Jin Patisserie, Venice

On a lazy Wednesday afternoon I decided that in lieu of cleaning my Ceramics studio, I would instead spend it over tea and pastries with Jane. After all, it wouldn't be my last real quarter at UCLA if I didn't spend some of it playing hooky right? We walked down the Urban-boho-beach-chic Abbot Kinney and weaved in and out of a gelato-ry, an adorable stationary boutique, other various overpriced clothing boutiques, and my favorite -- Strange Invisible parfumerie. If I didn't already have perfume to last me until my 50th birthday, and if the prices didn't cost as much as it would for me to simply buy an acre of flowers to roll around in, you bet I would have walked out with a bottle of organic eau de parfum from them. If you ever get a chance to visit, I highly recommend this place :)

But I suppose I should spend some time talking about what the photographs in this post actually allude to: Jin Pâtisserie. It was about a year ago that a little bird from Gourmandise Desserts told me that Jin fabricated the best macarons in Los Angeles, and of course my eager tastebuds perked up and sent little salivary impulses to my hands and brain (yes, this is actually how my nervous system works.) to make a mental note and jot down the address to this place in hopes of making a near-future visit. Well it's only a year later thanks to a BlackBoard Eats newsletter that, with the incentive of 30% off, I was enticed to make the trek all the way to Venice.

Was I disappointed?
Well, if you make a claim such as "Best macarons in Los Angeles," you better damn well live up to the expectations. And they didn't. This place was a sorry disappointment. From the strange pseudo-modern "Zen" patio decorations, to the most expensive runny quiche with a side of Ruffles wave potato chips.

The best thing about this place might have been the cucumber water.
And that was free.

I don't know, I just think that if you're ballsy enough to label yourself a pâtisserie, wouldn't you specialize in pastries? The pastries that came with the afternoon tea tasted like they were cut from Ralph's sheet cakes and the coupon didn't even apply to the tea special. I hate it when they do that. Damn you, fine print. And then the macarons -- well they were just okay. I don't even remember them, that's how okay they were. We ordered one of each on the menu, and meh.
MEH.

Conclusion: Visit Abboy Kinney during a sunny afternoon and hop on over to Strange Invisible to visit the nice Asian British lady that works there & get gelato. Skip Jin.