Restaurant Review #171: Boule - CLOSED

Fromage blanc cheesecake

Boule is an upscale bakery, chocolatier, and gelateria with an unassuming, even drab brown exterior that gives way to an incredibly sunny, high-ceilinged light blue paradise. It's the perfect place for some pampering: after your car dies in the middle of a major intersection during rush hour and you have to spend $360 to get it fixed, on top of the $650 you've already spent fixing other stuff, what do you do? Spend more money to make yourself feel better, of course.
I don't normally like cheesecake, but I couldn't pass up a cheesecake this attractive and made with Cowgirl Creamery's fromage blanc. The texture was nearly fluffy and the fromage blanc added a unique flavor. The cheesecake was packaged so well that it made it home in my car still looking perfect. At $5.50, this was one of the most reasonably priced items in the store.


Pate des fruits

Pates des fruits, if you've never had them, are sort of like all-natural, homemade, oversized gumdrops. Fruit is cooked down to its essence, combined with lots of sugar, then cooled, shaped, and coated in more sugar. The meyer lemon saffron was incredibly sour--it must have taken me four tries to finish it. The Indonesian cherry pepper was very interesting. It didn't taste spicy or peppery, but it was much more interesting than plain old cherry. These cost a little over $1 each.


Clockwise from left: Grace, Isis, Baumaniere, Venus

Boule's chocolates are best reserved for special occasions (unless you're wealthy, in which case you should consume them daily). They're sold in sets: four for $10, 12 for $28, or 25 for $55. Stunned by the prices, I went with the four for $10 option--that's $2.50 for less than one square inch of chocolate! Could these chocolates possibly be worth that much to someone as frugal as I am?

Yes, they could.

Once you get home, you'll probably have forgotten what you picked out. Therein lies the genius of the little card you'll find tucked into the top of your chocolate box, which marks which chocolates your purchased and describes their flavors:

Grace - thyme honey
Isis - rosewater caramel
Baumaniere - cardamom coffee
Venus - lavender

I could really taste the flavors of each chocolate and savored each bite for as long as possible. Good luck choosing among the endless options!



My $10 box of chocolates

Though I don't usually spend the kind of money that Boule requires, I felt that I very much got my money's worth. At Boule, no detail goes unnoticed, from the friendly, skilled staff to the attractive boxes and bags to the gorgeous presentation of their desserts and chocolates. This is a great place to pick up a gift (you won't even have to wrap it!) or take yourself for a special treat. And if you're feeling really extravagant, get this--they deliver!

Boule
420 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
310.289.9977
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-7pm
Sun 10am-5pm
Boule Website