For as many times as I’d been to LA, I’d never stepped foot inside Bottega Louie until last week. Don’t make the mistake of waiting as long as I did — it completely lived up to the hype.

Probably best known for its selection of rainbow-hued macarons (that every blogger who passes through painstakingly documents), there’s much more lurking inside the walls of Bottega Louie including a full restaurant, bar and gourmet market stocked with everything from canisters of hot cocoa to extravagant gift boxes.

The place has an old world glamour to it but completely lacks the stuffiness one would expect. The staff were extremely gracious, letting us snap as many photos as we liked and even cracking smiles at our mini dessert still life, complete with heart-shaped glasses.

I tried my best to absorb the atmosphere around me but truthfully, the scale of the place (absolutely massive) coupled with the ornate packaging and crowds of people just as obsessed with the attention to detail as I was made it hard to really capture it all. It’s classic French glamour completely modernized and that’s a hard one to nail.

I’ve only had macarons a few times before so I figured it was a good time to dive into as many flavors as possible and see what all the fuss was about. I walked out with a box all to myself and spent the next few days indulging in a few for breakfast. And yes, they were absolutely delicious.

Bottega Louie oozes charm, charisma and beauty. And, in my experience, everything tastes as good as it looks. Need I say more? Get thee a box of macarons, stat.

Featured: Bottega Louie.
Photos: Shauna Haider.