The first time I ever had a Paulette Macaron was at a FoodDigger blogger dinner at Jinpachi in West Hollywood. It was 9:23pm on September 10, 2008. The delicate, little cookie — touted as the best macaron in L.A. by the dinner’s hosts — was like a bit of heaven in my mouth; the initial crispness of the cookie shell gave way to a creamy ganache that knocked my salivary glands into overdrive. And after that first bite, even I was inclined to believe the hyperbole.
Needless to say, I’ve been meaning to visit the Paulette Macaron store in Beverly Hills ever since. Especially after the closure of Boule, my previous go-to place for little fancy 
French hamburger-looking cookies, earlier this year.
Paulette Macaron, a collaboration of owner Paulette Koumetz and celebrated French pastry chef Christophe Michalak, makes their Parisian-style cookies daily, featuring 12 everyday flavors and a couple of seasonal ones. And macarons are all they sell.
My friend Mei-Mei, my sweet tooth soul sista, and I just had to visit the store, which apparently has won a couple of design awards. Fortunately, it was in the not-too-touristy part of Beverly Hills, south of Wilshire, so finding street parking wasn’t too difficult. FYI, the store isn’t located on the main stretch of Beverly but rather the side street Charleville.
On a Saturday morning, it was empty, save for one customer and one lady behind the counter. M2 and I walked in quietly, eyes locked on the beautiful rainbow of cute, little cookies behind a glass partition.
Oh, dear lord, so many flavors! I didn’t even know where to begin. And such pretty colors, I wanted to collect them all! But I also had to keep in mind that each tiny cookie costs $1.60 and I certainly didn’t want to find myself spending $22.40 for an afternoon’s 
supply. So I just bought six ($9.60): Columbian coffee, sweet wedding almond, caramel, coconut, Caribbean chocolate and violet cassis. BTW, this costs a little less than, say, three Sprinkles cupcakes.
The macarons were bagged rather than boxed, making me worry that I might accidentally squish the delicate cookies so I held them aloft like I was carrying a bag of live butterflies. I was able to get them home without any breakage fortunately.
Out of the ones I bought, it’s no surprise that my favorites were the sweet wedding almond, Columbian coffee and Caribbean chocolate. The almond one had some really hard-crunchy pieces decorating it but mmm, almond ganache!
Because they’re so tiny, these cookies aren’t as hearty or as satisfying to eat as a cupcake or a chocolate chip cookie, for that matter. You just pop them in your mouth and…done. Not counting those seconds of heaven part. But they are pretty cute, making them perfect as hostess gifts or tea party/bridal shower treats. You can order a five-tiered tower to showcase 60 cookies ($106) or pack them up in gift boxes ($19 for 12 macarons, $36 for 24).
I think I’d order up my next batch for a day of pampering pre-mani/pedi or a girls’ shopping day out (the Anthropologie store is just around the corner).
Paulette Macaron
9466 Charleville Boulevard
Beverly Hills, California 90212 (map)
(310) 275-0023
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
I was just at Paulette’s yesterday, for the second time ever. Now that Boule is gone, my heart is broken, because they made my all time favorite macarons. Paulette’s are great texturally but a little too sweet for me. I will still be stopping in more until it is clear if the guy at Comme Ca (who also owned Boule I believe) puts macarons in his to-be-yet-opened new bakery.
Come on Caroline, you know better than that. NOTHING will ever replace a cupcake. Just cause there has been a surge of cupcake stores opening over the last few years, doesnt make it a fad or any less yummy.
Cupcakes are timeless and will continue to be just that.
Cassie,
I can see it being too sweet. But sometimes that’s not too much of a problem for me.
Michelle Harris,
You’re right. I DO know better than that. :) That’s why I called it an alternative and not a replacement.
boule’s gone? what happened? :(
how big are these macaroons btw? are they the bigger “size of palm” types or the smaller “size of 2-3 fingers” types?
can’t wait to get a few of these for my mom. we both fell in love with macaroons after our paris visit last year!
fauxLAhipster,
They’re the small ones, “size of 2-3 fingers.” And yeah, Boule closed cuz they want to open a bakery focusing on bread instead. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/02/boule-the-chic.html
Hi caroline! La provence on olympic has great macarons too…they are a little larger than paulettes and cheaper i believe..but just as good..maybe better! they have a caramel sea salt one thats to die for =)
I look like a have a Santa Claus belly! Mental note: No more macarons! ;-)
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for giving me a seemingly worthy alternative to Boule. Loved Boule for their cute boxes and yummy macarons and i was CRUSHED when they closed down!
Christie,
Thanks for the heads-up! I WAS disappointed that Paulette didn’t have any caramel sea salt ones.
M2,
Duude, you’re wearing a ski vest or something. In any case, yeah, this excursion was not good for my “diet.”
Annie,
Hopefully you like these, too. And apparently, according to Christie, La Provence is worth checking out as well.
I adore paulette’s macarons — particularly the chocolate version. The vanilla is also quite good — it tastes just like a sugar cookie!
I LOVE the coffee ones, too.
You are the queen of the macro. For life.