In this “food fight,” contributor Doug Wallack samples the fine croissants of Terra Momo Bread Company, Chez Alice and Little Chef. Which serves the best French pastries? The answer may surprise you.
For many Princeton students, breakfast is the neglected meal. At almost any time of year, it is liable to slip through the cracks between a late night problem set and a morning class. A cup of something caffeinated will do for now, you convince yourself, and lunch isn’t too far off anyway.
But if you can manage to drag your weary bones past FitzRandolph Gate in the morning (and it must be morning), a wealth of croissants awaits you in town. Here are my thoughts on the puff pastry offerings of Terra Momo Bread Company, Chez Alice and The Little Chef Pastry Shop.
I began with an almond croissant from Terra Momo Bread Company on Witherspoon Street. Sweet almond paste made it soft and almost cake-like on the inside. The same paste was baked on the top and sides of the croissant, browned to a caramelized crunch that nicely offset the moist interior. The Terra Momo croissant was a behemoth — a huge mass, as wide as both of my palms placed side-by-side, speckled with confectioner’s sugar and liberally studded with slivered almonds. This is a very fine thing.
The almond croissant from Chez Alice in Palmer Square was a smaller and more demure version of Terra Momo’s, with the crescent shape still underneath the almond paste. It had a deep almond flavor, like a very mild marzipan. The inside was still moist, but it was a bit lighter than the indulgence of Terra Momo’s equivalent. The characteristic gratifying flakiness of the puff pastry was more discernible beneath the almond paste.
I went down South Tulane Street to The Little Chef Pastry Shop last, hoping to complete the almond croissant trifecta. There were none, I was told. Not because I was late, but simply because it wasn’t an almond croissant day.
This is more or less typical for the Little Chef. Its baker, Fils-Aimé (called “Pouchon” by customers), is well known locally for doing only exactly what he wants. He opens shop daily (except for the days when it’s closed) at approximately 8:30 a.m. and closes at 5:00 p.m. — maybe. He makes what he wants on any given day, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. But many people are willing to put up with this, because what he makes, when he makes it, is incredible.
I bought a chocolate croissant, which was not a bad consolation prize, but it was a very different beast. The dough itself was more complex, very delicate and with a slightly tangy flavor that complimented the melty chocolate woven into that small tightly-wound ball. But most notable was the texture: When I bit into the chocolate croissant, it crackled happily, the rich buttery pastry almost melting in my mouth.
My friend once told me how he had tried to devise a set of criteria for the perfect food. It didn’t work out, but he said what he did find was that everything was improved by the right amount of crunch. I was initially skeptical. This was a very blunt theory. But then I thought: What improves yogurt? Granola. What makes soup better? Oyster crackers.What breathes life into a salad? Croutons.
And so I too came to believe. There is a joy in crunch. And when everything works out, you can find it in Little Chef on South Tulane Street.
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