Laduree, the queen of Parisian macaron stores, has finally put its mark on the New York landscape. For many years, there were only Laduree stores in Paris and Tokyo, but now we have finally been deemed worthy. Laduree opened its doors to the upscale Upper East Side, and lines have already been spilling out its fancy doors.
I met my dear friend K for lunch and she gave me this box of macarons for my birthday. Thanks K!! You're awesome. I brought my little box of treasures back to the office and though I was stuffed from lunch, I thought I would take a peek and see what delicate flavors awaited. I saw that the caramel macaron had melted and cracked a bit from traveling all around Manhattan, so I thought I would put it out of its unsightly misery. Then I wondered, what is this pink one? Rose or raspberry? ... Raspberry. Yellow one? ... Lemon. Green? Pistachio. And on and on until only one macaron remained in my saddeningly empty box. The last one smelled like hazelnut, and since I'm allergic to various nuts, I did the magnanimous thing and saved this one for my husband.
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Update (10/27/2011):
I've been flooded by macarons. Rejoice!
Two weeks ago, I told my mother, who was visiting me in NY, that Laduree had recently opened on the UES. Having purchased macarons all over NYC during a prior trip to NY, she of course had to go and compare Laduree to the others. My mom bought a box of Laduree macarons for my sister-in-law C, because a few days prior we had bought her a box of macarons from Maison du Macaron (in Chelsea) and instead of actually giving them to her, we ate them with her. She got 25% of the macarons initially intended for her. Sorry C!! So mom bought even more macarons from Laduree to make up for it. After tasting some of the Laduree macarons, my mother declared Maison du Macaron winner of the macaron wars. She wasn't a big fan of the jam filling in some of the fruit-flavored Laduree macarons and found the variety and inventive flavors (apple cider macaron!) at Maison to be superior. Being her daughter, I agreed. Though Maison probably cannot stand up to Paris' Pierre Hermes -- his macarons are in a class / planet / universe of their own. But please don't get me wrong - I would more than happily eat Laduree macarons every single day if I could.
My dear friend J also bought me a lovely box of macarons for my birthday (along with a bag full of other foodie gifts). Thanks J!!
As soon as J left my apartment, I began my ravenous dive into the box. A few minutes later, I was getting ready for bed and my husband reached for the box, opened it and exclaimed, "You ate all of them already?!"
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