nsxtasy wrote:In the past few weeks I've visited two new bakeries in Chicago.
...

1. Alliance Bakery recently opened in Wicker Park.

Alliance just opened? Haven't they been around forever?

Sorry, I had never heard of it before seeing it mentioned recently in the Tribune, so I guess it was an erroneous assumption on my part. Their macaroons are pretty darn good, dontcha think?

Floriole opened three months ago, so I would consider it new.

Most exciting discovery yesterday after dinner at Sun Wah: Ba Le on Broadway now has macarons, and they're good!



I got one of each of the three flavors on display ($1.35 a piece), and I was overjoyed to find out that the purple ganache-filled one was ube (or purple yam)-flavored! This is a flavor from my childhood, so I get very nostalgic... Besides flavoring, I thought overall texture and construction of these macarons were first-tier for Chicago.

For reference (not necessarily ordered within each tier; excludes homemade macarons I've tried, some of which would stand up favorably...ahem, tgoddess):

First Tier
Vanille; PIerrot Gourmet; Macaron Chicago

Second Tier
Floriole; Fritz; Bittersweet; one giant, filled macaron at La Farine

Third Tier
Bennison's; Delightful Pastries; Al's; E.leaven

I don't care for any of the other pastries I've tried at Ba Le, but I would return for the ube macarons.

Ba Le
5016 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL 60640
773-561-442

Habibi wrote:

kanin wrote:I think the quality of the macarons at Pierrot Gourmet (in the Peninsula by the Mag Mile), is comparable to the macarons at Vanille. Crisp eggshell crust with a moist interior. I think they only started offering these recently.

The flavors are pretty basic (raspberry, pistachio, chocolate). The more unusual flavors are blueberry and peanut butter and jelly. Each cookie is $1.50, but larger at about 2 inches in diameter.

They also offer macarons (4 inch?) as a plated dessert for $6 each. There is a larger version of the PB&J with peanut brittle and it was well worth it.



Pierrot Gourmet
108 East Superior Street
Chicago, IL 60611

I've had great macarons here, raspberry was awesome. Perfectly crisp and light exterior giving away to creamy berry essence. I haven't had Vanille's so I can't comment vis a vis. Pierrot's croissants are also some of the best I've had in the city.

I can't believe how long it took me to try Pierrot Gourmet. Yesterday I tried their raspberry, pumpkin spice and Nutella macarons (they had several other flavors). The texture and appearance of all three were outstanding. As for flavor, I enjoyed all quite a bit but Nutella the most. At $2/macaron, they're pricey . . . but in my opinion the cost to make a good macaron, and the labor involved, justify the price of these gems. They also offer attractive, macaron-specific boxes so they'd make for an excellent gift.

I've had some pretty great macarons at Hendrickx Bakery

Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter
100 East Walton Street Chicago, IL 60611

also, I prefer Delightful Pastries' macarons to Vanille's, but I've only ever had either at the Ogilvie French Market. Delightful's have always been crisp and fresh and tender, the ones I've had from Vanille were hopelessly, unforgivably stale.

So is Chicago Macaron dead? upthread there are many posts about it, the link goes to some japanese fashion site and google just goes to the plethora of sites rating the places I've already found macaron in Chicago.

Suiname wrote:So is Chicago Macaron dead? upthread there are many posts about it, the link goes to some japanese fashion site and google just goes to the plethora of sites rating the places I've already found macaron in Chicago.

I believe she moved to New Orleans.

sarcon wrote:I've had some pretty great macarons at Hendrickx Bakery

Hendrickx Belgian Bread Crafter
100 East Walton Street Chicago, IL 60611

I second this. I didn't even know this place existed until a week ago. The macaroons are good, and larger than I've usually had at other places. Much recommended. Pretty much everything I've had here is great.

Disclaimer: I work a second job part time as a kitchen assistant for the Northbrook Sur La Table.

I know that the Northbrook Sur La Table in Northbrook court always has classes for these cookies and the fillings for them, if you want to try and make them at home instead of buying them.
I will admit that they are alot of work but you do get to take cookies home with you.

DirtyDuckInn wrote:Disclaimer: I work a second job part time as a kitchen assistant for the Northbrook Sur La Table.

I know that the Northbrook Sur La Table in Northbrook court always has classes for these cookies and the fillings for them, if you want to try and make them at home instead of buying them.
I will admit that they are alot of work but you do get to take cookies home with you.

They aren't particularly difficult, it's a meringue with almond flour and flavorings mixed in. The parts that can trip people up are:

Not letting the eggs come to room temp before making the meringue.
Keeping the size consistent when depositing the batter on the baking sheet.
Waiting until the piped batter forms a skin before baking.

I got the texture 100% right the first time I tried (years ago) and I bake about once a year. After that it took a couple more tries to get the sizing right. Start here for some great recipes:

http://www.gourmet.com/search/query?keyword=macarons

spinynorman99 wrote:They aren't particularly difficult, it's a meringue with almond flour and flavorings mixed in. The parts that can trip people up are:

I disagree with this characterization. To get truly good macaron, in addition to the trick with knowing when the meringue is ready (my tip to anyone trying at home is that if you can get a peak to stay still when you flip the bowl on its side, it's good) you need to grind the almond flour really fine, which is arduous if you are doing it by hand. Obviously if you are making large batches and/or have some fancy equipment to do it, it's much easier. Grinding almond flour twice through a sifter by hand was painful.

I disagree with this characterization.

And I agree with you. I spent a few weekends this spring trying to master this at home and never got to exactly where I wanted them, and I am a fairly experienced home baker. The big issue being the right consistency of the batter and getting the right balance between too stiff and too liquid.

Rowie's, a Filipino bakery across the street from Angry Crab, has been written about elsewhere on this board but I hadn't paid any attention to it until this past week when I tried some of their macarons. All of the macarons I tasted were pretty good in terms of texture, though perhaps slightly older than what you'd find at a bakery that turns over macarons with more frequency. Still, good.

What separated these macarons from others you'll find throughout the city are the flavors - ube (purple yam), pandan, raspberry with lychee, green tea. Not all delivered the intense flavors I hoped for (though tasting at a single time perhaps skewed my impression), but the pandan was front and center.

Rowie's offers a number of other items, including halo halo, and I hope to explore it a little more, and to try their macarons again.







Rowie's Bakery
5664 N Lincoln Ave
773.293.7094

Bennison's had some fall flavors yesterday, taffy apple and pumpkin - both delicious. Also enjoyed their lemon and red velvet. At about $1.25 each they offer good value.

Tony's Patisserie (Chicago Loop) had candy corn flavored ones-looked cute-did not try but plan on buying some this week as we near Halloweeen.