Monday, January 25, 2010

Cote France (Boca Raton)

Sometimes a girl just needs her sweets. Ever since my trip to California's Patisserie Chantilly and Jin Patisserie last year, I have been searching for their equivalents in South Florida.


On the suggestion of one of my good friends, I drove over to Cote France Bakery right off of Federal Highway in Boca Raton. It is a small establishment within a strip mall off of Mizner with a nondescript signs that simple states "Bakery."


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The shop was quite quaint and the display case held about 10 different desserts they had prepared for the day. They are presented quite simply in a bakery case, but their presentation is just out of this world (they all look so beautiful). I didn't take a picture of the display case sadly. I was feeling a bit sheepish, so I grabbed a snapshot from outside. If you look closely you can see me in the reflection!


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On this day I played it safe and ordered a few dessert staples: a napoleon and some éclairs. Three different offerings of éclairs stood before me: mocha, vanilla, and chocolate. Since I'm not a chocolate fan (yes, I realize I'm in the minority), I ordered two vanilla and one mocha éclair along with my napoleon. Each dessert cost me $4.


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After paying, I was off to visit my boyfriend at his work. Being foodies, we love to share these experiences with each other. It was a few hours before he got off of work, but right afterwards we broke out the desserts.


My boyfriend doesn't touch caffeine of any kind, so I had the mocha éclair all to myself! From the first bite, I knew that I had found a real jewel in this bakery. The pate a choux (the pastry dough) was light and flaky. The custard within wasn't overtly sweet, a malady which many desserts suffer from, and had a pleasantly silky texture. The mocha icing/glaze on top of the éclair was what actually accented the éclair with just the right amount of sweetness. The mocha taste in the custard wasn't prevalent upon the first taste, but rather was more so a vanilla flavor with a rush of mocha aftertaste that lingered behind. The vanilla éclair was much the same, with the exception of having a chocolate icing and purely vanilla custard.


Next came the napoleon, which is a staple in most bakeries. Their napoleon is made quite well, the layers are once again light and flaky, not hard to bite through (which is a problem I've had with other napoleons, which tend to place thick layers with the texture of a cracker). The custard is the same vanilla custard from the éclair, but that doesn't make it any less yummy. =) For me I was most impressed by the white and dark chocolate glaze on the top. At some bakeries the top glaze is just too thick and therefore cracks when you try to eat it or comes out in one huge piece. Perhaps what is even worse is when the chocolate is just too rich and overpowers the entire desserts! However, the thin layer of glaze (not too thin, but just right) gave way once you took a bite and acted as a sweet punctuation to the dessert.


I also bought two macaroons, strawberry and coffee. Sadly...I lost them in transit and did not have a chance to try them. However I did snap a quick picture of them when I first got into the car. They looked soooo cute, I can't believe I lost them. *sigh* Maybe next time I'll keep better track of them. XD


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Overall, my experience at Cote France was a pleasant one. The desserts were extremely well made and most importantly didn't suffer from an overdose of sugar. I'm definitely going to need to head back to try their other desserts and perhaps try out their soup + sandwich lunch combination.

Edit: I went back the next day to buy a box of sweets for my father to try out. Look how pretty the tart is!


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Cote France
110 NE 2nd St
Boca Raton, FL 33432
(561) 392-2907
Cote France on Urbanspoon

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