la porte rouge

Let's all just take a few seconds to savor this quaint pocket of a bakery my Madre recently discovered. 

After her weekly walks, my Mom would rave about the cream puffs from a bakery downtown called La Porte Rouge...and while I understood her excitement over a delicacy such as cream puffs, I couldn't understand the excitement over a Japanese take on a French patiserrie. 

So last week, we decided to go on a little excursion to La Porte Rouge for a birthday "choux creme", and discover what all this talk was about. 

Well, now I understand. 

I was enlightened, my friends. 

La Porte Rouge is the sort of bakery everyone loves to imagine - it's tiny, quaint, only known to the locals, and absolutely beautiful.

When you enter, the large red door is opened for you by the ladies who run the counter...and a little bell jingles as it is opened. 

There is classical music and the smell of baking bread in the air, the chef wears a tall white cap, and when he speaks, he lets out a string of flawless Parisian French. 

For a minute, you feel like you've been transported to Europe. 

But the creme puffs....oh boy, the creme puffs. 

I have no words. 

Since there is no place to sit in the bakery, we brought our little puffs of bliss home to enjoy over homemade cafe au laits. 

And let me just tell you something. I think I went into a state of altered consciousnesses for a few minutes. 

No, I'm not being dramatic. 

Yes, they were really that good.   

If you happen to be roaming the streets of good ol' Kuni-ville any time soon, taste the local delicacies - the lotus roots, Iwakuni-zushi, and rice balls - but save an afternoon for La Porte Rouge. 

If for no other reason, do it for me. 

Do it for the creme puffs. 

You won't regret it.

G