Pouget, Didier Mathray, Nathalie Robert and last but not least, the staff of Ladurée Bonaparte, who always get my morning started right. Each in their own way, they have all been a tremendous help to me these last few months. And it should go without saying, that you, my readers, deserve my greatest gratitude.
Consuming these pastries has consumed my time in Paris, but the experience of living here has been so much more than crèmes and gâteaux. I will never forget this. One second I’m getting off a plane at CDG with my camera, ready to start something, and the next thing I know the finest pastry chefs in the world have opened their doors and their kitchens to me. It’s more than I ever imagined.
So, my dear readers, are you saving room for dessert? – Adam Wayda (aka Paris Pâtisseries)
