Small Bites

I was headed to Mount Kisco for Fish Report No. 2. When I stuck my head in my editor’s door to let her know, she told me I had to stop at La Tulipe to try the ice cream. She was so right. I also had to try the cookies and the little desserts, too. Wow. What a place.

Look at these little gateaux!

I was inspired to go to both the fish shop (which I’ll report on tomorrow) and the pastry shop because Marissa Hardie, a Chappaqua resident, is blogging about food in Westchester over on eGullet.org, and I sort of invited myself along on her shopping trip!

Here’s the gelato. Holy hannah. Marissa had coconut and nutella: the coconut is so clean and fresh tasting. I had pear and bacio — chocolate with hazelnuts. The pear was the essence of the fruit.

Here are our little cups.

And here’s Marissa.

The shop also has cookies by the pound. You can get them wrapped up pretty like this —

— or just get a pound in a box, like I did. (Yes, my colleagues were very happy about this.)

The cakes are so meticulously decorated. What patience it must take to be a pastry chef. I’m definitely a cook; not a baker. I would be throwing things across the kitchen if I were decorating a cake like this.

Chef Maarten Steenman definitely has more patience than I. Here’s a nice shot of him.

Unfortunately, I didn’t snap a photo of the dessert I got. It’s called a Duet, and it well might be the best pastry I’ve had in I don’t know how long. It has a lemon mousse, a tiny bit of spouge cake, hazelnut mouse and hazelnut dacquoise on the bottom. It’s garnished with fig, raspberry and tomato. Yes, tomato. It’s great.

Marissa and I took our gelati oustide to the little tables in front of the house that the shop’s in.

I thought it was funny that we were both blogging, so we took pictures of each other taking pictures. Dueling food blogs!

La Tulipe, 455 Lexington Ave., Mount Kisco. 914-242-4555.

Come back tomorrow for the Mount Kisco Seafood report!

Photo Caption: img_4838.jpg