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Eclairons

I need sugar.  Face it, this lock-down requires a little (just a little) stress eating.  My attempts at baking Chocolate Chip cookies have not turned out well, so I headed to Georgetown to check out the new Levain Bakery.  The line was two blocks long.  So, I headed to Plan B, a new pastry shop in western Rosslyn.  Named Eclairons it doesn't have a website yet but is related to Pastry XPO, a cafe at Mosaic I had tried a year or so ago.  Despite opening issues (I was the only one there but the clerk took a while to ring up the order and almost overcharged me), the sweets here are better than the Mosaic version.  I purchased a lot of iems to get a sense of what worked and what didn't.  Visually impressive their "cookies" (two meringue wafers filled with a variety of fluffy stuffings) were the least yummy.  They are "okay" but not stunning and tend to crumble everywhere at the first bite.  More engaging were the cupcakes and eclairs which came in some nice flavors and were rich without being overly sweet.  Even better were the small cakes.  I had a Chocolate Bombe, a slice of Almond Cake and a Fruit Cheesecake.  Each had unexpected and nicely surprising layers.  The Almond Cake, in particular, had a rich marzipan flavor with no less than five different ingredients folded into the thick topping.  While they don't knock my favorite pasty shop, Randolph's, off the throne, this place comes close.  The return trip, however, will be for a single item -- the Rum Truffles.  I haven't had them this rich, this delicious, since my favorite source for them in McLean shut down a few years back.  I will return for the truffles ... and maybe get another treat or two.

Eclairon -- upscale bakery
1737 Wilson Blvd, Arlington

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