Boredom and the Ultimate Pithivier

Sometimes, running a business has it’s boring moments. I spent the greater part of this afternoon going through and cleaning out my file cabinet. Because I haven’t touched the files for almost three years, the task became a nostalgic journey of sorts. It’s a huge task, but important to laying a groundwork for future organization, one of the key secrets to success in this world of entrepreneurship. I did find a nice stack of brochures and menus from other bakeries that are good to have handy, which made me think of the wonderful Pithivier I had in San Francisco.

I was going to head to Tartine, but since I have their beautiful cookbook, along the way I decided to stop at Citizen Cake in the Hayes Valley of San Francisco, right near where I used to live. With a parking spot right out front, it was an easy choice.

The Citizen Cake Pithivier was beautiful, with a darkened pinwheel etched in the top. Mind you, this was my second Pithivier ever, and I still hadn’t learned the correct pronunciation…I asked for a “pithy-vee-aay” and the barista gave me a funny look. That’s when I remembered that on my last visit the barista was snooty and I felt rushed, but that’s ok. I grabbed my nice little box of goodies and headed up to Mom’s place to share my spoils.

We cut into the pithivier and I was expecting a pale almond filling. Instead, there were luscious pale pears atop a dark almost coffee filling. The pears were poached perfectly; almost like eating a fresh pear at that brief moment that it is ripe. Below it, the dark filling turned out to be chocolate, but not just any chocolate. It had the flavor of the richest darkest chocolate bar, but the delicate texture of a moist financier. It was the most rich dark chocolate flavor I’ve ever tasted in anything other than chocolate alone. And balanced with the clean finish of the pear it was pastry nirvana. I must make puff pastry soon.

I have since learned the correct prononciation of pithivier. It’s “pee-tee-vee-aay”, or PTVA for short. Now at least my friendly barista won’t give me a funny look for that ;)