WHY Parisian-style macarons, displayed like objets d’art, in the shop formerly known as Paulette (they dropped the ‘Pau’ after a trademark tussle).

WHAT French macarons are not the dumpling-style macaroons (normally made of coconut) that we see in the U.S. These are light, tender-crisp sandwich-style cookies that look rather like colorful, miniature hamburgers, except the fillings are luscious ganache. Try the Sicilian pistachio, salt caramel and Madagascar vanilla. There’s a new shop on Fair Oaks in Old Pasadena.