Le Parfait Paris

C’est magnifique!  What an extraordinary treat to be invited to sample San Diego’s latest French culinary establishment, Le Parfait Paris.  Le Parfait Paris is making it’s debut onto the San Diego Food Scene with a wonderful variety of fresh baked pastries, paninis, and more!

To say I am excited is an understatement.  I’ve had the good fortune of visiting Paris a few times in the last decade and what I miss most are the phenomenal patisseries and boulangeries that line the streets.  So, I had my fingers crossed when we first heard about Le Parfait Paris opening in San Diego that they would bring a touch of Paris straight to us.  My prayers were answered!  They are currently offering their delectables at their bakery & boutique location and will be opening their cafe in downtown San Diego shortly in April.

We were given a tour of their bakery operations by Ludi (COO) and Guillaume (Founder & CEO).  Their kitchen was immaculately clean with fascinating contraptions lining every corner.   They even had a high tech macaron machine, which had a touch screen to select the type of shell you wish to create.  Le Parfait Paris only uses the highest quality ingredients and imports directly from France when needed (i.e. butter)!

Meet Chef Jean François Fays, or Jeff, who makes the magic happen in the kitchen.  He is from the South of France and a mentee of Master Chef Christophe Calderon.  He had always dreamed of coming to the United States, so what better place to move than to America’s Finest City, San Diego!  As you can see, he is handcrafting some tart shells.

After our tour, Ludi and Guillaume sat us down to a special sampling.  Although Darren and I wanted to eat all of this at once, we paced ourselves and were smart to remember to bring home some treats for the girls.

First up were the macarons.  If you’ve never had these before, you’re in for a real treat.  Macarons are sweet meringue-based confections filled with a ganache, fruit, or cream.  Le Parfait Paris brings a solid offering to the table.  Their brilliant colors and and subtle almond essence brought me back to France.   However, the outer layer was missing a little of the bounce and airiness I’m used to and  I also would have preferred a little more depth in the flavors, but again it was pretty good overall.  (Having said that, I’m comparing these to some of the world’s best macarons I’ve indulged in from Pierre Hermé in Paris.)  You should definitely try these though and let me know what you think.

Just below the macarons in the picture, was a chocolate sensation called, Le Trilogie.  Three layers of dark, milk, and white chocolate mousses over a light brownie was literally TO DIE FOR.  Incredible.  As I mentioned earlier, Le Parfait Paris is proud to use only the best ingredients and their chocolate from Cacao Barry is amazing.  You can really taste the difference: perfectly smooth, rich in cacao, and somehow not overly sweet.  This could possibly be my favorite of the tray!

But, before I hang onto the glory of Le Trilogie, the Strawberry cake (I’m totally forgetting the name of this one) was a close second.  Fresh strawberries, a light cake, and a divine vanilla bean custard made for an unforgettable treat.  It seems simple, yet I assure you it was not.  The quality of each individual component is what made these pastries standout.  I’ll talk more about the pain au chocolat more below, but the éclair was fabulous as well.  It also had an infusion of the vanilla bean custard which was perfect with the light outer shell covered with white chocolate.  Can you tell I’m re-living these all!?  🙂

We wanted to take a couple pictures to show you the inside layers of the pastries and breads. One of my favorite items (and there were too many too review) was the pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant).  The croissant was flakey and buttery with a rich chocolate center.  This one was perfectly executed and I may find myself having to grab one of these weekly. The second item you see is their olive bread.  As you can see from where we tore the bread, it had a perfect balance of airy texture, bread, and olive.  We appreciated the crustiness of the outside and the softness inside.  My only regret is that I didn’t have butter with it.

In reviewing their menu, most of the pastries and breads are very reasonably priced.  I seriously cannot wait to try all the other items I didn’t get to try that day (and we tried a lot!).  I will be back for sure and looking out for their new cafe to open soon.

Finally, a quick note worth mentioning… Le Parfait Paris is also “Giving Colors” which simply means they are contributing a portion of their revenues towards socially conscious programs (example:  a portion of their pink macaron sales will be donated to help breast cancer awareness, etc.)

Well, if you couldn’t tell by now, I am super stoked that Le Parfait Paris has come to San Diego.  Everyone we met from Guillaume, Ludi, to Chef Jeff were super passionate about providing the best quality and service.  We wish them all the best with their endeavors.

http://leparfaitparis.com/

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