yaokui: Bouchon Bakery

Address: 10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY

http://www.bouchonbakery.com

Phone: 212-823-9364

After a disappointing lunch at Marlow & Sons, Gan and I were just driving aimlessly in the city, thinking of the next thing to eat. For some reasons, Gan just kept driving uptown and before we knew it, we were arriving near the Time Warner Building. Perhaps unconsciously we were both gravitated towards getting some goodies from Bouchon Bakery. But more amazingly, we managed to get a free parking right next to the building almost as soon as we arrived there!

In case you didn't know, Per Se and Bouchon Bakery actually shares the same pastry kitchen so it's the same people making the pastries for both Per Se and Bouchon Bakery. There are three Bouchon Bakeries in the country; the original Bouchon Bakery is located in Thomas Keller's "headquarter" in Yountville CA (a few blocks away from French Laundry), and another one at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I still vividly remember the taste of hand crafted chocolate candies and nougats Per Se restaurant gave me for my birthday after dining there. To me, Bouchon Bakery is by far the best French Bakery in the city; the pastries there are as good as those I had at Laduree and Stohrer in Paris.

Gan and I decided to have the caramel apple, muffin, madeleines, fig and pistachio macarons and granola parfait to go since the seating area was quite packed. We just ate the caramel apple while watching Yankee-Angels game at home, and decided to save our macarons and the rest of the goodies for breakfast and tea time tomorrow. It's gonna be a good day!