- March 28, 2024
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Sweet teeth are tingling around the downtown Winter Park area.
And for good reason.
Nestled in at 340 N. Park Ave. is a new pastry shop with delicacies made and inspired from the French homeland of Herve Rouge, Jeremie Burles and Elisabeth Ardizzoni.
The three, all from Aix-en-Provence in southern France, have brought the classic French pastries such as the eclair and brioche, but the shop’s true tour de force is their pate a choux.
“For the last year, la choux has become a very attractive sweet in France,” Rouge said. “We wanted to do something together. We’ve been friends for a long time — and after Elisabeth did a trip in the U.S.A., we decided we have to do something.”
Although the new shop opened March 30, the three have spent the last one-and-a-half years researching and trying different recipes to find the perfect one.
After the development of a solid recipe and plan of action, next came finding a location, which was a journey itself. Both Burles and Ardizzoni still lived in France, and Rouge had moved to Florida five years ago. Burles and Ardizzoni are looking to make the move to Florida in the near future.
From there, the group settled on a spot at 1786 Semoran Blvd, which currently serves as the lab and kitchen for the pastry shop to bake its goods and experiment with new flavors.
And there are plenty of flavors to try — 24 exactly — and they range from vanilla to tiramisu to green apple. There’s basically choux for everyone, Rouge said.
The question you’re now asking is, “What exactly is choux?” If you ask Rouge, it’s a taste of heaven with French tradition.
“This is a dough — pate a chou — and we add on top what we call a craquelin, so it gives it a texture,” Rouge said. “Inside we fill them with homemade creme — we do everything (handmade), of course.”
The craquelin refers to the crunchy coat of cracker that layers the outside of the pastry, while the sweet creme on the inside is what Americans would call custard. It’s the custard that gives the choux its kick of pure sweetness.
Another layer of sweetness is added in the shape of what is a called a marzipan, which is a confection usually made up of sugar, honey, or almond meal.
The process of making their choux itself, which they do in large batches, usually takes one to two days, Rouge said.
But making choux is the easy part for Choulala when considering the issues that the trio had in finding a supplier for the ingredients used in their pastries.
“I was asking all the big suppliers … I was in need of some high-quality fruit puree, and no one had it,” Rouge said. “They have many things but not what I needed. So we found another small supplier, and they import fruit puree from France.”
The fact that Choulala imports every ingredient needed to make their choux is a source of pride for the owners.
And if you ask Rouge about the future, he’s going to be needing a bit more of those ingredients as he and the others are already looking to open up another Florida location in the next several months. He also said there were some folks back in France who were interested in franchisee licenses.
In the meantime, Rouge said he, Burles and Ardizzoni will focus on developing the new location while introducing locals and visitors to their delicious delight.
“We feel very proud of what we’ve done,” Rouge said. “Last week was very nice — all the customers loved the pastry and the gelato. We do a sample, because people don’t know what it is, so we do a sample each time, and they try it and it’s like ‘Whoa!’ It’s more emotional (for them).”