Forever Crisco Or They've Killed The Croissants!
In Quebec the one thing I'm always really looking forward to is, of course, French cuisine. For our daughter's graduation in Montreal we put up in a fairly nice hotel near campus, and went down for breakfast with pleasant expectations.
Heading straight for the croissants I noticed their lack of crispness, cold and tired they were sitting in the display. Well, there was the toaster, and innocently pretending not to understand the warning: "Pas des croissants" ("Nix comprengg!") I revived my lackluster pastry (no smoke alarm).
Back at our table I garnished my croissant with some butter and jam and took my first bite. At once red lights started flashing as my taste buds yelled: "Beware of cardboard!!!" In utter disbelief I took a second bite, and there it was - a total blandness and the faint but unmistakable taste of shortening!
In two days we will be home in Maine, and next time we visit Portland we will go to our favorite breakfast place: "Mornings in Paris", where they have the most wonderful, buttery, crisp croissants...
Comments
Before you write off Montreal, there are some wonderful artisanal bakeries that make outstanding real butter croissants. If you are still there, check out 'Premiere Moisson', 'Au Pain Dore', 'Le Fromentier' or 'Patisserie Belge'.
Don
Thanks, Don, I'll try to hit one of those before we leave tomorrow - I know this experience was just bad luck!
I travel all over the world and believe me I've had some awful croissants in Paris.
Montreal has fantastic bakeries and I am sure some not that great. I don't want to
be a snob but if your comparing them to Americain croissants they probably won't taste
anything like your accustomed to. One of my favorite places for croissants in Montreal is
Boulangerie Mr. Pinchot,4354 Rue de Brébeuf.
Robert
Mini
How nice of you all to take so much interest in my killer croissant story!
Though I had that one disappointing experience in our hotel in Montreal, I have to admit I'm normally a happy croissant consumer in la Canada.
In Quebec (City), where we go at least once a year, we always have lunch at "Le Palet d'Or" with great breads and pastries, and today, before we left for Maine, we stocked up on all the goodies (which were mostly eaten before we were halfways home).