Old Post 20: Bringing Bretagne to Pittsburgh, Jean Marc Chatellier Bakery

His slogan- when taste matters.  His delivery?  Nearly perfect.

Nestled in the middle of Millvale, Pennsylvania (of all places) is a French-style bakery so close to a true French patisserie that it transports you to Paris, even if for just a moment.  While Jean Marc Chatellier's is on the smaller side, the selection is not.  You can choose from an array of delectable tarts and breakfast pastries and round your choices off with cakes, cookies, and the irresistible Breton cake, a buttery Bretagne-style shortbread.  

This bakery has been the "great white buffalo" (reference Hot Tub Time Machine) of the Sugar Love bakery stops.  Each time it's been on the list to review (and this has been weekly for about a month), Jean Marc's has managed to stay just out of reach.  The first few times it was up for review, time was the issue.  A drive to Millvale just wasn't in the cards.  Then, at the end of July, time was not a problem, but Jean Marc's was closed for 2 weeks of holiday.  Ah, to be French. 

Then, this week, knowing they were open, the drive was made on Monday only to find that Jean Marc's is closed on Mondays.  The more elusive the bakery became, the more determined the Sugar Love craving became.  Yesterday, finally (!), the bakery was open and time came in abundance.  For as small of a shop as it is, you could easily spend 15 minutes salivating over his creations.  Sugar Love chose a croissant, a cinnamon croissant, a sweet brioche loaf, a chocolate rum pecan torte, an apple tart, a fresh fruit tart, a blueberry almond tart, a slice of raspberry mousse cake, a slice of cappuccino tiramisu cake, and a breton cake. 

Now, Jean Marc's was recommended for his croissants, which did not disappoint (although admittedly, Bouchon's were a little bit tastier).  They were moist, buttery, flaky and tender, as any good croissant should be.  The cinnamon croissant was especially tasty.  However, it was the Breton cake and the raspberry mousse cake that stole the show. 

Raspberry mousse cake is something you could probably find at another bakery.  However, Jean Marc's mastery of the thin layer of chocolate genoise paired with a lighter-than-air raspberry mousse is something that you couldn't find anywhere else in town.  It was quite simply beautifully, delectably, delicious.

The Breton cake is not something you can find at any other bakery and it's without a doubt, worth the trip.  When you think of shortbread, you are likely thinking of a barely sweet, buttery cookie that is iced. This French-style shortbread is nothing like that.  Jean Marc's is moist and buttery and lightly sweet, but has the texture of a cake, not a cookie.  To give you an idea, take a look at this link with a recipe for Breton cake.

Jean Marc's offerings were consistently delicious.  Almost everything would have been rated an overall 5 on the Sugar Love scale.  His attention to detail is shown in the meticulously appealing baked goodies he serves at his bakery Tuesday-Saturday.  For a true taste of France, come to Jean Marc's.

Jean Marc Chatellier's Breton Cake on the Sugar Love Scale

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Old Post 18: Road trip to Las Vegas: Bouchon Bakery at the Venetian

So imagine if you will, taking a 4 hour airplane ride to hot and sunny Las Vegas, NV.  You hail a cab and head straight for the Venetian, the Venezia tower.  Then it's up to the 10th floor to a little bistro called Bouchon. That's the destination of today's article on Sugar Loving sweets. 

Normally, we don't cover restaurants, but today's article takes you from fresh made beignets in the restaurant to butter croissants at the bakery outpost.

We'll begin with the restaurant itself- Bouchon.  As nearly all Las Vegas restaurants go, Bouchon in the Venetian is not the main location.  The home location for Bouchon Bistro and Bakery is in Yountville, CA, near Napa & Sonoma wine valleys.  As a Thomas Keller project, Bouchon is known for it's outstanding and thoughtful cuisine, but we'll know it today for it's perfect beignets and melt-in-your-mouth croissants. 

Let's begin with the beignets, which you can only get in the restaurant itself.  If you don't have time to do an entire meal experience at Bouchon, then just sit at the bar, order a latte or cafe au lait and ask for the beignets of the day.  Of all the things you can do in Vegas, this is one of the least expensive and most satisfying.  For $7, we received an order of three cinnamon spiced beignets with a chocolate dipping sauce and an apple butter and two raspberry filled beignets. 

Their perfection is hard to describe.  For the cinnamon spice beignet, you are greeted with a crunchy and sweet exterior dusted with cinnamon and sugar and then ushered into a pillow of delicious cake doughnut.  As an added bonus, this beignet was fresh made and still warm when it reached our table.  The raspberry filled beignet was wonderful as well.  It was bursting with what one can only assume is homemade raspberry jelly.

After you've satisfied your beignet and coffee fix, wander down to the casino floor directly below.  Hiding behind the escalator is the retail outpost for Bouchon's bakery.  Bouchon Bakery, which does all of Bouchon Bistro's bread, has a great variety of sweet little treats, from croissants to fruit & custard tarts to chocolates. 

If you are brave enough to face a possible sugar overdose, then here are some recommendations for things to try:

1.  Plain Croissant:  they really nail this traditional french pastry.  Even with nothing in it or on it, you can devour this croissant's buttery, flaky, and tender deliciousness in no time at all.

2. Lemon Currant Scone:  if you don't like things that are super sweet, this is a great option.  They make their scones the more traditional way, i.e., only slightly sweeter than a biscuit and much less sweet than a muffin.  The lemon and currants create great flavor balance.

3. Strawberry Croissant: this is a brilliant little pastry, so different from what you would expect.  When you think strawberry croissant, you are probably thinking of a filled croissant, similar to a pain au chocolat.  This croissant is very different. They cut the tops off of a regular croissant and fill it with fresh strawberry slices and a crumble topping that is then baked.  The best way to describe the crumble topping is to refer you to those strawberry shortcake frozen popsicles you used to find everywhere.

4.  Espresso Macaron:  it's not a macaroon, it's a macaron.  A parisian macaron to be exact.  The cookie itself is a meringue based cookie flavored and filled with a ganache style filling.  This cookie is to die for.  It's light, it's creamy, it's unexpected.  To give you an idea of the difference in the two cookies- macarons and macaroons, here are some recipes. 

Macaron:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/parisian-macaroons

Macaroon:

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/coconut-macaroons-2/Detail.aspx

But seriously, you have to try that cookie. 

Anymore, with bakeries, you find yourself choosing between small specialty shops that don't offer a wide selection and old school, traditional bakeries that are a get in and get out kind of operation with most of the offerings tasting just ok.  With Bouchon, you get the delicious taste and special treatment of each sweet that you would at a specialty bakery and the wide selection of goodies you would find at a traditional bakery.  That's a tough combination to beat. 

Bouchon Bakery's Espresso Macaron on the Sugar Love Scale

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