Los Angeles is home to numerous dessert shops that feature a range of treats from cupcakes to doughnuts to shakes. Urban Confections will select dessert restaurants whose only West Coast location is Los Angeles, highlighting students’ opportunities to taste the city’s distinctive flavors. Follow columnist Lindsay Weinberg around Los Angeles as she samples local confections and suggests how students can take advantage of these iconic desserts.
One chewy French macaron at Bottega Louie might cost the same as an entire package of Oreo cookies, but the price is worth the experience.
Located on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, Bottega Louie is a restaurant, gourmet market, café and patisserie all in one, but the patisserie is the hub of its dessert selection. Immediately after walking in the front doors, I encountered a towering glass cabinet with rows of colorful round desserts: Bottega Louie’s signature macaron cookies.
Macarons are small circular sandwich cookies. The two cookies on the outside are typically similar to meringue in that they are made from egg whites and almonds. Inside is a filling that can be cream, fruit or buttercream.
Each color at Bottega Louie marks a distinct flavor – everything from brown-spotted mustard espresso to a lavender-colored violet cassis.
I purchased a box of five macarons for $12.50 and nibbled a few different flavors, including the pistachio and rose, but the standout for me was a muted sky blue cookie with gold metallic flakes: Earl Grey.
The ideal chewiness of the center met the crispy exterior in a burst of spiced tea taste. Though students can find macarons at Café 1919 on campus, Bottega Louie’s macarons are more flavorful and have a better texture. The outside shell broke as I bit into the treat, setting free a thick, almost liquid, almond center.
Bottega Louie also boasts an impressive glass display of other desserts in the patisserie, such as tarts and teacakes, each looking as if it had been crafted for a magazine shoot. Cross-sectioned strawberries outline little tarts, while raspberries perch atop mini chocolate pies in an idyllic scene that looks almost fake.
If customers want something less dense, the store sells fluffy French doughnuts, called beignets. Prepackaged truffles and meringues can be bought in ornate packaging reminiscent of perfume boxes for souvenirs or gifts for friends, bearing the cursive Bottega Louie logo.
This is no mom-and-pop bakery, but a European-themed restaurant with a large and elaborate layout and many facets – the bakery cabinets up front, the café tucked to the side and a formal dining area with servers in the back.
This arrangement, along with the architecture, emphasize the restaurant’s classy atmosphere.
Bottega Louie’s white external architecture is better suited for Rodeo Drive than downtown Los Angeles, with a golden railing leading to the glass doorway. Inside, the floors and walls are pure white as well, leaving a clean and elegant impression.
Sitting in the café table and chairs, I peered out the giant windows into the grimy downtown Los Angeles streets beyond.
Though its food is tasty, Bottega Louie is only one of many macaron shops in Los Angeles. The experience is what makes Bottega Louie noteworthy; it’s almost as much of a tourist destination as it is a dining option. One step away from the city street is a charming and shiny venue. It’s a French oasis, a dainty yet grand stop where I could treat myself like a parasol-bearing Parisian for an hour while I browsed through the shop’s selection and tried a dessert.
Still, the most impressive aspect of Bottega Louie remains the initial rainbow of macarons at the entrance, little delicate circles waiting to be photographed and eaten. The desserts are rich both in color and taste, so if students can spare time for the hour-long trek to downtown, the $2.50 a-piece price tag is certainly worth a classy, Parisian treat.
– Lindsay Weinberg
What are your go-to dessert shops in Los Angeles? Email Weinberg at lweinberg@media.ucla.edu.