Still Don't Get It

I'm the only person I've met who isn't wildly, passionately, crazily in love with Beard Papa's. It was with enormously high expectations that I visited my first shop in New York on Carmine Street two years ago. Only two doors down my my favorite pizza place, I was expecting greatness and instead found, well, just a pastry. I ordered the original vanilla cream puff and quite enjoyed watching it come into being. However, it didn't meet my expectations, and I immediately realized why. I concluded that my very specific image of a cream puff was different than the Beard Papa's version, and for that, I penalized what was a nice pastry, but in my mind, distinctly not a cream puff. While the vanilla cream was commendable since it was rich and flavorful, I found it out of place in the world of cream puffs, in which I expect freshly whipped cream. The vanilla cream struck me as more of an eclair filing (which must be ovals and not circles). And the shell itself was too crispy. I missed the chewiness of a traditional choux pastry.

Two years later, after listening to many more people swoon over Beard Papa's, and overcome by hunger today just steps from another shop, I gave the vanilla cream puff another go. My opinion, formed two years ago, still stands. Nice pastry, not a cream puff.