payard

1032 lex ave b/t 73rd & 74th

this is the place that miranda goes to on sex & the city when she decides to swear off men and replace them with chocolate. where she is recommended the lourve, monsieur payard’s signature chocolate dessert, but then promptly declines when she hears the price, and instead makes her $2.50 duncan hines devil’s food cake. i can see why a woman would chose payard for her male-substituting chocolate.

for A’s birthday, i wanted to get something special and delicious, since i didn’t have time to make anything myself (and i don’t have much cake-making experience as it is – c.f. icing disaster for S’ yoga graduation chocolate cake). after looking around, i discovered payard, and upon seeing le louvre, realized that it was the sex & the city patisserie. i couldn’t resist. especially when i found that their smallest size (enough to feed 6, really), was only $26, not much more than most other cake places that i looked at. i wanted to get the flourless chocolate. but as popular as it is with, er, me, it turns out that in le monde de patisseries, it’s mainly only made as a last resort passover substitution dessert. they only had a few small-size cake options (i would call ahead next time for a specific cake), and only one had any chocolate. fortunately, the notre dame ended up being DELICIOUS (as i’m sure all their cakes and pastries are). it’s composed of chocolate biscuit, chocolate mouse, and vanilla bavarois. and trust me, it was plenty chocolatey.

i would love to go back to have dessert or tea there. perhaps the grand tasting ($19) of all the signature cakes, or maybe just a tea and a delicious-looking, decadent, butter-filled french pastry. would you like to come with me?

(they do serve lunch and dinner which might be good as well, but i feel less intrigued by that.)