Rate-A-Restaurant, #106 in a series

Restaurant: Boule

Location: 420 N. La Cienega (West Hollywood)

Type of restaurant: Dessert


Inside Boule

We stipulated: Out on business lunch -- someone else paid the tab at the Belmont... so I picked up part of the tab for dessert.

They stipulated: Be prepared to want everything.


Assorted macarons

What we ordered: Macarons ($1.50 each); sorbet ($2.50/scoop); and I picked up some passion fruit marshmallows ($5) as well.

High point: Where to begin? The beautifully designed space feels like you stepped inside a Tiffany's box. The service was amazing -- the guy behind the counter offered countless samples. Then there were the macarons.

No, not macaroons (although, I've learned, they're distantly related in the pastry family). Here's how The Traveler's Lunchbox defines them: The basic formula for a French macaron is more or less the same wherever you go: two small almond flour-based cookies, usually no more than an inch and a half in diameter and usually sporting attractive colors and added flavor essences, encasing a thick and creamy filing of often - but by no means obligatory - corresponding flavor and color. The standards, available almost anywhere, are things like chocolate, vanilla, coffee, pistachio, lemon, and raspberry.

Light, fluffy and slightly crispy, they're like eating a dream. Why has no one told me about these before? The pistachio was by far the best.

Low point: Desserts like this don't come cheap -- a dozen macarons were $15. But if you want a cheap dessert, you don't head to a gourmet shop like Boule.

Overall impression: Pastry chef extraordinaire Michelle Myers redefines what you might consider dessert. The sorbets are decent but not mindblowing... but everything else recalibrated my definition of sweets. The macarons were near perfect; and the passion fruit marshmallows -- which were just sitting on a shelf, not trumpeted by anyone, were even better than I expected.

Chance we will go back: This place is what I imagine Maria dreams about at night; I'm sure I'll be taking her here soon.

(For a full roster of Franklin Avenue's restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.)