I may get into trouble for this but San Francisco leaves me wanting for more high quality desserts ¹. Tartine is ok but it’s not worth the wait. The excellent Satura Cakes is an 1/2 hour away. Citizen Cake is hit or miss. Bi-Rite’s ginger ice cream (and toffee chip cookies) might be my favorite ice cream ever but the rest of their flavors are suspect. The chocolate movement is strong but my favorite in the city are the Parisian Richart chocolates. There’s nothing resembling the dessert bars of NYC. And you can only eat so many Beard Papa cream puffs. If anything, the good desserts are scattered and fragmented across the city, each place specializing in one or two .

It is ironic then that LA, that sprawling and fragmented pastiche of modern urban design, has Boule – a one-stop shop for many great desserts. It’s a can’t-miss destination for any LA trip.

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We interrupt these tales of Paris and truffles to bring you late-breaking news – the discovery of Amano chocolate bars.

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Laduree is the old guard on the Champs Elysees, Pierre Herme the rock’n'roll master on the Left Bank. Laduree’s macaroons are more traditional in flavor; Herme’s current collection revolves around the theme of “Fetish.” Laduree has a tea shop, no doubt a symbol of its properness; Pierre Herme launches his new dessert lines at strip clubs. Herme used to work at Laduree and apparently felt stifled.

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