Ploafmaster General

This morning I finally had a chance to stop by the 17th Street Farmers Market to check out Veronica Perez’s macarons. She sells them under a little side business called Petites Bouchées, and after the free sample of the hazelnut with salted caramel (pictured above, I believe, from her Flickr account), it was an easy purchasing decision. Val and I bought two pleasantly-wrapped three packs including (between the two) vanilla with buttercream, pistachio with chocolate ganache (AMAZING), raspberry, and the aforementioned hazelnut with salted caramel.

A few important notes:
1. So far these are ideally found at the farmers market on Saturdays only. I believe she’ll do Monday orders, but according to her website, I think they’re only for out-of-towners (assuming I understood that correctly).
2. Because of today’s heat, they were in a cooler instead of on display. The card attached to each packet recommends letting them come to room temperature before consuming. I whole-heartedly agree. I couldn’t wait at first and ate one, and I was a little disappointed at the lack of the faint crisp skin I expected from the macarons in Paris. After I was home and they’d warmed up a bit, I had another and presto! Just like France. Delicious.
3. Unfortunately, she only seems to offer the min-sized pastries which are about the diameter of a quarter. Part of me wishes for the larger variety that were available in Paris – a single one is just the right size snack – but then I suppose she’d have to call these grandes bouchées

Whatever the case, these are ALL delicious, and I highly recommend checking out her stall in the market. This week (and perhaps all the time?) she was in the center closer to Main Street, and it’s important to note that she won’t be there the next two Saturdays, but it’s definitely worth waiting until later in June for these authentic goodies.

Well well well.

I just returned from an early morning bagel run to Cupertino’s N.Y. Bagel and Deli in the West End (do they actually have their own website?). This is my third visit including yesterday morning – investigation requires work, after all – and I’m convinced now that I’ve found something resembling a decent bagel shop in Richmond (and possibly even a good deli!). I’ve since had some more bagels (pretty good), a capicola and mozzarella sandwich on their fresh baked rye bread (not quite a deli-portion of meat, but it was DELICIOUS), and even some of that Boylan cream soda I dig so much. Next time I go over there (how soon is too soon?) I plan to hit up some of their fresh crumb cake in addition to some fresh cold cuts for the week’s lunches.

Is this a true transplanted deli from the Northeast? Have I found my real bagels and delicatessen?

I’d say it’s halfway – but that’s very promising for my fair city. The bagels are certainly a cut above anything Einstein’s or Panera has to offer. The fact that I can get capicola on a sandwich is rare (but not impossible) in Richmond. The fresh rye bread is fantastic, though, and tasted at least as good as anything I’ve had back in Jersey. My hope is that Cupertino’s remains a busy so that other bagel makers see opportunity down here in the South.

Tip o’ the hat to Tripp for pointing out the joint.