Les Gourmandises de France

Tuesday afternoon, as I passed by a French bakery, Les Gourmandises de France, in Manhattan (1437 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10021 – Tel: 212.988.1414), I decided to give it a try. In a small space with walls covered with black and white photos of Paris, and showcases filled with delicacies that reminded me of my visits to the famed Boulangerie Murciano in Paris’ Les Marais quarter, I found…

Strawberry Tart, Lemon Merengue, and so much more…

They also offer croissants, coffee, sandwiches, baked salmon. and a plethora of Shabbat dishes….

Baked Salmon

While I’m not into fish, I must confess that Baked Salmon was good! Early this morning I went back to Manhattan to pick up their challahs…

Seeded and no seeds challahs

Quite a number of locals were there to pick up their challahs and Shabbos dishes, considering I had some of my grandkids from Providence over for Shabbos, I ended up getting one seeded and two without seeds. They looked good and judging by the way some of their regular customers praised them I have no doubt they will be. All their baked products are amazingly parve, but you’d never suspect it from the taste!

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Lilly’s Home Style Bake Shop

As I toured Lilly’s Home Style Bake Shop, the sweet aromas wafting through the air, I was transported back to my mother’s kitchen, where the promise of sweet delicious treats were imminent as she prepared Shabbos or Yom Tov cakes and cookies. This past Tuesday morning, I walked the plant with Ethan Lieberman who together with CEO Irving Guttman, started the company in 2004 and kept on expanding the premises as new machinery was needed to streamline production of their growing product line.

Sprinkling cinnamon onto babka dough...

From jumbo to regular sized bagels, to assorted breads and challah types of various shapes and sizes, to mouth watering cakes and danishes, to cookies and biscottis,  all beckoned before my gluttonous Hansel and Gretel eyes as the various doughs were being made, shaped and baked.

Racks filled with challah, chocolate danish, hamentashen and so much more...

Lilly’s (named after Ethan‘s – Avrumi‘s – mother) ships nationally under their own name and under various private labels – including well known supermarket chains and warehouse type wholesalers. The whole operation is supervised by Silliker, a third party approver which specializes in certifying the cleanliness and strict adherence to codes governing this type of operations. Kashrus is under OU supervision.

Fresh and moist! A tray full of chocolate babka, rainbow cookies, black and whites are awaiting me...

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy! As for me, I’ll just grab another piece of that decadent babka oozing with chocolate… Get your own, kid!!!

CS