Lea's Tea Room

The location is a Miami mall (albeit a snazzy one), not the Champs Élysées. But your taste buds'll tell you you're in Paris when you take a shopping break at Lea's. The French pastries -- a Paris Brest (a toasted almond-covered circle of pte à choux, filled with pastry cream and praline), for instance, or maybe a Religieuse(a large cream puff "body" topped by a small cream puff "head" that, draped in coffee or chocolate icing, resembles a nun) -- really are that delectably authentic. There's terrific nondessert food, too: for breakfast oeufs cocotte, eggs poached in a ramekin with cream; for lunch or dinner sandwiches, meal-size salads including an authentic salade niçoise, and a few more substantial daily specials. Meals come with excellent bread, an assortment featuring slices of baguette, cranberry peasant bread, and an equally crunchy-crusted nut bread. But don't skip the sweets.