Sometimes a single pastry just isn’t enough for breakfast… and sometimes it so is. The pain au chocolat from La Bergamote is itself an experience that proves that delicious food is so much more than just yummy taste. Before you even break into the pastry, you can smell the sweet, buttery aroma trapped in the shiny shell. Then you chip off a piece of crispy edging and begin to peel away layers of heaven – some delicately flaky and translucent, and others lightly chewy. With each peel you get closer to the chocolate – 2 dark, rich tunnels of chocolate craddled between light, airy pockets formed by buttery sheets of dough. When you tear off a piece and bite into it, the chocolate begins to travel and you get nice little flecks that sort of melt and spread into the other layers. You wonder if you’re eating it correctly…but then you realize that the lack of method is precisely the method. The deconstruction is what allows you to focus on each and every taste and texture, and to appreciate how they all come together. It’s not often that a single pastry is enough for me on a weekend morning, but in this case, I couldn’t have wanted anything else.
169 9th Avenue (at 20th Street) New York, NY 10011
mmmmmm. i can actually TASTE the chewiness of the pastry, and then the melting and melding of the chocolate with the buttery layers. deeelish!
This definitely beats the stale, waxy croissants that I’m getting from the ‘mobile diners’ around the office. Though this seriously makes me want to huck my fruit bowl at the next cubicle passerby, I have to admit, there are quite a few pastry places around Ditmars that could give Bergamote a run for their money. I think I should learn some Greek and conduct some research, starting tomorrow morning.
Christine: we’ll def pick one up on your next visit!
Kerry: let me know what you find out there…i owe you a “trip” to Queens anyway, and you know how baked goods lure me…