A Mille-feuille (thousand-leaf) is the French name for what we know as a Napoleon, a French dessert made from layers of puff pastry spread with a vanilla pastry cream. The top of the rectangle is drizzled with chocolate and or dusted with powdered sugar. Historians say that the Napoleon was created by a Danish royal chef in honor of a visit by a French emperor. And that Emperor Bonaparte’s defeat at Waterloo was the result of an overindulgence of his now famous namesake pastry. So you can victoriously feast on the Marengo dish but recognize that when you eat your desert you too may well meet your Waterloo. How best to eat your Napoleon? Very good question. Some people are more delicate about and it and like to skirt the edges with their fork while picking up some sweet cream almost if they might not be noticed (please take mine I haven’t touched it). Others attack it head-on with fork and knife longing for that sugar high or some may choose a more convenient five-fingered articulated utensil. Personally, I rather favor lifting it apart layer by layer examining the work of art of this pastry and making it last longer.


Mille-feuille/Napoleon happen to be one of my favorites. I can well remember, on Sundays after church at the American Cathedral on the Avenue George V, we would drive home via the Champs Elysée and make an obligatory stop at the “Boulangerie Pâtisserie du Roule” just minutes from where we lived in Neuilly.With any luck we would come home with a box full of these very same pastries.


All of this begs the question: Does the Auberge make its own pastry – sur place? I have to confess that we do not have a pastry chef. All our bakery goods, baguettes, cakes, pastries whatever are from a wonderful little artisanal bakery in the 3rd Arrondissement, “Au Petit Gourmand” which is owned and operated by Bernard and his lovely wife Chantal and their two children who make a point of shaking hands with as many customers as possible. As I understand it, the bakery has been in Bernard’s family for the last 75 years and at the same location. Chantal minds the books and Bernard is the artisan. I just wanted to clear that up in case there was any confusion.