Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1355320
96 ecause of the pandemic, we can't have "Paris in the Spring," as the song goes. But we can savor the taste of it, thanks to Dimitri Vallier, pastry chef and co-owner with his sister, Sophie, of Caramel French Patisserie in Salem and Somerville. Vallier has a huge following not only for his macarons and artisanal French desserts but also his flaky, buttery croissants. Vallier demonstrates the art of making croissants. "People say, 'Oh, my, they're so good—they're very light and not thick and heavy,'" says the chef, who has a chocolate croissant for breakfast each morning. e plain ones have that telltale honeycomb interior due to exquisite layering and a deep golden shell that shatters when you bite into it. His almond croissants cradle a rich nutty cream and his chocolate ones ooze with warm logs of dark Valrhona chocolate. Close your eyes when enjoying any of these treats and you easily could be in France. Vallier, who grew up in the Ardeche region of south-central France, was destined to go into pastry. His great-grandfather and grandfather worked as pastry chefs in the family-owned patisserie founded in 1931. "I liked to cook with my grandmother, making meringues and cook- ies when I was young," says Vallier, "and learned how to make dough from my grandfather. I always loved pastry—the artistry, pretty colors, and the smell of chocolate—so decided to go to pastry school." After two years learning to make pastries and croissants, the chef enrolled for a third year to earn his Master in Pastry degree. en, he began perfecting his craft. His first job entailed working for a pastry chef who had won the title Un des Meilleurs Ou- vriers de France (One of the Best Craftsmen in