Having recently moved to El Paso from Montréal, a city teeming with quality pastry shops…read more(especially french pâtisseries), I was on the lookout for a competent pastry shop here in town as soon as I landed. My first discovery was Belle Sucre, which, while struggling ever so slightly with actual french pastries (and french grammar, "sucre," a masculine noun, being "beau," not "belle"), excels at putting a french twist on american desserts. My second discovery was Orange Peel, a pastry shop that could stand toe-to-toe with Montreal's more eclectic (and less traditional) pastry shops (e.g., Pâtisserie Rhubarbe), were it to spontaneously relocate there.
Inside this diminutive (but oh so quaint) pastry shop stands a refrigerated glass display filled with triple-threat confections that a) are simultaneously playful and homey in appearance, b) demonstrate exquisite texture (a feat made all the more surprising by the fact that many of the confections are gluten-free), and c) feature creatively combined and expertly balanced flavours that bring into play natural aromas and just enough sweetness. (Indeed, in a rare show of restraint for an american dessert establishment, sweetness is here kept on a leash, letting instead aromas come to the forefront of the flavour experience.) Although pastries on offer change regularly, they always come across as completely thought-through and carefully put-together, as if the recipes had been worked on and perfected over years. Indeed, there is an effortless quality to how the one single chef behind Orange Peel comes up with and executes new recipes, one that testifies to the extent of her pastry passion, knowledge, and skills. To top it all off, she is extremely friendly and always a joy to talk to and discuss her work with. Fortement recommandé!