Pichet Ong’s last name in print looks a bit like OMG, which is what you’ll probably say when you eat one of the macarons sold at the chef’s store, Batch. If you think of Pichet as a pastry curator and of Batch as an edible museum, then the macaron wing of the roughly 7-foot square West Village bakery is guest-curated by pastry chef Hsing Chen. Chen, formerly of Country, has started a mercenary macaron and dessert company called Sweet Chick. Special missions assignments, like OPERATION: Turn That Frown Upside Down are now being accepted through Sweet Chick’s website. Also, Chen makes cakes for weddings and other special events.
Anyway, notice macaron is spelled with one O here. This is because macaron purists will stop at nothing to delineate their beloved pastel, almond-flavored, UFO-shaped cookie from the shaggy coconut blobby kind that allegedly hail from Scotland. And make no mistake, my friend, it’s war out there: With the neutrality of the Wikipedia Macaron page disputed, and the Macaroon pages not citing any references or sources, rest assured that the macarons at Batch are good. They’re reassuring.
Modeled on the cookies found famously at Ladurée in Paris, new macaron flavors at Batch are released each season. For now, it’s caramel apple, pumpkin pie spice, cotton candy, coconut with passionfruit, and peanut butter with grape jelly. That last one is a peanut butter macaron sandwiched with organic p.b., and homemade Concord grape jelly.
Macarons are $2.50 each. A plastic tube of four, with a pretty ribbon, is $10 at Batch. Petit four sizes and custom flavors can be ordered here.
