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City Secrets: Truly great croissants in an unsuspecting locale
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Starting today, and about once a week after, I will be posting about “city secrets”; tasty tidbits and insider’s info that will get you hitting the pavement looking for your piece of Chicago’s best. Granted, there aren’t too many true secrets anymore, after all, we are blessed with the internet and some great message boards, food reporting and writing. But in case you don’t have time to peruse all these foodie sites, read all the magazines and traipse through neighborhoods, I am here to do the work for you and report back. After all, my favorite thing about the food tours I lead is introducing people to new foods, shops, and markets, often opening up a whole new world of food.
So I’m starting off with something near and dear to my heart: croissants. There are so many bad croissants out there that you may have lost hope of ever having a great one. Coffee shop croissants are notoriously flabby and greasy and do no justice the magnificence this pastry can achieve in the right hands. Enter Peter Yuen, owner and pastry chef of La Patisserie P,on Argyle street on Chicago’s northside. Yes, this is the Southeast Asian neighborhood known more for Vietnamese Pho than French pastries. But believe me, Yuen is a qualified expert on croissants. Just last March he competed in Paris in the World Cup of Baking on the American team, taking 4th place in his category, Vienoisserie-the category of pastries that includes croissants.
Great croissants should be flaky and delicately crisp on the outside, soft, airy and light on the inside with a buttery, not too sweet flavor. My favorite is ‘pain au chocolat’, which has that awesome little bar of dark chocolate tucked away as a special treat. Yuen typically has the classic, chocolate and almond in his pastry cases, along with some French cakes and classic Chinese buns, desserts and breads. So now you have another reason to head to Argyle other than Pho. Just be sure to go on the early side, so you get an ultra- fresh croissant while they last.
For more info: My other favorite place for croissants: Vanille Patisserie
Details on how croissants are made and the “Nine pillars of pleasure” in tasting croissants:
http://www.colleensparis.com/Colleens_Paris_croissants.htm
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