Cheetos, Candied Bacon, Giggity, And More: Macaron Parlour Pops Up

For those ready to experiment with some interesting flavors, head over to Macaron Parlour (808B Union Street, close to 7th Avenue) — a store focusing on those small meringue-based sandwich disks of love that continue to gain enthusiasts all over the city.

The confections and coffee place is a pop-up store that will exist during the winter months while People’s Pops hibernates until they return in the Spring. The macarons are new this year, as Mexican sweets shop La Newyorkina set up shop in 2014/15.

Macaron Parlour has two permanent locations in the East Village (111 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) and the Upper West Side (560 Columbus Avenue between 87th and 88th Streets). While this is the first Macaron Parlour pop-up shop, it joins relatively nearby Woops! Macarons (620 5th Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets) which opened in August of this year.

While there are plenty of traditional macaron flavors such as lemon, strawberry, and dark chocolate, Macaron Parlour also has a bounty of very curious options. Those include Cheetos (cheetos-infused white chocolate ganache with “cheese dust”), Candied Bacon with maple cream cheese, Rosemary & Olive Oil (rosemary-infused olive oil ganache), Elvis (peanut butter and caramelized banana), and Curry (milk chocolate and curry spice).

And then there’s Giggity. For those of you familiar with Family Guy, you know the character Quagmire’s buzz phrase all too well. Named after the morally suspect next-door neighbor, the macaron flavor consists of chocolate ganache, peanut butter, marshmallow creme, dulce de leche, and salted peanuts.

As far as the taste, well we certainly encourage you to try some of the wilder flavors. However, our favorites were the more subtle Rosemary & Olive Oil as well as Fig (figs cooked in wine and honey, and also a dairy-free option).

The Giggity is super-intense (as is Quagmire) and the Cheetos is a curiosity. The odd flavors are great for a party or just a fun sampling.

As far as the general confection, the meringue-based sandwich section was light and airy, but at times a bit too dry. Perhaps this was unique to the batch we had that day.

Comparisons are natural — and Woops! macarons is not too bad a walk on a nice day. Woops! has a softer and smoother meringue-based sandwich. The flavors may be more “traditional” there, but the macaron texture is preferable. That said, Macaron Parlour is wilder in terms of flavor — and certainly worth the sampling.

The space is nice, airy, and boasts a Ms. Pac-Man machine. The act of eating a Cheetos-flavored macaron and enjoying some stiff video game competition may very well push some of you into retro pop culture nirvana.

Macaron Parlour (808B Union Street, close to 7th Avenue, 212-387-9169) is open Mondays-Fridays from 12pm-7pm, and Saturday-Sundays from 10am-8pm.