The small pastry, sold for 10 euros, can be kept for several days -

F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes

  • The “Côte d'Azur” is a pastry offered in eight variations, one for each season and four others with other specialties.

  • In Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Nice, Pascal Rolfo imagines them with local products and will soon even include chocolate made in the Côte d'Azur.

In its little round box, it could make you think of cheese.

But the “Côte d'Azur”, trademark registered by Pascal Rolfo, is a pastry shop in which this master craftsman concentrates “all the terroir of the region”.

In eight variations.

One for each season and four more with other specialties.

Lemon and citron from Menton, chestnut cream from Collobrières, fig from Solliès, fines from Vaucluse… and even hazelnuts from neighboring Piedmont.

For four years now, the Laurentin, from a family of five generations of bakers, has been a die-hard of short circuits and made in local.

Even for these eggs from Saint-Paul-de-Vence and its honey made in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne.

And today he wants to go even further.

"I am in the process of setting up a partnership to use chocolate made in the Grasse region", Pascal Rolfo announces to

20 Minutes

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"Showcase the great things we produce"

“By launching myself into this adventure, the idea was to create something of identity, something special to showcase the great things that we produce on the Côte d'Azur,” he explains.

So its eight recipes will still be able to evolve according to new agreements with local producers.

And other variations could still come out of his imagination, in Saint-Laurent-du-Var where he lives, and from his laboratory in Nice, where he makes them.

Absolutely all alone.

Its delicacies are all made on the same pattern: a crunchy base, a fondant in the middle (citrus fruits, red fruits, hazelnuts, chocolate…) and a soft Genoa bread.

A recipe that allows the “Côte d'Azur” to keep for several days.

“The insert diffuses moisture.

So it's less stoufa gari [which could be translated as “stouffe-Christian”] as we say here, ”explains this craftsman who also manages the marketing of his delicacies on his own.

"Mass distribution is not my philosophy"

Sold for 10 euros each, the small cake for four can be bought via its website, "in delivery or in click & collect in Saint-Laurent-du-Var".

And it has already passed several tens of thousands.

“I have been approached by mass distribution but that is not the philosophy I want for this product.

I prefer to go slowly, ”he says.

Chinese and Japanese even contacted it to export it!

Refused again.

" It's too complicated.

I want to guarantee the quality of the product, ”assumes Pascal Rolfo.

While waiting to further develop the Côte d'Azur, the baker will diversify by also offering his inserts, in jars.

"That will be by this summer," he announces.

History to always have a piece of the Côte d'Azur to spread.

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  • Pastry

  • Gastronomy

  • Nice