Mad Mac

Meh. I love macarons, and was excited to try these. I received them as a Christmas gift this year and wasn’t too impressed. The texture of the cookies was dry and grainy, the fillings were either jam, or too buttery for any flavor to come through. Speaking of flavors, they just weren’t present. I like them to have a punch and these did not. I got the chocolate (yuck, tasted cheap) the pistachio (I think, hard to tell), the raspberry (jam filling, not cream, which is the only reason it had discernible flavor) and lemon (again, just blah). The best I’ve had were in Las Vegas (don’t remember the bakery, I think it was just a little stand in the hallway to the Sands Expo under the Palazzo/​Venetian) followed by Patisserie Lenox in Great Barrington, MA. I won’t make a point of trying these again. Oh well, thought it might be easier than getting them in MA.

I got the chance to meet Florian Bellanger a while back during a food event. Luckily I also got to try some of his pastries and macarons, Im not sure most people know this but he was the pastry chef at Le Bernadin for quite some time until being succeeded by Michael Laiskonis. Airy, light and tasty, Mad Mac’s macarons are some of the best I’ve had in the US. I’d expect no less though. 4.3 stars

airy and light macarons, PLUS we got to meet Florian Bellanger, the Cupcake Wars judge himself, at macaron day in Manhattan! (he did a pop up shop, since this location is in Jersey)
pumpkin & vanilla were good, as was the chocolate! i wasn’t really a fan of the lemon or the pistachio (didnt taste much like pistachio)
if you can’t make it to the store, they sell their macarons online
RMBR: NO RED VELVET ALLOWED haha

I went to get a free macaron from Mad Mac for Macaron Day 2013. He apparently set up a pop-​up shop at Bernardaud on 59^th Street & Park Ave, NYC. They had 3 different flavors, the free ones were a little small. I got the pumpkin one, with pumpkin seeds? baked into the shells. It was good but the buttercream had a little too much ginger? spice? in it. It was a strange sharp flavor that came on later on.

Tried this today during the Bastille Day festival in NYC, also got to meet chef Florian from Cupcake Wars. The macaroons were a bit on the smaller side (not sure if these were special/​promo sizes made for the event), but I was able to grab a bag of the Pistachio and Chocolate. They were both good, very moist and gluten free for those on a strict gluten free diet. Will definitely try more in the future.

Decent macarons. They ship them very well-​packed and they arrived in perfect condition. I just prefer a creamery, melt-​in-​your-​mouth filling over these as they are mainly filled with jam. Caneles were also good.
I still prefer ‘Lette of Beverly Hills and they are about the same price.

There is a very good reason Florian Bellanger is a permanent judge on the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars … He knows what goes into making the tastiest cakes, macarons and madelines!
Yesterday after a long day at work I arrived home to a package from Mad Mac waiting on my porch. I was like a kid in a candy store as I opened up the box to discover my favourite rainbow coloured macarons!
The Macarons are hand-​made and they use fresh and high quality ingredients which make the macarons so delicious!
Flavors I got: Chocolate, Pistachio, Raspberry, Lemon — all of them amazing! The Pistachio was by far my favourite.
Mmmm Macarons made by one of the best pastry chefs in America and a warm skinny vanilla latte — looking out of my window at rolling hills and countryside in sunny California… life is … simply put. good!