macaronsHey, city-bound fellow book lovers! I’m sorry I couldn’t make this the beautiful, glorious post I had dreamed, but I have been super swamped lately and while macarons are my top priority, none of my bosses/editors seem to share that, oddly enough. So, pardon the quick and photo-less rundown; I’ll beautify it at some point if I can find the time.

Please note that there are many places in Manhattan that serve macarons, and branches of some of the places I’m listing to which I haven’t been. I can only work with what I know. Also, please note that while I do admittedly eat macarons that don’t officially have kosher supervision, I don’t eat them from anywhere that has a bacon-flavored macaron; you’re on your for those.

Also, you’re responsible for your own nutritional information details. Macarons are naturally gluten-free, but not everywhere that serves them is. They’re by and large made from almond flour, so mind any allergies you may have. Nearly all fillings all dairy (either buttercream, caramel, or chocolate) so if you can’t have that, seek out ones with jelly fillings – almost any place will have raspberry at the bare minimum. As for kosher supervision, the strongest is what I think are originally Dana’s but are actually served at several places, including the coffee shop across the street from The Strand and all branches of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. (You’ll recognize them by that there’s a “fruity cereal” one – it’s my favorite.)

And now, onward.

The most common question I get is “Where are the best macarons in NYC?” but unfortunately that can’t really be answered that simply, because there are really a whole bunch of factors there. Since I’m writing this post on a time crunch, instead of waxing poetic on it all, I’m just gonna lay out the important stuff:

Single best macaron: obviously this is going to be very personal taste, but my favorite is the milk chocolate-banana macaron at Sugar Plumm in SoHo. (Or I guess it’s just outside of SoHo? Ugh, I don’t know.) It has real banana inside – not fake banana flavor – is covered in yummy milk chocolate, and gleams a little with gold dust.

Best salted caramel macaron: Salted caramel is the best universal flavor of macaron, obviously, so this is an important question. In my opinion, the best is at Bisous Ciao, which is half a block from Sugar Plumm. So, obviously, if you’re taking a macaron journey through NYC, this block of Bleecker Street is very important.

Best overall macarons: I wouldn’t say they do the best of every flavor (see above) but I think the most reliable best comes from Macaron Cafe. They’re also the closest I know of to the Javits Center, somewhere like 37th and 6th-ish? But that’s a really crowded space. If you want a nicer Macaron Cafe experience with the potential for sit-down, hit up the one on 60th and Madison. (Macaron Cafe does have the best pistachio macaron in the city, though, just FYI.)

Best macaron salon experience: If you wanna sit somewhere gorgeous and eat your macarons, nothing compares with Laduree on West Broadway in SoHo. Honestly, I find the macarons whatever – fine but nothing special, despite that they’re supposed to be the best – but the entire restaurant is gorgeous salon after gorgeous salon leading out to a beautiful garden in the back. It’s delightful.

Have any burning questions about macarons in NYC? Hit me up!