Plopping myself down in pastry central at the end of April, I was ready to be brutally honest. It was time for someone to do it. Leading up to my adventures, I’d done a ton of research into the best shops to visit and the best goodies at each. Do you know what I discovered? You might not be aware of this, but at least 90% of all the pastries in this city are the best pastry you will ever have. Added to that is the staggering fact that almost 100% of the pastry shops in Paris are the single greatest pastry shop in Paris. It reminded me of that line in Anchorman, where Paul Rudd’s character is talking about his favorite cologne’s ability to woo the ladies and says, “60% of the time it works every time.” Could it really be that Laduree’s macarons were better than Pierre Hermé’s and that, simultaneously, Pierre Hermé’s were better than Laduree’s and Aoki’s, which themselves were better than Ladurée’s and Hermé’s combined?! It’s like some kind of insane algebra problem. I had my suspicion that all these assessments might not be entirely accurate. The only way to help clarify the situation would be to eat so many pastries in such a concentrated period of time that useful comparisons could be made from one day to the next. The worst would be painfully evident, the average would blend into the background, and some of the best would be plain as day. It came to light that Sadaharu Aoki makes an obscene amount of trash, but he makes more superstars than anyone I came across. The cheese cake citronné was one of those.

Now, the most famous cheesecake in Paris is Secco’s. I found numerous references on the internet and in print to this as being “the best ever”. Another beloved one is this Cheese Cake Citronné, which is also apparently the “greatest cheesecake ever”. Des Gateaux et du Pain carries another “best cheesecake in the world”. And I have to wonder how many of these folks also have experienced Androuët’s version. Do they even know Androuët has a cheesecake? Do they even know what Androuët is?

When I put Aoki’s Cheese Cake Citronné on my Top 17 list, it wasn’t because it’s the best cheesecake in Paris. For one, there really is no such thing . . . it’s all subjective. Number two, I haven’t eaten all of them anyway. But I did eat all those I just mentioned and more in Paris, in addition to God knows how many before, outside of the City of Lights. I put it on the list because it was quite a superb and fairly unique texture and flavor experience. And for the record, if you’re a regular cheesecake eater . . . I’m 99.9% sure you’ve had something like Secco’s a few times before. I have. That’s not to say it isn’t a good cheesecake; it’s just nothing I’d write home about.

But enough of my treatise of cheesecakeology. Let’s discuss the Cheese Cake Citronné. It’s composed of crème de fromage, zestes de citron, crème de citron and sablé noissette. The standout features are in the crème de fromage, which is exquisitely light and airy, yet with this amazing tang you wouldn’t quite expect from something so delicate. Together with the zestes de citron and crème de citron, it creates this wonderful dance of the alternatingly sweet/sharp lemon tones and fromage piquance. The sablé noissette (loosely translated as hazelnut shortbread) is certainly a 10x swankier alternative to a graham cracker crust, though texturally not a world-apart from it. The flavor . . . solid, enjoyable, not mindblowing. The same goes for the little flourish of chocolate atop it all, but it’s only a whisper of chocolate meant more to delight the eyes than the palate. The total effect of the piece is . . . one of the finest and most nuanced cheesecakes I’ve ever had.

For as excellent as Aoki’s work was here, he’s still nowhere close to being in the same league as The Cheesecake Factory, specifically the Riverside Square Mall location in Hackensack, New Jersey. Kidding, of course. I just couldn’t help myself. Despite lacking a “Snickers Bar Chunks” piece in his repertoire, Aoki really does appear to have the edge if they ever went head-to-head.

So, yes, do check out Aoki’s Cheese Cake Citronné. If you enjoy lighter cheesecakes, and love a nice pop of citrus, it’s for you. Those inclined toward the denser cheesecake varieties are less likely to be amused, but if there were ever a lightweight that could sway you, this might be it.

Monday’s review will be tasty, but definitely make sure you’re here next Friday, too! It’s going to be a monster 30 photo exposé of Pain de Sucre. You will not believe what you’re about to see. Of course catching it all is easy when you add Paris Patisseries as a friend on Facebook. There’s no better way for you to stay on top of the latest in Paris Patisseries

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