Desserts of Paris

I'm not so sure about this theme approach to the Paris reports but this evening I'm feeling particularly distracted, not to say shiftless, and I feel that "desserts" is a topic that can be handily addressed in photos . . . photos that I just happen to have!

 It was something of a vacation of discovery as I found that while I saw a lot of fine chocolate pastries and desserts, I never actually ordered any. I apologize for the disappointment this may cause any readers.

Tart, couscous, and obligatory wine at Rodin Cafe

 The thing is, possibly, the fruit-based desserts are just a lot prettier. For example, the fruit tart featuring fresh red currants on offer at the Rodin Museum Cafe was simply gobsmackingly lovely, as well as delicious. Scott's more responsible adult meal of couscous was also fine. (I fell in love with fresh currants on this trip. They don't taste all that amazing but they're so gosh-darned pretty!)

"Les Cocottes" was the restaurant recommended to me by a co-worker before I left Seattle and it was a lovely spot too. We sat at the counter which meant we had ringside seats for watching the staff torture the new hire who was wearing an "Apprenti" nametag. He was painstakingly slow in all that he did, and too bashful to answer my question about an ingredient in the featured cocktail though the other servers did their best to force him to speak. The food was good too, particularly my panacotta with mango topping dessert.

Panacotta, coffee, and remains of obligatory wine at Les Cocottes

But, oh! how all other desserts paled when compared to the raspberry tart at Lenotre by the park on the Champs Elysées (Jardins des Champs-Elysées, I believe; one of the spots that M Proust used to walk about if one is to believe the signage). Lenotre might be a fairly high-end restaurant but they had reasonable (by Parisian standards) prices for food during their "salon de the" hours which happened to be about the time we decided we were famished somewhere between the "closed-due-to-strike" Musee D'Orsay and the Arc de Triomphe. The gazpacho soup I had was nice enough but the tart--oh my goodness me, the tart!--is what causes me to have a faraway look in my eyes. And the coffee came with some swanky little chocolate squares, just so I can say that I had chocolate in Paris:

Lenotre: The little cup holds raspberry syrup to pour over the tart.

Not shown because I left my camera home that night, the cannelle pastry that we shared after a fine dinner at Comestibles Jeanne B which was sort of a combination fancy deli/restaurant a few blocks from our apartment.