Trois Pommes Patisserie Review: Let them eat donuts but maybe not Trois Pommes donuts
Trois Pommes Patisserie is a pleasant bakery in the heart of Park Slope. Normally, when the fundamentals of the economy are strong, I probably would be okay with a $3 donut. But since the DOW is near 10 year lows, I feel weird about $3 dollar donuts even if I could afford to eat one every now and then. The truth is I don’t frequent bakeries and when the nice lady said it was $3, my heart sang a tune because it wasn’t as expensive as Bouchon’s jelly-filled donut. See that? That’s pretty crazy when you can think, “This $3 dollar donut is 25% off from the more expensive donut!” The problem I have versus most other food bloggers is that I can’t compare $4 dollar donuts with Dunkin Donuts and recommend the 400% premium. It just makes no sense. And even at a 300% premium, it still makes no sense.
The jelly filled donuts at Trois Pommes Patisserie are all shaped differently. When you stop by and see the donut tray, you notice some are rounder than others. Or you can get one that’s shaped like a charcoal briquette. On the outside it’s frosted and dusted with powder sugar. Compared to the Dunkin Donut jelly donut, this donut had a golden exterior beneath the frost and sugar.
Trois Pommes’ donut is chewier than DD’s. This is good because comparatively speaking, it feels more complex than just biting into a DD donut that simply gives way to your jaws. The raspberry jelly in the middle was tart enough for you to notice it’s presence, and not too dominating where it takes over the show. This was an upgrade from the DD jelly which was pretty much tasteless.
Obviously in Park Slope there are enough MacLaren owners to support a bakery with $3 donuts. For those yuppies, $3 ain’t no thang. It’s like when I buy 80 cent baos in Chinatown and think it’s a good deal. BTW, when did bakeries all become patisseries? I missed it, but it happened and no one owns a bakery anymore. Or maybe bakeries were misnamed from the beginning and everything is a patisserie.
Over at the Freakonomics blog, Daniel Hamermesh wondered aloud about whether price affects taste. He talks about how in Texas, he drank mostly Australian wines due to the price of European wines. Now that he’s in Germany, the prices are half of what they are in Texas, and now he and his wife drinks mostly European wines. So does price come into play in his choice of wines? Price is a relevant issue. We see it in action weekly when the Times publishes it’s restaurant review on Wednesday. There’s a reason Bruni reviews places and the Times picks up the tab. It extracts one variable from possibly contaminating the review.
Bionicgrrl said in the comments that there was some study that mentioned price does affect taste. In fact, Freakonomics also talks about how expensive wines taste better once you tell the drinker it’s expensive. Weirdly enough, when you tell me donut A has a 3x premium over donut B, my mind automatically things, “Well what makes this expensive donut so good?”
Trois Pommes makes a good donut but I’m just not gonna rush out to try another expensive donut anytime soon. Someone let me know when the fundamentals of the economy changes and I’ll think about it.
Trois Pommes Patisserie260 Fifth Ave.Brooklyn, NY 11215718-230-3119
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