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Four Eclairs Win Best In Choux

The universal symbol for pastry-based decadence, chocolate eclairs are both light and airy and dense with a creamy core. We nestled into a velvet sofa and sampled Indy's most irresistible desserts.
four Indy bakery eclairs

AS WELCOME ON the dessert cart as in the bakery case, these cream-filled French confections turn up in old-school bake shops and new-wave coffeehouses alike. Here’s a short but sweet taste test of our four finest.

① Boyden’s Southside Bakery
Generously filled and crowned with a smear of milk-chocolate icing to seal the deal, the eclairs are no slouch at this Southside institution known for its cider doughnuts and pumpkin rolls. 3953 S. Meridian St., 317-784-2992

Foundation Coffee Company
The pastry selection switches out seasonally, but this fresh take on the classic eclair is framed by lightly sweet bread-like pastry and filled with a tangy Meyer lemon curd, a departure from tradition. 4565 Marcy Lane., 317-932-3737, foundationcoffeecompany.org

③ Long’s Bakery
Don’t look for them in the cases of famous yeast doughnuts at this old-school bakery. Instead, ask for them from one of the counter clerks, and they’ll fetch them from a cooler where the soft pastry barely contains the pudding-like filling under gobs of rich frosting. 1453 N. Tremont St., 317-632-3741

Rene’s Bakery
Among the brioche loaves and flaky croissants in the cases at Albert Trevino’s Broad Ripple patisserie, local pastry lovers can find some of the most textbook eclairs around with crisp, light choux dough, a custardy filling, and just enough chocolate icing for a two-bite teatime indulgence. 6524 N. Cornell Ave., 317-251-2253

Terry Kirts joined Indianapolis Monthly as a contributing editor in 2007. A senior lecturer in creative writing at IUPUI, Terry has published his poetry and creative nonfiction in journals and anthologies including Gastronomica, Alimentum, and Home Again: Essays and Memoirs from Indiana, and he’s the author of the 2011 collection To the Refrigerator Gods.
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