“It’s a fun concept and very affordable,” D’Andrea said. “Whether you’re 3 or 73 years old, you’re going to like it. This place is a positive place where everybody can come and just have fun.”
D’Andrea has worked with numerous famous chefs in the culinary scene. In addition to being a “Top Chef” France finalist in 2015 and winning “Best Young Chef of 2016” in France, he won “Best Bistro of Paris” in 2016 for his restaurant Mensae, located in Paris. After moving to the U.S. in 2018 and serving as executive chef at La Villa in Houston, D’Andrea developed the idea for FoliePop’s shortly after the pandemic began.
The restaurant’s signature FoliePop is a cake-like base filled with cream, topped with a spherical hard candy shell full of syrup that is supposed to be “popped” over the top before eating. The treat comes made-to-order with several flavor customization options for every part of the dessert, including the base, the cream inside and the syrup on top.
A favorite among his customers, the Paris-Austin FoliePop has a brownie base with vanilla cream inside and a chocolate hazelnut pop topper. Meanwhile, the Magnifique offers a cookie base with caramel cream filling and a vanilla pop on top. The restaurant has six unique options for each part of the dessert that can be combined to suit a customer’s taste. By selling interactive restaurant-style desserts in a boutique setting, D’Andrea said he wants everyone to be able to enjoy FoliePop’s.
“Everybody can come,” D’Andrea said. “You have $10 in your pocket, you can have lunch, or dessert or coffee. [I want to] be out of this cliche of, ‘it’s French, it’s expensive.’”
Savory French street food is also a staple of the menu, offering several different fillings and toppings for 6-inch brioche buns. One option D’Andrea said his customers love is The French Cowboy, with home-cooked smoked, pulled brisket that is slow-braised for six hours and topped with melted cheddar cheese and homemade barbecue sauce. Another option is the Truffle Croque Monsieur, ham and cheese with truffle oil and bechamel sauce topped with melted swiss cheese.
The menu is focused on local, high-quality ingredients and makes many of the items used in their dishes in-house, D’Andrea said. The goal is to try and make as many things in-house as possible, he said. For coffee drinks, FoliePop’s sources coffee beans from Greater Good Coffee Company about a mile down the road.
“Our chocolate is one of the best chocolates you can find on the market,” D’Andrea said. “We temper our chocolate manually, so it’s a lot of work, but we really put care into every product we make here.”
FoliePop’s was recently named one of 20 finalists in H-E-B’s annual Quest For Texas Best competition for their Tartelettes, which are now available in select H-E-Bs throughout the Lake Travis-Westlake area. The bite-sized tarts come in six different flavors and have a shortbread cookie bottom filled with jellies and creams. The restaurant also provides desserts to several local venues, such as hotels.
FoliePop's
13420 Galleria Circle, Ste. A-140, Austin
512-884-7798
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Thu.-Sun. 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
H-E-B locations:
12400 W. Hwy. 71, Bee Cave; 512-263-0528
2000 S. RM 620, Lakeway; 512-599-5800
7901 Hwy. 290, Austin; 512-288-5440
