Oh Là Là, Fleur de Cocoa!

It could be called Los Gatos' best hidden secret, that is when speaking about delicious sweet things that satisfy all palates.

Located at 39 No. Santa Cruz Ave., is a patisserie chocolaterie—not a bakery as we were corrected—that opened for business in 2000 by master French pastry chef and chocolatier Pascal Janvier and wife, Nicola.

A recent visit transported us to a Paris pastry shop and left us overjoyed at finally finding a place in the South Bay where one can truly satiate a sweet tooth with any of its award-winning cakes, chocolates and tartelettes.

Perhaps the reason everything we tasted was so delicious and well made is because of Janvier's impressive credentials as a pastry chef who's been working preparing delicious pastries and chocolates since his youth in his native France.

Who has a master's degree in chocolate, pastry and ice cream? No, we're not kidding. Janvier does!

He's been named one of the 10 best pastry chefs in the country by Chocolatier/Pastry Art & Design magazine and he's been inducted into the prestigious Academie Culinaire de France by the late Julia Child.

Among the French pastries being served are croissants, milles-feuilles, also known as "Napoleons;" eclairs, petits-fours, or bite-sized pastries; tartes or shells filled with various fillings that include fruit and custard; cakes and chocolates by the piece or in gift boxes.

The business' hours of operation are 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday; and 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Sunday.

The small shop also sells ice cream and sorbets.