Bastille Day at Clock Tower Place | Annapolis, MD

We went to the Bastille Day Celebration organized by Sweet Hearts Patisserie on Sunday July 13th. We had heard about it from Eye on Annapolis. The celebration was on both Saturday and Sunday, featuring special French treats at the Patisserie with samples for the celebration, Grape's Wine Bar having a curated menu and grape stomping in the garden. Wine Cellars of Annapolis were doing a French wine tasting, Lavender Lane Farms and artist Linda Luke were outside the patisserie with tables selling their items. The Daily Crepe food truck was there only on Sunday so that's the day we decided to go. Pulling up, you wouldn't know if you were in the right spot. No effort was made. There wasn't even a French flag hanging up to celebrate France's national day. Just having one flag or a banner would have made it seem much more organized.

At Sweet Hearts Patisserie we got macarons, a classic eclair, creme brulee, a Madeleine, and an almond croissant. The eclair was alright. Definitely not worth $8. The madeleine was pretty dry, not worth it, but it seemed like it was one of their specials for the celebration anyway. The macarons are good. We got raspberry, pink champagne, French vanilla, earl grey, pistachio, and creme brulee. The raspberry was filled with a raspberry jam. Recommend. The pink champagne didn't have much of a champagne flavor and the filling was very sweet. I would skip it. The French vanilla was good and filled with a soft cream. Not a very prominent vanilla flavor but delicious nonetheless. The pistachio had a great nut flavor and pistachios in the filling. The creme brulee was good, similar to the vanilla one, and the earl grey tasted prominently of earl grey. Overall the macaroons were delicious. The almond croissant we heated up at night when we got home. It had marzipan or some sort of almond paste in the middle. It was good but very almondy if you don't enjoy almonds. Next time I would get the macarons again and also try their cake.

We also got a Nutella and Banana Crepe from The Daily Crepe Food Truck. It was $12 and a nice size with a little dollop of whipped cream. The crepe was soft minus the bottom which was very hard to cut. Would get again still. They definitely weren't prepared for the amount of people ordering crepes. It took about 5 minutes of waiting before they took my order and while waiting for the crepe to come out, they gave someone the wrong crepes and lost another woman's order. They were very nice, and I think just flustered from the day. It doesn't change my opinion and I would still reorder.

We checked our Wine Cellars of Annapolis and they only had three alcohols to try and they were not French wines. Two of them were sale items they were trying to move. We did go around 1pm so potentially there was more to try earlier in the day. The shop was nice with a large collection of wines. I overheard one of the employees talking to a customer and it seems they do tastings every weekend, with Saturday having a larger selection. I suppose they just focused on French wines for the event.

The Wine Cellar was connected to Tastings Gourmet Market where we bought some bon bons, French honey mustard, and some fruit chews. The market was small but had wonderfully curated products. The olive oil and balsamic collection was great. It also seemed like they had a deli counter where you could get sliced meats and cheese. The bon bons were delicious! I highly recommend checking this store out!

Overall, it felt like an advertisement just to get people to the shopping center. It's nice to know it exists now, but I don't think I will be going back for Bastille Day next year. Nothing special was happening.