CH Patisserie

The macaron case anchors CH Patisserie in Sioux Falls, and everything else on the counter arranges itself around it: petit gâteaux, viennoiserie, beignets and Parable Coffee.

Macarons as the house language

The bake is led by chef-owner Chris Hanmer, and the programme speaks a clear French vocabulary rather than a broad bakery spread. Macarons carry the identity most directly. Hanmer calls them the signature, the small format where delight, flavour invention and consistency all have to meet at once.

That consistency is not romantic handwork for its own sake. The team once turned out 200,000 macaron shells a year with Hanmer hand-piping every one, then moved to a depositor that cut the stage from hours to minutes. The point was repeatability, not shortcutting. Beyond the macarons, the counter runs petit gâteaux, croissants, beignets and more than fifteen items across viennoiserie and small cakes, with fresh takes on classics introduced monthly. Parable Coffee sits alongside, espresso and a French hot chocolate doing the work of pairing rather than competing for attention.

Banquettes, bistro tables and a counter rhythm

The room works like a pastry shop that knows people want to sit for a while. Banquettes and bistro tables give it more than a grab-and-go function, but the case still sets the pace: choose from the display, add coffee or hot chocolate, stay if there is room, or carry out a box of macarons.

That matters in Sioux Falls, because CH Patisserie is not trying to be a full-service restaurant in miniature. It is a café-patisserie, with the polish of a dessert counter and the everyday usefulness of coffee. The house calls it a little slice of Paris, and the format bears that out: small composed pastries, laminated dough, boxed macarons for later, and a room scaled for short conversations rather than long ceremony. The monthly changes keep the case moving without making the regular order disappear.

Order the macarons first, then choose the bake

Start with the macarons. They are the named signature for a reason: shell, filling, colour and flavour all have to land in a small, unforgiving format, and this is where the house's discipline shows most plainly. If the plan is to sit, add an almond croissant with Parable Coffee, a pairing that is part of the café's own grammar and makes the visit feel less like a dessert errand.

Petit gâteaux are the next move when something in the case catches the eye, especially since the shop brings in monthly takes on classic pastries. Beignets are the simpler order, good when the decision needs to be quick, and the French hot chocolate belongs with the richer end of the case, particularly on an afternoon that calls for pastry rather than another espresso. The monthly rotation is the quiet pointer: the classics stay legible, but the case is never fixed in place.