Paris » Markets of New York

Reflections on the Chocolate Show in Time for Valentine’s Day

Yes, I’m a bit late with this posting of the Chocolate Show that took place in New York last November. But since it’s almost Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d post about it now and give you some wonderful chocolate inspiration.

Honestly, I had the impression that the Chocolate Shows were for tourists. Even the one in Paris, with its gigantic subway ads and enticing images. But then I looked into it a bit more, and I thought maybe I should give it a chance. So this year, I went. And I’m here, as a massive chocoholic, to tell you that it was an incredible experience.

I arrived at a peak hour on Saturday, and the crowd was pretty big. But that just made me focus and scout out the chocolate companies I really wanted to see. I was pleased and thrilled to see some of the finest chocolatiers in the world all under one roof.

Through my friend and chocolate maker Matt, I met the incredibly talented French chocolate maker from Roanne, François Pralus. I’ve tried is wonderful Pyramide des Tropiques collection of dark chocolates from around the world at Murray’s Cheese. The packaging is so lovely that you hardly want to break into the chocolate, but definitely do! I took home two hefty bars of dark and milk chocolate filled with hazelnuts and praline that were out completely of this world.

Lyonnais chocolatier Bernachon was there too with their perfectly shiny and wonderful bars, as well as their signature gold-flecked bonbons. Lucy Vanel, an American living in Lyon and author behind the wonderful blog, Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook, graciously introduced us to Bernachon while we were visiting Lyon a few years ago. Again, the chocolates are almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

It was also wonderful to see New York market based companies at the chocolate show, including Roni-Sue’s Chocolates. Chocolatier Rhonda Kave of the Essex Street Market was happily providing samples of her famous BeerCrunch and even more famous Pig Candy. Spices & Tease, from their new home in the Grand Central Market, featured a chocolate-related tea collection and other spices that go with sweet and savory chocolate dishes.

The tiny golden-bellied chocolate Buddha pictured came to us from Indiana, handmade by Chocolate for the Spirit in Shelbyville. Des Lis Chocolat creates gorgeous and unique bonbons flavored with poppy flower petals. Their poppy flower petal jelly also caught my eye at the Chocolate Show. Rounding out my experience were the rich and exotic almond paste-filled Babouche au Chocolat from La Gazelle D’Or in Paris and Casablanca. And finally, I washed it all down with my old friends, the huge, decadent, scrumptious chocolate chip cookies from Jacques Torres.

These are just a few of the 65+ exhibitors at the Chocolate Show in New York. Is it for tourists? Sure! Is it for New Yorkers with a passion for rich, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate and lots of it? Definitely! I was impressed, I was happy, and I spent a lot of extra time at the gym afterwards.

Will I go back next time? Absolutely!

My Market Haul – And Then Some!

Have you heard of “haul videos”? Usually they are videos created by girls showing us their “haul,” or everything they bought at the mall that weekend. Well, I get just as excited about the things I find at the artisan, farmer, food and flea markets in New York City!

So here is a photo of My Market Haul for this past weekend. It doesn’t include all the delicious things I tasted or gobbled up, but I thought it made a pretty collage. I made it to the markets closest to home on Sunday, namely the Fulton Stall Market and the New Amsterdam Market. Items in this photo are the following market items:

Peaches, Tomatoes and a Maitake Mushroom, Do Re Mi Farms – Perfect!
Balsamic Vinaigrette Basico, SchoolHouse Kitchen – Tangy and tasty!
Cream Soda Syrup, P&H Soda Co. – As a gift for someone very lucky special.
Moses Sleeper Cheese, The Cellars at Jasper Hill – It’s creamy and delicious.
The Queens Guard and Ceylon Teas, Bellocq Tea Atelier – Both blends are remarkable, especially iced.
Eiffel Tower Ring, UrbanRose – I got three of these for my Francophile friends to ensure we all end up in Paris together very soon.

I will be featuring the other amazing things I ate at these markets during the week. What treasures did you find?

Photo of the Day – Wednesday 6/29/11: Caja Jewelry

Caja Jewelry was one of the first design companies that I met at the Brooklyn Flea when I first started doing research for my book, Markets of New York City: A Guide to the Best Artisan, Farmer, Food and Flea Markets. I immediately loved their nameplate jewelry. It reminded me of the Sex and the City scene in Paris when Carrie Bradshaw finds her missing “Carrie” nameplate in her vintage Chanel clutch and gets her mojo back.

Fast forward to February, 2011 when Caja’s nameplates adorned the models on no less than 20 pages of this year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Not to mention the ads I saw on bus stops and in the 14th Street subway station. Seriously huge deal. And because SI gives credit where credit is due, Caja’s company name appeared next to each photo.

Caja makes a wide range of handcut designs in addition to the name plates. They make name plate cuffs, which I’ve never seen before. And their charms are delicate and whimsical. I love them all, but the cleaver really speaks to me for some reason…

So I am thrilled to report that while they’re business is taking off, Caja owners and designers Andrea and Juan can still be found in the city’s artisan markets. I recently ran into them at the Renegade Craft Fair, and they sell their designs at several local shops, including our favorite Better Than Jam Coop. Visit the Caja Jewelry online shop, and please “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter!

Guest Market: White Plains Farmers Market in the Paris Tradition

You know how romantic it is to stroll through the lovely food and farmers markets in Paris? The family-owned company that has run those markets for generations, The Bensidoun Group, also puts on several markets here in the US. Their flagship venue is the Chicago French Market, and they also run several other local farmers markets in Illinois, Michigan, and New York. I met brothers Pascal and Sebastien Bensidoun through my research and writing about markets and my passion for Paris.

They have run the mid-week White Plains Farmers Market for several years, and I went to Opening Day on May 11th. Based on the model of the traditional Parisian outdoor markets, this farmers market is the perfect place to pick up a fresh, healthy lunch and to buy local, delicious ingredients to take home for dinner.

These two photo galleries include some of the wonderful farmers. local food purveyors, and artisanal product makers that can be found at this market each week:

The White Plains Farmers Market
Mead Orchards in Tivoli, NY
Rolling Ridge Farm in Mifflinburg, PA
Mirabelle Cheese Shop’s Market Cafe: Cheese on Wheels
Merriweather’s Handmade Soaps, Bath Salts, and Oils
Dr. Pickle (I can’t get enough of their hot peppers!)
Big Girl Baking Co.
Pura Vida Fisheries in Hampton Bays, NY
Panzarella Gourmet Italian Foods (Made my very first Chicken Parm with Panzarella’s mushroom marinara and fresh mozarella. Superb.)
Westchester Greenhouses and Farm

If you can’t make it to Paris for the weekend, maybe a bunch of apple blossoms, a taste of soft cheese, some fresh bread, and a tub of plump strawberries will transport you, even if it’s just for your lunch break.

The White Plains Farmers Market is right downtown on Court Street between Main Street and Martine Avenue and every Wednesday from 11AM to 4PM through November 30, 2011.

Bellocq Tea Atelier at the New Amsterdam Market

I have been a tea drinker since I was a small child. In fact, my mother used to put me down for a nap with a bottle of warm, sweet tea. Interestingly, she’d fall fast asleep next to me while I stayed wide awake through the afternoon. Be that as it may, I drink a pot of tea every morning and every afternoon, and sometimes I’ll have a cup of Verbena or Chamomile before bed. I wouldn’t call myself a tea snob, but I do love a steamy, fragrant cup of carefully crafted tea, I’ll admit. My tea of choice is Earl Grey French Blue from Marriage Freres in Paris. However, there is something uniquely lovely about a Lipton tea bag soaked in a thick ceramic mug at a New York City diner. It’s all part of the grand tea experience.

So I was absolutely thrilled to meet fellow tea afficcionados Heidi Johannsen Stewart and Michael Shannon at the New Amsterdam Market. They are the founders of Bellocq Tea Atelier, along with colleagues Young Yoon and Scott Stewart. The original tea atelier is located on Kings Road in London, and we are very fortunate to welcome their new outpost in Brooklyn. They blend full-leaf organic teas into wonderful, rich flavors, such as No. 1 Bellocq Breakfast with “notes of honey, malt and a touch of leather.” I’ve been drinking it in the morning, and it is indeed a wonderful way to wake up. No. 22 Noble Savage is an organic black tea blend featuring juniper berries, douglas fir tips, and blue cornflowers. You must try it during these cold wintery days.

One of the things I love about Bellocq is their obvious passion for tea and their talent for creating organic tea blends that are unique, fragrant, and flavorful to invigorate or calm. And the tea leaf blends themselves are stunning to look at, such as No. 52 Etoile de L’Inde, with its pink rose petals, yellow marigold petals, blue cornflowers, jasmine silver needles and green tea leaves. Bellocq’s London tea shop was recently featured in Vogue and Wallpaper.

Bellocq Tea Atelier will be at the New Amsterdam Market through December 19. This weekend the market is hosting Coffee, Cocoa and Citrus, featuring coffee tastings and brewing tutorials.

Bellocq Tea Atelier's Beautiful Organic Blends at the New Amsterdam Market

Photo of the Day – August 3, 2010: Macaron Parlour

Classic Meets Hip at the Macaron Parlour: Nutella, Rocky Road, Salt Caramel, and S'Mores Macarons

The thing I love the most about Macaron Parlour is their distinctly American twist on the most classic of French classics, the Parisian macaron. Without sacrificing the incredibly refined and delicate texture of the macaron, Christina Ha and Simon Tung create flavors that would hopefully thrill but just might shock the bakers at Laduree, one of my favorite patisseries in Paris that has been making these light, crispy delicacies since the 1860’s.

Ha studied pastry making at the Atelier Pierre Herme de Formation a la Haute Patisserie in Paris, and Tung “always had a soft spot for sweets and loves being in the kitchen.” Together, they maintain the beautiful, soft, pastel colors of the traditional macarons, and even some of the flavors, like salt caramel and vanilla. But many of their flavors pull from the American palate, including Peanut Butter Cup, Rocky Road, and S’Mores. The Asian-American influence is really wonderful too in their Thai Chili and Matcha flavored macarons.

And then there’s the Candied Bacon with Maple Cream Cheese macaron, a perfect combination of maple sugar with a hint of savory bacon. It’s like a tiny bite of Sunday brunch.

As I wrote yesterday, Macaron Parlour was one of the delightful stops on our “Sugar Fest” this past weekend. Pick up all the flavors at the Hester Street Fair every weekend, or place your order on the Macaron Parlour’s Etsy shop.

Vive Le Macaron Franco-Americain!

Touring and Eating at the Markets of Paris

NOTE: 10/19/2010: Markets of New York is on a bit of a vacation, so we’re reposting some of our favorite pieces from the past year! Here’s one from January 28, 2010:

James and I went to Paris last week. Again. People keep asking us why we go back over and over, and for a brief moment we contemplated not returning until next year. The instant melancholy we both felt was enough to convince us that we’ll visit much sooner than that, probably October. That should give our cholesterol time to level out.

We had a particularly wonderful and magical time this trip, probably because we had no real agenda other than finding a daily fix of foie gras and sharing a nightly bottle of Côtes du Rhone. One thing that made this trip special was touring and eating at the glorious Parisian markets with brothers Sebastien and Pascal Bensidoun, fourth generation market owners and managers at Groupe Bensidoun in France and Bensidoun USA. In addition to their markets in Paris, they also run thirteen French-style markets in Illinois, Michigan, and White Plains, New York. In November 2009, they opened the French Market in Chicago to the delight of foodies there.

We rent apartments when we go to Paris, and we love to buy much of our food at the markets. One of our favorite markets is on Boulevard Richard Lenoir, which we first found in an inspirational little book, “Markets of Paris.“ We buy fresh vegetables, delicious cheeses that we’ve never heard of before, sometimes shrimp, and always a fragrant roasted chicken, a crunchy baguette and some sort of scrumptious tart. I was introduced to Sebastien and Pascal through my research for “Markets of New York City.” So, a week ago Sunday, our first full day in Paris, the Bensidoun brothers picked us up and whisked us off to the Marché Bio, or the Organic Market at Raspail.

The food markets of Paris have a long and wonderful history, and the organic market is especially remarkable. All the food items are certified “AB,” or “Agriculture Biologique” by the French Ministry of Agriculture. The products looked fresh, flawless, and delicious. The string beans, carrots, Clementine oranges and litchis we ate at home definitely tasted great. There is an immense variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, prepared foods, honey, preserves, meat, seafood, and much more. An impressive number of people were waiting in line for the organic breads. James picked up a tiny heart-shaped piece of goat cheese covered in ash. It was the strongest goat we’ve ever tasted and stuck with us for the rest of the day. My favorite item was the grouping of black truffles under a glass cloche. The vendor lifted the cover, and the musky mushroomy fragrance swam up into the air. We learned that there are truffles and there are truffles. If the price seems too good to be true, they are probably imported from Asia. French truffles never lose their value, unless, of course, they get eaten.

We also visited the market at Auguste Blanqui in the 13^th Arrondissement that day and Cours de Vincennes later in the week. Like the Raspail market, Auguste Blanqui sets up on the on the center island of a boulevard, and so it is long and narrow, unlike our sprawling market at Union Square. This market runs almost a kilometer in length, with vendor tables on either side. At the Cours de Vincennes, we had an unexpected and delicious meal of salmon, salsify, and red wine with a Valrhona chocolate for dessert. The French Federation of Amateur Chefs holds food demonstrations at the markets, and Sebastien and Pascal made sure we didn’t miss this one. The salmon melted in my mouth. Despite the rainy day, the market was lively and active.

We didn’t run into Gerard Depardieu or Catherine Deneuve, who both, as we understand, frequent the markets. But we felt like celebrities ourselves as we strolled along with Sebastien and Pascal. They introduced us to the vendors and showed us all of the wonderful things about their markets. Merci beaucoup! We’ll be back soon!