You sound like a jaded New Yorker, you should probably consider moving. Ice cream is for lovers. As Volatire said...
"Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn't illegal"
1
Rarely have dessert but thankfully not so jaded that I can't appreciate a really good hot fudge sundae. I think this is a case of familiarity breeding contempt.
1
The other night we ate for the first time at an "old school" Italian restaurant. I asked the server, hesitantly and with fingers crossed under the table, "Are the desserts made here in the restaurant?" They are.
Score! I then had a perfect piece of tiramisu, the first homemade tiramisu I've had in decades. Our daughter got a lovely lemon cream cake. The servings we so large that we brought home leftovers.
My husband pointed out later that the desserts came to nearly half of the bill. Totally worth it.
1
If it was really old school, you would have been given tortoni in a silver foil cup.
2
The portions are too too big!! and given Americans' penchant for messing around with everything which so often results in a mess without a focus. What next? Slices of mango and kiwi fruit with Tournedos Archiduke? Sole with peaches?
1
If I want to eat a healthy European dessert, I will eat a lovely navel orange at home. If I want to pay $8 or $10 or more for dessert in a restaurant, I want something I can't easily make at home! In Rome, I leave the restaurant and stroll with a single gelato, or go to a cafe and have an affogato. Those are simple but perfect and not a thousand calories.
1
"I like the restaurants with 28 desserts, those like Shrapfts-or The Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia! I like Progress in Everything except Food!" -Paraphrasing Andy Warhol in his short sumptuous and colorful book: Yum Yum Yum
The mania for sundaes can be explained with one word: Instagram.
3
I will skip dessert unless it is something irresistible. If the dessert is really good people will write about it and before you go to the restaurant you know you want to try it. Butterscotch pot de creme with salted caramel at Gjelina in Venice, CA - rave reviews, well deserved and worth the calories. Flan at Mercado in Santa Monica - best flan I have ever had. It has to be great and it has to be a pain in the neck to make yourself. Ice cream sundaes - boring and easily replicated.
1
Saunders hot fudge sundae. Just great. My mother would take me.
2
"...cake skat and cookie droppings." Still smiling at that apt and funny turn of the phrase. If the restaurant is not interested in creating a complete menu that includes some effort invested in the dessert course, save some time, admit you really don't care, and go directly into fast food or take out because you've seriously truncated the customer's experience. When a Flatbush diner's dessert menu can beat you in the pastry department, it's time to take a break and contemplate why you wanted to be a restaurateur in the first place.
1
The pastry chefs have all gone to work on cruise ships.
1
Boulud Sud's grapefruit givre is the bomb.
The article makes a fair point, but is a bit too strident about it. Many restaurants would also be happy for people to skip dessert and give them a shot at flipping that table one more time. I'll often take them up on it. I'll scan the desserts and do a quick mental calculus. My appetite for dessert plus the appeal of their selections minus how much I'd rather just have ice cream times the distance to the closest decent ice cream place.
1
Thanks for shedding light on what's been happening in the pastry chef's world. It is a sad (and angry!) reality for many talented and passionately dedicated pastry chefs including myself.
2
I am so grateful for this article. I think it is yet another aspect of the "infantileization (is that a word?) of our culture, starting with parents and toddlers dressing alike, adults imitating hip kindergarten language ("awesome you guys"), women pitching their voices like little girls, or onesies for grownups, mac'n cheese on every menu, ...so why not end it all with a giant colorful, sweet, soft Sundae? Did i mention the necessity of the virtual playpen of moving images dangling before us?
Or maybe Trump is contagious!
Just a thought....
5
When you were a teenager in the sixties on a date in Massachusetts the sundae of choice was served at a Friendly's. At least you could afford it!
9
Pete Wells, you never disappoint! Cake scat and cookie droppings...ice cream in a wig! Your writing is dessert enough for me!
6
I loved going to Schraft ‘s NYC and getting a hot fudge sundae. Howard Johnson ‘s had a good one too. What this silly food article is describing is overkill and it is ridiculous and obscene. I have to moderate my outrage by pointing out the number of people on every street corner the world over and right here in NYC who go to food pantries and soup kitchens if they can find one. Time for The New York Times to rethink its food coverage. I am shocked I just wrote that.
“Food Coverage” OMG. I guess I’ll just have to stick to the news sections.
this is sad. pastry is great.... maybe need a greek grandma to rustle up some baklava. this must be the result of all those paleo folk; pastry wasn't invented by cave folk. it came later.
3
Well, you do come across as a crank here, BUT i totally agree with you. It’s a cost cutting technique that cheats the client out of an experience. I went to Baskin-Robbins as a kid for a sundae - practically took a bath in it! Harsh flourescent light, kids screaming...
I went to a dinner and the hostess proudly served jello for dessert. Plain green jello! I thought it was a joke, but she spoke of it as “grandmothers dessert”. No marshmallow, no fruit, no Redi Whip!
These are dark times!
5
Diabetes, lactose intolerance and a low-fat post-cancer diet mean that I will never have another one of these. Probably a good thing, too.
1
This is so accurate. Thanks for the Prune tip, it's been too long since my last visit.
Complaining about an abundance ice cream sundaes is a little like complaining about sunny days. Life is really tough. I do agree that we are seeing fewer pastry chefs in restaurants to our detriment. Oddly after reading this... I'm hungry for a hot fudge sundae with candied walnuts and French vanilla ice cream!
3
I'm surprised that cheesecake doesn't even show up. Or apple pie.
New York restaurants have awful deserts. Not like Paris for example. They are simplistic and cheap and cost quite a bit. I never order them.
1
"Ice cream in a wig"--funny.
The photos--are those servings for ONE?
'But who doesn't serve cake' Frank & Estelle Costanza
3
My husband and I live in San Francisco. We recently spent 5 days in NYC. We were struck by how many restaurants, high and low, had ice cream in various forms on the menu, and virtually nothing else. We always ordered vanilla, in my view the basis by which all other flavors are judged. Sure was good ice cream.
2
Friendly's Ice Cream. A sundae that even a teenager can afford. A great place to take a date in the 1960's, and today.
5
If you want a REAL sundae, head for Eddie's Sweet Shop on Metropolitan Avenue in Forest Hills, NY. The home-made ice cream and whipped cream, hot fudge, butterscotch or marshmallow toppings can't be beat--and the atmosphere of this 100-year-old establishment takes you back to bygone days.
6
As a picky picky organic baker I was thrilled to have two wonderful fresh deserts at COASTAL MIST CHOCOLATE BOUTIQUE in Bandon, Oregon. Baked daily and perfect.
I'll have to stop there. And if you're into halibut go for the fish and chips basket offered at the docks. Feeds two.
Made me laugh out loud, especially the sociopath's complaint. It's such a joy after leaving New York ten years ago to revisit via online food and culture reviews. And the list of questions when facing going out for a meal: neighborhood, cuisine, decibels. Floridians would have a meltdown.
1
So glad you are pointing out this fact of life. I am appalled at what is called dessert at most restaurants. It is either ice cream based or some sort of institutional cheesecake, that's it.
Nonetheless, it makes guests at home more appreciative of one's efforts to present a homemade pie, cake, strudel, financier, galette, tart, torte, madeleine, creme patisserie, mousse, baked alaska, or souffle. Desserts are my favorite thing to cook. I choose the dessert first and plan the rest of the menu around it, making sure to leave plenty of room for full enjoyment!
1
"Because these aren’t really desserts. They’re ice cream in a wig."
Delightful review.
7
Don’t underestimate the power of eye candy,especially now,when the onslaught of photos of food is so pervasive. Even before the instagram age,the sight of a showy dessert crossing the dining room inspired sales. The elegance of restraint is lost on many people,but is a quality I’ve always admired, and can be just as visually beautiful.
I have taught professional baking and pastry in Los Angeles at LA Trade Tech College (and in the meantime, have penned 4 books on food and sweets, as well) to an attentive, earnest, often creative cohort of students, many of whom are motivated to find fulfilling and rewarding jobs in the field. I am certainly not teaching them to make ice cream sundaes. So please, restaurant owners and food serve numbers crunchers, recognize that these individuals are every bit as talented as the chefs and cooks on the savory side of the kitchen, and let them do their jobs, creating memorable and yes, even surprising, delicious and fitting ends of the meal. Thanks Pete for pointing out the inescapable truth about the dumbing down and evisceraton of the dessert side of the menu. The discerning dining public and well- trained pastry practitioner deserves better and more!
10
It’s better than that old trend of poorly made chocolate lava cakes.
12
If this whole piece was fodder to drag Gabrielle Hamilton out of obscurity, it was a job well done, but with bespoke creameries like Milk Made and Morgenstern's, you'd do well to jump on the ice cream bandwagon, Pete. Summer is coming.
2
When we eat out with my daughter, the junk food queen, we are obligated to get dessert, and the bigger the better. Fair enough, she’s only 13. That said, one of the highlights of my year is our annual trek (sans children) to Peter Luger, and no matter how much bacon, steak, potatoes etc. we put away we always have to finish with a hot fudge sundae.
Human organs:
Have mercy on us and please do not eat that! We are being stuffed full of adipocytes to store all these extra calories, are in a state of constant inflammation and cannot function efficiently!
5
The fact that something is on the menu is reason to complain ?
You could skip it or you can throw darts at something and meet your quota of words for a silly article.
You met the word quota and it is lacking.
Do better and leave the ice cream alone.
Did your mother beat you as a child ? It's ice cream.
3
MUST be stopped???
Well then, douse it with oil and brandy, strike a match, and call it a FryDay
3
Nothing tops the Church sales around here that still sell ethnic pies, fudge, and cakes made from old recipes passed on by generation to generation. That as well as the pierogi, haluski, bleenies, eggplant lasagne and everything else blows the doors off these places.
3
Ice cream is not a dessert - it's a garnish.
1
I'm dreaming of the drug store counter on Nantucket in the 1960s where we would get a stainless stemmed dish with a paper liner, vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, marshmallow sauce (oh sigh!) and a cherry on top...
2
I always love a good ice cream sundae on a hot, sunny day!!!!
Pleeeeeeez.....Don't trash talk a national treasure! Instead of whining and winging (about a wonderful desert), how about encouraging with an upbeat attitude a new wave in desert menus? Sundaes are absolutely wonderful and if you want more choice, be on the side of creativity. I have just returned from a holiday in Naples and Rome and could make lots of suggestions; you, as a professional food journalist, must have many more than I.
2
Thank you Pete Wells! I wholeheartedly agree. I would never order an ice-cream sundae when dining out. Don't get me started on Oreo crumb toppings, broken bits of stale cheap candy, etc. Yuck. I prefer a lovely slice of fresh cake, a fruit tart, petit pot au chocolate, or a small serving of some other fresh, carefully-prepared dessert made with top-quality ingredients. No greasy, leaden under-baked cookies made with generic shortening, either.
I think the demand for nice fresh cakes and pasties in restaurants has waned due to so many people freaking out about calories, carbs, and gluten. As someone who positively adores gluten, it bums me out that so many places now ONLY have gluten-free pastries, which is great for those who restrict gluten, but not at all great for someone looking for a classically delicious dessert that does not taste like fava beans and rubber cement.
6
"the barren, echoing tundra that passes for my soul"
Another Wellsian zinger. Quite brilliant, Pete, thank you. And thank god you're not a pastry chef. Nor even a pastry sous-chef. You are the reason, in this time of times, that Wednesdays have become the new Sundaes.
5
So, you "feel nothing, apart from a burning impatience for everybody to act like adults again." That, Mr. Wells, is your problem. Maybe, one day, you will one day learn to have fun again, if you can un-grow up. It does sound like you are too far gone though.
3
This is a very long piece to complain about something that is not a problem.
5
Considering all the real problems I read about every day, I found it kind of refreshing.
5
The best sundae is the simple one you make at home. We get together with our neighbors and sit on the porch or around the dining room table; passing around pints of a variety of flavors and topping with my homemade hot fudge. It’s one of my favorite way to end the meal with our friends.
3
I’m sorry to read this. Back when I was a pastry chef, I was given free reign to make what I wanted. When I worked in San Francisco, home gardeners and foragers would appear at our kitchen door with fresh figs, Meyer lemons, golden raspberries, plums, quinces, etc. it was glorious fun to use all this fresh, local produce to make delicious, inventive desserts.
6
I've had the good fortune to eat at 3 Michelin-starred Quintessence in Tokyo, thanks to a friend of my mum's. I don't like to fully research restaurants so that I can be surprised, so I didn't know that the chef's signature dish was a seawater ice cream dessert. It arrived at the end of the meal, a single white quenelle on a white dish. In many ways it was an elegant reflection of Chef Kishida's inventive yet restrained approach to haute cuisine, and yet I was disappointed when it arrived. Ice-cream! At the tail end of an otherwise profound degustation!
It was, I admit, the most perfect ice cream I've ever tasted. Yet I still wished I was eating something else. Dessert is meant to be the crowning point of a meal, a surprise, as Pete mentions. While the material the ice cream was made of was a surprise, its appearance was not, and that was a disappointment. Great pastry chefs can now make better money and work better hours on their own, running a cake shop. I hope restaurants step up to do something to retain them.
I was the pastry chef at the loyal before Mary. So I was the original ‘installment’ thanks tho.
1
Only one ice cream sundae in all of restaurant-dom was worth the nostalgia-- when Lydia Shire was running the resuscitated Locke Ober, she recreated the sundae from the lost and lamented Bailey's Ice Cream-- coffee ice cream, butterscotch sauce just this side of burnt sugar, and toasted, flaked almonds. That sundae was of a place and of a generation that is past, for better or worse-- but the sundae brought again to mind what it meant to cram into Bailey's, buy a box of chocolates after shopping downtown with your Nana, and sit on one of their little dainty wire-frame chairs at one of their marble-topped tables to enjoy their classic sundae while all the other shoppers and ladies-who-lunched hustled and bustled and ate ice cream alongside.
8
I was thinking of Bailey's while reading this article. We went to the one in Wellesley. What a treat!
Lots of other great spots for ice cream in that area but Bailey's was special.
What I wouldn't give for a banana split right now ( 10:45pm, 2018/04/10 ). Haven't had one in decades ( I'm 73 )! Thank you, Pete Wells, for reminding me of gloriously delicious days.
2
The illustration is delirious. I could like it right off the screen!
1
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Spoilsport!!! Go have a cheeseburger for desert.
2
For desert take camel.
1
OK, I get it. How about this: a small scoop of vanilla ice cream with a thin line of chocolate syrup dribbled across it on a rectangular shaped plate? And you know what I'm talking about. Would that be more acceptable? Otherwise the piece is just a PR blurb for pastry (mentioned 13 times) chefs.
Or you can take a look at the following:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/magazine/an-ideal-sundae.html
I'm sad to say--because it makes me sound smug and snobbish, which I'm not (52% or the time)--that I didn't like sundaes even as a child. There was just too much of a muchness, and they got boring after about 3 bites. I did like milkshakes, and later, when we moved to Italy, the deliciously creamy and rich frappes (fra-PAY) you could find in some of the coffee shops (Gianduia! Nocciola tostata!!). If restaurants need to keep getting all ice-creamy and pseudo-basic, can we bring back milkshakes, maybe in exotic flavors? Topped by tiny and diverse pastries for texture? It could work, no?
I love a good sundae, but the ice cream must be of good quality (high cream content...i.e., very dense like a gelato) and the fudge sauce must also be very rich (not thin or made with corn syrup...but very rich and made with actual chocolate and heavy cream and vanilla...). Otherwise, the sundae is pointless imho.
2
Are you kidding?! A great ice cream sundae, beautifully composed with ingredients I can’t even dream up (and which I never seem to have at home myself) is one of the great pleasures of life! I crave an excellent sundae, and am grateful for those restaurants that put this divine treat on the menu. Now I don’t have to go to all the way to the Sugar Factory or Serendity III to satisfy my cravings. Banana splits, anyone?!
1
While I enjoy inventive desserts, there is nothing better in the world than a scoop of good vanilla ice cream covered in real hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry. That will always be the dessert to beat.
4
Spouse and I tend to only order dessert on a special occasion or when traveling in Italy. For the latter, it's usually an exquisite baked good or a lovely panna cotta with fresh berries, but always one dessert, two forks. He'll have a perfunctory taste and then insist that I finish the dessert. We have a very happy marriage.
6
whatever happened to the cheese course? add a bit of fruit in season and a glass of the spirit of your choice and the meal is complete. not too sweet. pastry chefs can do wonderful things if the restaurant can afford them; unfortunately bakeries are also disappearing.
6
I thought I was alone is leaving desserts to the barman. Most of the desserts in restaurants that I do consider are in small "neighborhood" establishments; my favorite is a local Italian bistro where the staff makes several goodies. And no tiramisu. I know, it's a favorite and yet few provide a genuinely enjoyable example. Lately, I let my guard down and passed over a after meal dink for a slice of "cheese cake". It was dreck. Ice cream is the choice for my wife, always vanilla, one scoop, and no toppings. Simply wonderful if made in the kitchen less than 50 feet away.
1
So glad to read this and realize that it wasn't just my imagination that the quality of desserts served in restaurants has declined. I almost never order desserts anymore because I can just as easily (and much more cheaply) buy a pint of ice cream at the supermarket on the way home from the restaurant.
4
All I can think of when reading this article is Jahn's in Brooklyn in the 60's and the Kitchen Sink I never ordered.
3
Maybe this was supposed to be funny?! Especially that last dessert. Melted chocolate on toast! Pretty good toast I hope!!!
1
Oh, I'll bet you never enjoyed cinnamon toast, either.
2
No, I still love cinnamon toast!
1
As if to show the contrast to the overused nostalgia of the Sundae, the link to the Dan Hicks song was a perfect example of ideal nostalgia. The song reminded me I love Dan Hicks, and I do miss him, and am sad he went away. But the huge smile his music always induces will be there forever. Thanks Dan!
3
As someone with a bad sweet tooth, I'm happy that the desserts have become banal at restaurants. I'm not inclined to order them and I get to save both calories and money.
1
Restaurant dessert menus are truly dismal. It's by following the seasons that you get color, taste, freshness, and variety in food, and with dessert that means one thing: Fruit. There are endless, gorgeous recipes for using seasonal fruit in desserts. Last year I checked the dessert menus of a dozen restaurants in Boston -- virtually no desserts included, let alone featured, seasonal fruit. And that was in late August, the peak of berries, peaches, melon, figs, and more. Alice Waters & Chez Panisse are still the leaders of the pack when it comes to dessert. And you don't have to live in California to do what they do. Any good cook who's committed to seasonality can do this all year long, even in New England. For inspiration and ideas, the cook needs only to look at the traditional cuisines of countries like France, Italy, and yes, even England, for beautiful desserts like fruit crostata, custard and panna cotta with fruit coulis, fruit ice creams & sorbets, cakes with fruit, cherry clafouti, fruit pavlova, and the list goes on.
11
Out west the dessert offerings are often just dreaded bread pudding and perhaps molten chocolate cake. Who wants a big wad of old, heavy bread after a a nice meal out? This dessert option speaks to nostalgia, but to whom?
3
Sundaes are gluten free, sometimes the only gluten free option.
But not lactose free. There are a LOT of lactose intolerant people out there, and I for one have almost given up on dessert, since it's almost always the same old same old, ice cream, cheesecake, yada yada. And it almost always comes out tasting vaguely of the refrigerator it's been kept in. I guess that's why they need to load it up with toppings.
That they're not even making their own ice cream is surprising. But in my professional baking days, I only ever worked at one place that had an ice cream maker - at a big caterer's in Westchester. It didn't take a lot of effort and you could invent flavors endlessly.
When I was enslaved as a pastry chef at a hotel in New Mexico, I tried to get ice cream (ready made) on the menu, for all the reasons you state in the article. It certainly would've lightened my workload. But the boss wouldn't go for it - didn't need to, as he was getting minimum 60 hrs/wk out of me as it was, for a laughable salary, and, of course, no overtime pay.
2
The writing is what is delicious here.
10
Give me a Schrafft's hot fudge sundae anyday. And since I am dreaming , let me enjoy it wirh my mother.
65
Took the words right out of my mouth!
2
In the Midwest, it was Sanders Cream Puff Hot Fudge!
Old Detroiters will recall this and swoon.
3
The Dessert Paradox: To eat dessert is to walk the gray line of morality. It's totally acceptable to take calories in cocktails as one of your commenters mentioned. Ordering a pastry is almost as socially shameful as lighting up a cigarette. The problem with this moral "optics" is that it encourages the behavior it sets out to sanction. Because indulging in dessert is considered over-the-top, childlike indulgence, the occasion calls for over-the-top childish desserts. As Pete Wells describes, the sundaes offered ooze with candy, processed cookie chunks, cereal - pop rocks? really?! The portions are equally childishly huge.
Sophisticated, well-crafted pastry invites the diner to a mindful appreciation. I'm an obesity researcher. Dessert is not the problem. Inattention, commodification, and quantity over quality are problems when seeking to regulate weight or eat healthfully.
Orange in simple syrup sounds delightful.....that might be my lunch!
6
Being lactose intolerant, I would like desserts I can actually enjoy without serious intestinal discomfort afterward. That's not ice cream.
I also prefer desserts that I can't make just as well myself. That's not sundaes. But there are quite a lot of things a trained pastry chef can do that I cannot.
2
Ice cream, vanilla with one scoop of caramel is all you need. Otherwise it's called a Full Gandolfini.
1
Ah....so pass away the memories of our youth. Actually, I am more concerned about bakery selections at grocery stores, both high-end and neighborhood. However, we actually should go the route of cheese and fruit, and perhaps a nice post-dinner appertíf to aid digestion.. After all, isn't the latest medical news that sugar causes cancer?
Well I think that they should bring back a dessert that is a lost part of New York cuisine namely the Charlotte Russe. In its New York incarnation, and usually purchased at your local Jewish bakery, it consisted of a huge swirl of really good whipped cream, topped by a a maraschino cherry, sitting on a circle of sponge cake in a cardboard collar, for those of you too young to know.
Put that on the dessert menu!
Even better add to the dessert drinks the chocolate egg cream, made with genuine Fox's U-Bet and guaranteed to not contain any eggs or cream.
Pure delicious empty calories - isn't that what what dessert is all about?
7
Best dessert in the world: good quality vanilla frozen yoghurt, really really good quality real maple syrup, and chunks of walnuts.
Divine. And addictive.
What happened to Ice Cream SODAS? Does anyone make them any more? Make with high-pressure carbonated water?
5
ice cream in Welsh's grape juice
I hardly ever order dessert in a restaurant anticipating disappointment. However, the Banana Tart at Union Square Cafe is one exception that confirms my apprehensions.
1
We should all applaud a heartfelt rant against the laziness and boredom of restaurants whose paucity of imagination deprives their customers of surprise, the new and not merely novel, the reinvention of joy in the art of the dessert.
Having said that, long after we are gone, when the dry bones of consumers and critics alike (calcified by sundaes eaten) rest peacefully thru the millennia, there will yet be scoops of chococale or vanilla, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkles, and yes a cherry on top (unless they or we go extinct), and our progeny will likely still be eternally grateful for them.
3
Yesterday I went to a restaurant with fancy desserts and my niece ordered the most expensive dessert of the menu, the Chocolate Terrarium. She loves chocolate and sundaes. It arrived true to its name in a terrarium and looked like, well, dirty moss in a terrarium. I am sure some dessert impresario reigned over its production, but my niece turned her nose up and most of it went into the composter. Sometimes a sundae is a very good idea.
Oh yuck! All too, too, too, too sweet.
I think a good restaurant dessert requires subtlety and finesse in the execution. And I agree, Pete, some little surprise – a new combination of ingredients flavors or textures is always welcome.
In my opinion, ice cream should never be more than an accessory to a small square of cake or a piece of fruit tart or… whatever, and even then a subtle, delicately flavored whipped cream blob is far preferable.
I think ice cream sundaes are all about maximizing profits as there’s very little labor in them.
The good news is that this is a trend and a fad, and given how fast things are moving in the food world, thankfully it won’t last long.
8
I read the caption to the brownie hot fudge sundae incorrectly at first--comes with the "obituary." LOL
What's better than a half scoop of chocolate paired with a half scoop of coffee? But it has to be good ice cream!
1
What’s better? Whole scoops. Or two!
3
I like ice cream but I don't love ice cream. A scoop of ice cream is all I need, and I probably only eat a few scoops throughout the year. I agree with the author. I find the ice cream sundae as a dessert simply a way for restaurants to overcharge for something that doesn't require any skill to actually cook. Everything's pre-made, they just put it together and charge $10+.
3
After dinner, why not just go to Yogurtland and have something equally yummy, in any portion size, and with many, many toppings, for half the price?
But, to the author, it might be a good idea to have your cholesterol checked. Not trying to be funny, either. It's serious!
It is either refreshing, or downright chilling, to read Mr. Wells' melting moment, dishing about ice cream sundaes. It all depends on one's perspective. Clearly, he gives a frappe, telegraphing his desire to shake things up in the restaurant world. Whether his column cuts the custard is an altogether different question, but to be sure, I was bowled over by his eloquence and Good Humor.
10
In summation, Prune is always worth the trip.
1
Hear, hear!
Excuse me while I go check the frig for some blue bunny vanilla and smuckers hot fudge sauce...
I grew up Peach Melbas, Bananas Splits, and three scoop ic-cream cones {pistachio, strawberry and rum raisin]. The first two were known as "American desserts" when I was growing up in Caracas in he 50's!
the best hot fudge sunday is at Hillstones
I used to own a wholesale ice cream delivery company that served places like country clubs and marinas. I was always amazed when nostalgia caused adults to return to the flavors of their youth for nostalgia’s sake alone. It sounds like these restaurants have successfully tapped into that with an offering that has a fairly long shelf life and large margin.
2
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson:
When a man is tired of ice cream, he is tired of life.
82
The deemphasis of desserts by restaurants is unsurprising given the short shrift this newspaper gives them in its reviews, almost always an afterthought. The critic created the problem he now complains about.
6
Do you really believe that 20 million people (a) read these reviews and
(b) decide what to eat based on these reviews ?
In the middle of his article while discussing pastry sous-chefs, Mr. Wells did a wonderful job of explaining why a lack of creativity and cultural development is often correlated with financial pressure.
11
tell me more about the navel orange poached in sugar syrup...mineola tangelos have been juicy and succulent lately.
2
In Paris, the equivalent of the tired sundae is the ubiquitous crème brulée. All one needs is to know how to yield a tiny blow torch: you take out the industrially pre-made crème brulée, you start firing away, et voilà.
In NY, they prefer their cream iced, in Paris, they prefer their cream burnt. Same laziness of conception et execution though.
5
Oh, fudge !
2
I am not understanding what he saying.
2
Pete my man! You are spoiled! Out here in the hinters, our idea of an ice cream sundae comes from Polly Freeze (cheap plug), along a 2 lane highway in Indiana farm country. Simple, different ice creams but always vanilla. whatever sauce, hot or cold, nuts and candy -- THAT is the true "sundae." Eaten in the car or the nearby picnic tables - there are never enough napkins lol
1
Shawn my man ! Give my regards to Dav and Peg and tell them I'll be back after I've lost the 20 pounds I put on last time.
Restaurants serve sundaes because they're simple and good and people order them. Who really wants a poached whole navel orange?
32
I really want a poached whole navel orange.
3
I would, thankyouverymuch!
2
poached orange instead of overly sweet sundae? orange gets my order
2
According to wiki: "Approximately 75 percent of African Americans, Native Americans, and Jewish Americans are lactose intolerant, as are 90 percent of Asian Americans and 53 percent of Mexican Americans." As someone who's lactose intolerant, I'll pass on this racially/culturally insensitive dessert!
4
As the vernacular would have it, this is a first-class problem to be suffering.
4
"first world".... I wish it were the only problem, but if the power ever seriously goes out (Puerto Rico, e.g.) any ice cream would be much appreciated
Well done, Pete.
Another scoop.
(Who can resist a pun like that?)
10
Great writing!
2
Grown-ups arguing about the legitimacy of ice cream Sundays, this might be why the rest of the world hates Americans.
1
:^) This made me smile.
3
This is a joke, right? Now the ice cream sundae is under attack for what seems to be no apparent reason except that Pete Wells doesn't approve of them?? Now I know what I'll be having for dessert regardless of the calories.
Come on folks--lighten up already!!
4
Diabetes here we come...
3
this is because they do not want to pay pastry chefs anymore, any one can make a sundae
5
The perfect dessert for us are a few biscotti on a plate.
2
"I doubt there’s a single one I could pick out of a police lineup." -- fifth time I've read this Wellsian marvel, and I'm still laughing
8
Farrell's, a west coast tradition, served incredibly simple concoctions. I present The Triple Treat hot fudge sundae. So traditional you would seethe. Three scoops of vanilla, whipped cream, nuts, cherry and THREE heated ramekins of hot fudge. So consistently delightful, the cold against the hot, the brackish mote. And just when you thought you were out of hot fudge, ruining the balance the third ramekin appears, still warm, like oil reserves in a remote section of Saudi Arabia. You are rich, rich, rich.
6
Just add booze and the-never-grownups will make sundaes the most popular dish in town.
1
Thanks for the Dan Hicks reference!
4
What grinches. This article makes me glad I don't live in New York.
1
Talk about First World Problems! (I love dessert but prices have gotten ridiculous).
4
i just doubled my meds for diabetes after reading this piece.....
4
Why not hire pastry chefs for savory items? Surely they can do more than just desserts?
I do love reading anything written by Peter Wells. This article is one of the best. So funny.
5
Pete Wells thanks for your honesty.
Keep it up.
4
“but they can now pay you $30,000 or $40,000 less a year because you’re not a chef, you’re not in charge.”
Many teachers are paid only $30,000 or $40,000 per year total. And, increasingly, like these chefs, they are not in charge. What does it mean when we pay people more to scoop ice cream than to teach our kids ?
6
Above all, Pete seems to have had his fill of the dreaded Jaded Sundae. It
simply tastes too good and induces a debilitating case of brain feeeze, causing one to complain about irrelevant things.
3
"It holds well, it doesn't really get old..."
Ice Cream holds well until it doesn't and there is nothing worse old freezer burned ice cream.
1
My husband and I spent a chunk of our Washington DC courtship eating cheeseburgers at Clyde's restaurant in Georgetown. For dessert, we always ordered their fabulous warm pecan pie, served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on the top. Here's the kicker....we shared this dessert. We both have a sweet tooth, so when I noticed that my then boyfriend would always let me have more than half of this wonderful dessert, I knew he was the guy for me. We are married 39 years, and he continues to insist I have the larger portion of our shared desserts.
9
Yes, Pete, I think you've descended into kvetchness. It happens with age. The problem with all those restaurants is not the sundaes but what comes first. And you know that I'm sure. One of the best sundaes in the city has been on the menu for more than the sixty adult years I've been eating there. Peter Lugers. The only problem is what they call it now, a "Holy Cow " I suppose an unfortunate modern concession to modernity. It is surrounded as you probably know by more than one or two other calorie bombs (delicious pecan pie, cheesecake, and the best strudel around) so it's not exactly what you are targeting. But once again, you have to judge it in the context of what it follows.
I love your writing. This time I think you just libelled one of the few things extant that could MAGA.
1
Something like Holy Cow,repugnant as it can seem,attract attention as it sails across the dining room,and then come the photos. The elegance of simplicity is lost on most of us.
My wife and I will gladly order any dairy free desert other than sorbet.
She is allergic to whey and casein. We both are lactose intolerant.
Sadly this seldom happens.
Also, those sundaes look enormous. Are these people thinking clearly?
2
Does everything in NYC devolve to how much someone gets paid and what title he or she gets? I never realized that by ordering a cup of sorbet, I was letting rampant capitalism succeed.
Pete Wells channeling Andy Rooney. A little too much curmudgeonly snarl. Ice cream sundaes may be affordable for restaurants with staffing issues and they may unoriginal or trendy, but they are also delicious. Wells is right about those perfect desserts at Prune and Uncle Boon’s, but why be such a hoity toity killjoy about a whole genre?
3
Alright, Mr. Pete Wells, but I will take the Knickerbocker Sunday instead.
When was the last time you met with friends just for dessert, coffee, and maybe a drink?
Maybe this should be a thing (again).
3
I’d eat them all.
14
Ah, for the good old days when you just went out to eat some food and socialize with friends (friends not trends) and didn't know or care who the chef of the month was. Just pickup a half gallon of supermarket ice cream and make it at home yourself.
6
You're quite right. This is an appalling situation.
They should replace the sundaes with banana splits.
6
Beautifully written, and amusing and truthful to boot. Always happy to have the winds of Pete Wells's 'frozen tundra of a soul' blow by. As a whiner myself, I approve of educated, well-informed crabby commentary. If you read nothing else in this article read the last two paragraphs and get thee to Prune. The Bread and Chocolate dessert is simple and outstandingly satisfying in the guiding spirit of hedonism we want from our desserts. Once having eaten it I swore I would serve it to dinner guests after a main course that hits all the right savory notes, like mussels or an organic roast chicken.
5
The only remotely interesting desserts in this article sre the ones at Prune: “chunks of dark chocolate softening over just-grilled bread; a whole navel orange poached in sugar syrup and then chilled”. I would want to order both of them. So glad I read I read all the way to the end - you saved the best for last. Like desserts!
2
And we wonder why there's an epidemic of type 2 diabetes??!! I adore desserts, but that much sugar in one place is just an abomination. What's wrong with a nice little slice of something?
2
The epidemic of diabetes is from the overuse of statins.
2
My least favorite desserts are commercially made for restaurant cakes.
Frozen and thawed out. They very often taste like the refrigerator or walk in that they are kept in-disgusting.
7
They are delicious! Keep them coming
1
Best Sundae: Dairy Queen. Hot fudge sauce. Walnuts. whipped cream. Cherry.
Best dessert: Three scoops of really excellent gelato and three Amaretti cookies.
A good chocolaty brownie (fresh) and vanilla ice cream.
There are all kinds of good American desserts. Try a diner -- they usually have a dozen.
Sometimes the Food section is just silly. This is one of those times.
4
Ice cream in a wig, hilarious! Call it a RuPaul.
4
I say cake, cake and more cake. Layers of cake.
The US, particularly the South, have a grand tradition of cake. Just search for "cake" or "layer cake" in the NYT recipe site. The variety is astounding. So be patriotic: make and eat cake. Cakes make life sweet.
Must see: https://www.southernliving.com/desserts/cakes/popular-cakes-by-year.
5
It's a chicken-or-the-egg? problem -- I don't order dessert too much anymore, since most of what is available, even in places with imaginative and exciting appetizers and mains, is yet another variation on what I call a "chocolate death bomb." And if you're really unlucky, you get peanut butter AND caramel on top.
1
And then there are those of us who don't care for ice cream...
1
Good necessary ranting! Why one should order mediocre dessert when you can have it at home? Specially ice cream, a pint of a decent brand cost the same as one serving of cheap stuff mixed with more cheap stuff.
One rule to follow is to only eat dessert when you know you’re in for a treat... otherwise it’s just stomachache.
I will take one of those, that he has in his hand.
OK, great. Now I really want an ice cream sundae!
1
Thanks for this rant. It's so true! The quality of desserts in restaurants has gone to nil, since I can't remember when. Not a fan of the fresh fruit dessert at restaurants; lovely for home, but I want something made with care by someone when at a restaurant. The last time I had a restaurant-worthy dessert at a restaurant was a few years ago in Paris, where we ordered a souffle in advance with the dinner order and then the waiter came out with a bottle of Grand Marnier and left it for us to help ourselves. It wasn't even a fancy place.
American restaurant desserts have become such an afterthought, they should just save everyone the trouble and not offer any. A pitiful dessert course just feels like a fast swinging door kicking you out: 'Thank you, good night, don't let the door hit you on the way out.'
27
It is my understanding that restaurants would prefer that diners not order dessert so that they may be able to turn the table faster and get more patrons in per hour. Hence, the demise of the dessert.
3
Aaaah, I miss those Woolworth "break a balloon for the price" sundaes. A sundae is to be enjoyed as a special treat....not to end a meal. Perfect way to relax ... eating an unencoumbered sundae! Keep the pastry chefs as part of a complete meal, or maybe a dish of ice cream....but a sundae?? Nah, that's a special treat.
3
Great writing about a modern problem. Things are especially grim in the suburbs where most new restaurants (many of which are owned by the same company) all serve the same tired things in renovated, but much too loud, spaces; it's depressing. I rarely order dessert because the choices are so bleak. I have not truly enjoyed a dining experience in CT since 2006 when my favorite, beautifully quiet, French restaurant, owned and managed by a passionate French restaurateur, left for Texas-Austin, I'm guessing. My friend and I still talk about our meals there.
3
I grew up in Asheville, NC, when the Biltmore Dairy Bar still existed (before it was converted into a TGIFridays) and we loved the Tulip Sundae. A perfect size, perfect name, perfectly simple. It was a treat to order one of these.
3
Are these really ice cream sundaes or dolled-up glucose tolerance tests?
3
If I have to put the toppings on ice cream myself I'll do it at home. I don't want ice cream, I want a tiny bit of chocolate mousse or something wickedly decadent and wonderful, and in a small portion because it's too rich to eat too much of. save the ice cream for the ice cream parlor. I want ice cream I'll go to Dairy Queen.
7
Is Dairy Queen technically ice cream? I wasn't aware it contained any dairy products. Doesn't the FDA call it frozen quescient product?
3
Before Mr. Wells plopped this culinary infamy on our crown of Never on a Sundae Ice Cream to be established, perhaps these eating clubs should be reserved for grown-ups only. They can go to The Eating-Trough if they squeeze in.
A friend of my parent, Max Ernst, an artist of the day used to laugh his head off at watching my studious expression of bliss in polishing off with flair the glory of ice-cream at the end of the evening. Interruptions, as to whether it tasted good, were ignored. 'C'est bon?' from my parent, The Red Queen, were cause to narrow one's eyes.
Little did I know these desserts were going to be curtailed one day in The Land of The Free. My favorite, without crust or ice-cream, and made of custard is The Clafoutis, which I told 'Austria' to keep up her sleeve when she makes it at home to bring to other gourmets. In Vienna, they have The Sacher Torte.
A most fantastic pastry-maker last seen in Florida in the art of cake and cookies joined my 'Liverwurst' web recently. Perhaps she will come in and take a unicorn-stand with lion Wells and drum him out of town with his pots and pans.
A child visited recently and we went in search of ice-cream. A magical treasure shop was found at The Biker's Stop, and the best coffee in America as far away as the land of Ethiopia, but let's keep this a secret.
The grown-ups to eat prunes and poached pears stewed in some elegant liqueur, and pay for this at an astronomical price.
1
NYC restaurants are all owned by private equity firms. Another skim of revenue from pastry chefs pay into the pockets of the uber wealthy. Our lives are all a little 'less' because of it.
10
This is some of the best writing I’ve read these last few months.
15
Hello,
I am writing you from Paris. Fortunately, this isn't yet the case in Paris restaurants, even tough most of them don't have pastry chefs. The worst thing about what you're describing is that I'd rather have my ice-cream with no trimmings at all ! Especially if it is an artisan ice-cream that has great flavours.
9
In Paris it is crème brulée. Everywhere. OK, it's better than a sundae
Go to Berthillon while you are in Paris although it sounds like you already know it.
3
Living out in the hinterlands of New England, we don’t have many choices of where to have our ice cream, let alone a good, critically reviewed restaurant choice.
So it’s off for Friendly’s, a chain of sandwich, and ice cream shops scattered about our local area.
Several years back, they started offering platters, a hamburger or sandwich, with fries, chased by a rather small sundae, called aptly enough, a Happy Ending sundae. I’ve found the small serving size perfect in most cases, for a “healthier” option.
I’ve come to enjoy these diminutive sundaes, more than a full size or gargantuan sized portion. That I now find myself skipping the burger and fries entirely, and being quite satisfied with just a Happy Ending.
15
New Englander born and raised, and I see miss Friendly's ice cream out here in green jello world. evenmist stores don't have coffee flavored package ice cream, as the dominant religion does not allow. So, when we travel, I get my coffee ice cream fix.
not a word about the huge portions. which to my mind are a much bigger problem. a dessert of 4 scoops?! plus trimmings?! puh-leeze.
6
The photos of those sundaes had my mouth watering. I maintain that there is no harm in having even such a huge treat once a week or once a month; obesity creeps in when you don't keep track of your food intake. It happened to me once, and never again. I work out at a sports centre three times a week, walk wherever I want to go in town, carry my shopping home in a backpack (I only buy what is really necessary) and am lucky in that there are shops all within walking distance - the advantage of living in a medium-sized town in Germany - I'll have my huge weekly treat once a week but .... do I ever wish it was one of those glorious sundaes!
5
Go for it, CMD, and have a Knickerbocker Glory stroll on Us!
1
pflaumenkuchen..... mmmm
If it is true that many restaurants in NYC no longer want to pay a pastry chef, perhaps that’s the reason that dessert restaurants have sprung up, notably in the Village.
Visit The Spot Cafe on St. Marks Place for wonderful desserts that are far more than just ice cream. Or go to ChikaLicious for an entire 3 course dessert “meal”, all made up of very innovative desserts. That is, if you can get in!
These places prove that dessert does not have to be boring!
3
I had no idea this ice cream sundae trend was happening. I live mostly overseas, in South Africa at present (lots of malva pudding!), but I do visit New York occasionally and travel a lot. I agree with others and Pete Wells that when I do indulge in dessert at a restaurant I want something that is not what I could just pull out of the freezer. It is rather shameful. Do they think no one would notice the lack of imagination? I also read once that dessert for a restaurant is a money maker since they can charge rather high prices for a slice of tart, let's say. I always thought that places without a pastry chef just outsourced dessert to a bakery as I do. My mother always said she never made what others could do better and she was a cook but not a baker.
7
jkk66, no Sara Lee's Cheesecake for you? My sibling in New York once perched a little hint of this treat over my head and it landed on my nose; he may have forgotten about this unfortunate event, but now in my golden years, it comes back as a movable feast.
I often have "do-it-yourself" sundaes for dessert after a nice meal. My versions include fresh fruit (hot or cold), an assortment of nuts, oatmeal, etc., homemade chocolate sauce with no sugar, organic ice cream, and fresh whipped cream. And the main thing: small dishes, 2.5 ml canning glasses that make very lovely sundaes that do not have thousands of calories!
4
The title suggested an eat healthy imperative rather than a finessing of ultra high calorie food. How many people of any age these days look like they should eat a sundae?
Why not contribute to customers' well being by offering them a complimentary apple at meal's end?
I suspect there may not be a uniformly positive response here.
7
Thank you, L. Martin, and was eating a favorite green apple, while enjoying the dessert input from the comments, remembering what the patroness of a small hotel once told me about an orange in her day was a Christmas treat. Now, if some kind chef with a generous soul would make plum-pudding with brandy-sauce and hard butter, the above will be offered a bouquet of spring daffodils.
Some of us may look as if we could use a sundae, especially with a young assistant by one's side to share, especially in times of war.
My Yorkshire born mother recounted the Christmas orange gift as well....at least 50 times..God bless her.
But the sundae as a comfort food item could surely be replaced by a “Pink Lady” variety of apple. Perhaps the young assistant you envisage, could slowly feed you a slice at a time.
Kudos to Pete Wells for this well-researched article on the restaurant business that highlighted the economic reality behind ice cream sundaes.
I now understand why so many Americans and particularly New Yorkers flock to Paris for an alternative dessert experience. Many of the so-called chefs in Paris have mastered simple pastry desserts or buy them from a respected source just as they do their bread. Ice cream sundaes are not on the menu. These are simple bistro or cafe restaurants with affordable dining which is why they are always packed.
As for the restaurants with pastry chefs and sous-chefs, many of these desserts sell for 12 to 30€ or more. And people expect to be surprised. And they usually are. They understand that by paying a lot more for a dessert experience, they are entitled to get one.
I hope Pete Wells will write more articles on the economics of dining out. This type of reporting is both intelligent and enlightening. Restaurants where we go to “restore” ourselves should be better understood by the public who go there.
15
My family went skiing in the French Pyrenees for winter break this year and ate in a homey crepe restaurant twice. After scarfing my duck and carrots galette, I rallied the kids on our second visit to order a banana split sundae for dessert. We asked for four spoons and fought with our elbows the whole time. We came this close to going back just for dessert.
2
Wow, nice and luxurious trip, I'm envious.
1
If I had my druthers, I'd rather a simple sundae before a favorite in our condo association restaurant, chocolate chip bread pudding.
Maybe these New York restaurants could bring back that favorite of the war years, the Mexican sundae: a scoop of vanilla, chocolate sauce, and small peanuts. They could update it as the NAFTA sundae.
1
Not mentioned is the fact that the dessert course is likely frowned upon by restaurants that would much prefer to turn that table around quickly than have patrons mingle for another 30 minutes to share a $10 tart. Especially since it’s much more profitable to front-end the dinner experience with $18/ea cocktails.
12
We are partial to a bowl of fresh fruit drizzled with something like a brand or orange liquor. Simple, healthful.
4
What's that line, Methinks the man doth protest too much? comes to mind. Who doesn't like a ice cream sundae? And some of these in the article look absolutely great. Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and nuts. I am all in!
8
Either the writer likes tongue in cheek or is a super killjoy.
I don't think much of a restaurant that doesn't carry at least a decent vanilla ice cream along with a good chocolate sauce. They may offer the brownie and ice-cream, or the super-sized sundae, or maybe even the kind of sundae criticized by the author (which I will enjoy on a rare occasion), but I typically ask for a simple one scoop and sauce. Invariably, the waitperson is agreeable. Keep it simple but make it ice cream - for any meal ending.
8
It really ticks me off when the only available dessert options involve ice cream. Have the proprietors considered that a fair number of people can't eat it? Offer something--anything--else in addition. It's a bit boring and not my thing, but surely sorbet isn't any more trouble than ice cream.
7
Best sundae I ever had was 3 warm apple fritters in the bottom of a sundae glass, covered with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and topped with a generous topping of butterscotch syrup (imagine the butterscotch sliding down onto the perimeters of the warm apple fritters) and topped with whipped cream, crushed peanuts and a real, glistening, neon maraschino cherry - with the stem still attached. Bliss.
6
We have a house in New Orleans where we spend about 4 ,months a year. Their restaurants have some of the most elegant desserts but the ice cream is always store bought. I had a bread pudding with a Rum sauce that came with ice cream but didn't need it. The pudding was superb, Raisins, Cocnut and crushed Pineapple were some of the ingredients.
1
Grew up in fifties and sixties when you could get real ice cream in recognizable flavors with strawberries, pineapple and hot chocolate with a cherry on top! Malted milk shakes were so thick a spoon could stand up in it. We ate real food and there were few fat people. Of course we walked everywhere. At school we had recess outside no matter the weather. As kids we played outside as much as possible active games like jump rope, baseball, hop scotch, etc. Somewhere along the way real food got lost.
15
I would pay $6+ for a single scoop of a really good ice cream, not Breyer's, not Haagen-Dazs. Very hard to find good, not overly sweet ice cream...and truly real vanilla?!?!?
1
Whatever their faults, mega-sundaes are preferable to alcohol. I once freely imbibed. A decade ago I forsook liquor for dessert. I may be be no healthier, but my head is clearer. The pleasure center is equally gratified.
14
This article caused me to go to the freezer - break the head off of a leftover "Russel Stover" chocolate bunny, and melt it with a bit of water for a nice consistency. It made a delicious chocolate Sundae - which I could have done without. Oh well - the perils of the food section.
38
The problem with restaurant desserts is their sheer size. Most of us don't want a quarter of a whole cake, or a brownie covered with ice cream and drowning in fudge. Here in the foodie capital of North Carolina, most restaurants are still guilty of desserts of Brobdingnagian proportions. Amazingly, the two restaurants that have sensible desserts are chains -- Maggiano's, where they have "mini" sizes of their regular desserts -- a few spoonfuls that are quite enough, and Ted's Montana Grill, where you can get a single well-made cookie -- the perfect ending with a cup of coffee to end a meal. Who needs enough sugar to make one nauseous for the rest of the evening?
36
That's funny. Asheville has that claim for foodie capital of NC.
I can't imagine paying for a restaurant dessert which I could make easily at home!
14
Yes, for the price of one small scoop at a restaurant, you might be able to buy one or even two half gallons of premium ice cream and have it over a long period of time. Most people already ate too much food before dessert is even an option.
2
Ice cream, pie, cookies, fancy cakes, French pastries-meh. I can do without them as I am missing a sweet tooth. But a warm bread pudding with bourbon laced crème anglaise poured all over it- irresistible.
18
Try Paul Prudhomme's bread pudding. Had it at K-Paul's in New Orleans. Excellent.
Get the recipe on line.
6
Or an exquisite custard of any sort - creme brulee, flan with berries, panna cotta. Oh my!
The best sundae I ever had after a meal was from Friendly's. When I was a child my best friend and I would walk to town and order a hamburger on toast and a toasted almond sundae. Heaven. I can't even imagine having a sundae after a meal now, isn't a sundae a meal in and of itself?
Here in New Orleans desert is an art form. Sundaes may be on the menu but I've never noticed, I don't get past the creme brûlée. Now fresh profiteroles stuffed with ice-cream and drizzled with chocolate maybe...
13
Eating is an art form in New Orleans. People in other cities eat to live. People in New Orleans live to eat.
8
And bananas Foster! Scrumptious!
Lots of substandard pastries.. not sure why.. too expensive by half.. and I love Greek rice pudding.. or Spanish...
Café affogato -- is often the perfect dessert. best with both vanilla ice cream and plain whipped cream and left-over breakfast coffee.
Real sour cherry pie: that odd strawberry pie with the red guck over the fresh strawberries: anything pavlova (meringue preferably with pecans in it and with strawberries and crème Chantilly (Trader Joes has whipping cream that can stay on the shelf forever. ) The Brits do well on many sweets.. France and Italy now mixed. Maybe Starbucks should bring back sofgliatella.
3
I am no longer surprised by gigantic portions or the practice of dressing up desserts and other food instead of just providing plain servings. I was in Haagen-Dazs once and asked for a small serving of vanilla ice cream - it was three scoops of ice cream! I had to get the kid's cup in order to get just one scoop. No wonder Americans are obese and suffering from Type II diabetes and other weight-related ailments.
27
As a nurse, I have cared for may virtuous people who avoided stigmatized food and they were thus height weight proportionate ...but they still often developed catastrophic medical disorders...I wonder how many, if asked would have said, "I wish I had enjoyed more ice cream."
23
in any ice cream place i ask for "the smallest amount you're allowed to sell me."
Read on line reviews by many unsophisticated folks and you’ll notice a trend: “great restaurant the portions are so gigantic!”
Whatever happened to how it tastes?
Talking about sundaes brings back memories of my SoCal childhood. There was an ice cream chain called Currie's where, if you ordered a hot fudge sundae, the syrup came in a small pot separately from the ice cream. You were supposed to pour it on; of course, being a kid, it was a lot of fun to stick the handle end of a spoon into the pot to get every last drop, It made a first-class mess and drove my mother up the wall, but it sure was fun--tasted good too.
15
You'd have to travel a long way to find better pastries than one finds daily in Brussels. Yet when my wife and I lived there 35 years ago we embarked on a two year search for the best Dame Blanche (hot fudge sundae) in town. It was an amazingly delicious search.
But what we learned - and what most of the ice cream confections in this article do not reflect (and American restaurants just don't seem to understand) - is that the wonder of a great ice cream dessert -and a Dame Blanche is the best - is derived from its simplicity and the quality of its two, and only two, ingredients. Fresh ice cream lit up by quality vanilla and dark, rich chocolate poured hot from a tiny pitcher as you go along.
17
So which Brussels restaurant provided the best dame blanche?
7
As ice cream choices come, Dame Blanche is ok I guess, but a bit boring. I'd much rather have a coupe brésilienne: 3 scoops of mocha ice cream, topped with crème chantilly, caramelised grilled hazelnuts, drizzled with caramel syrup. Last time I checked, Falstaff - faaaabulous Belle Epoque café/restaurant - near the Grand'Place serves a mean brésilienne.
That being said, I rarely get past the real desserts in the menu and order ice cream. Come to think of it, that must be the reason ice cream is typically found at the end of the dessert menu? Um-hm.
1
LOVE the anecdote about Prune's server caught in the act of scooping a sad lump of carton ice cream with VT maple syrup "drowning" it and presenting it as if it were ambrosia of Athena. IMHO Prune is the most over-rated, cramped, elitist nothing of a restaurant in NYC, and Gabrielle Hamilton the most inflated ego-maniac poseur cooking today. Ghirardelli chocolate brownies from a boxed mix and cold milk is a genius dessert my husband knows is better than chicken soup for me after a tough day. And I know from dessert: my mother - on a very limited seamstress's budget - sculpted rich pastries into the shape and look of peaches, made Italian rum cake and custard filling from scratch for birthdays, different biscotti every week, and Easter bread shaped like chicks and rabbits. She would scoff at Hamilton and her pretense at "cucina povera" of grilled bread and chocolate. PUH-leeez!
36
SO disappointed when I finally got to Prune. Mostly blah, and with attitude. And prices. Cocktail was lacking, also. Pistachio app was good, though.
I love ice cream sundaes. I like most desserts that don't contain fruit (making the happy exception for lemon tart and pretty much anything with bananas) and ice cream with chocolate, fudge and/or salted caramel does the trick. Truthfully, though, I'd rather go savory or have an amaro and call it done. I'm sorry for pastry chefs that people don't order dessert much anymore, and I'm certainly in that group. But when it's my birthday, bring me a big ol' sundae! (And of course, cake.)
6
Ellen Tabor, you should enjoy what you like best on your birthday. Paste this on your fridge door for all and sundry to see and let a few joyful reminders linger in the air. I once shop-lifted a traditional Christmas cake and...well, I shall tell you the rest of anecdote if you invite this guest for your celebration.
For years I forgot about desserts, having over-indulged as a child, and it was quite a jolt to find that pastry cakes could be now be purchased at a bakery at an astronomical price, and kept under glass and bolt at the local supermarket. It gave a whole new meaning to 'Let Them Eat Cake', which was less expensive than bread during the days of Marie Antoinette. Here's to cake and ice cream, and eat it too!
8
Miss Ley...we are neighbors, I'm guessing, so...you're invited!!
The numerous and interesting comments about ice-cream based deserts bring to mind a sad fact that one sees in restaurants only rarely little profiteroles with hot dark chocolate sauce.
12
Desserts that we eat have a double "s," and desert, as in land, has one...how to remember? We might two like two desserts...a spelling "memory trick" my late English teacher father taught me, among many others.
"I don't go out to eat what I am able to cook or prepare myself." I said that to a friend who suggested we go to a particular restaurant I wasn't very impressed with. She called me a food snob and then lectured me on the 'facts of life is not everyone can cook as well as you do.'
I believe I am an adequate cook. I like to entertain. I believe dessert is the last opportunity to embed a memory that will worth remembering.
I was 52 when I moved to France. I was the oldest student in my elementary French class among 20-25 year old from China, Japan, Romania, Brazil, Morocco, and Belarus. I invited them all to Thanksgiving dinner, my style. The appetizers were a wide variety but the Roasted Shrimp sandwiched in a Prune and wrapped in Bacon, or for Muslims, thin chicken breast strips that had been marinated in Tex-Mex-African Spices. Can't get a whole Turkey here in November so 2 really beautiful chickens, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and jelly, roasted sweet potatoes, blah blah blah. Then, flourless Chocolate Cake with 5 berry brandy sauce and thin crisp triangles of molasses crisps. The two Muslims had Baklava made with Texas Pecans and honey that had been aging for a month with bit of orange zest immersed in it.
Ice cream Sundae? I don't think our guests would remember the meal or the cook.
13
Susannah Allanic,
You might enjoy 'Gourmet Rhapsody' by Muriel Barbery where a detestable food critic is on his death bed, trying to remember one forgotten taste that he wishes to revisit. Only the cat is a loyalist to him, and the end of his culinary search is to be found in a plastic package.
The best feasts are to be found at a global international children's agency in New York where we all bring something to the bill of fare, and an Ice Cream Sunday would be admired, photographed and eaten.
I watched a Food Network host, eat a $1,000.00 sundae. I don't remember the restaurant that served it.
But among it's ingredients, was three scoops of an artisan vanilla ice cream, fruit caviar, and gold leaf.
As I watched this, I thought to myself, even if I could afford it, I wouldn't buy it. I prefer things a little simpler, but I do love dessert. And when I can't make up my mind between two of them, I get both.
6
It is crazy to put gold leaf on food when food banks are struggling to meet demand.
Honestly, an in-house, salaried pastry chef seems ridiculously extravant and not at all cost-effective. Handle it the same way top restaurants procure breads and baked goods: have a third party produce homemade goods and deliver them to the restaurant daily. Problem solved.
There are scores of amazing dessert places in Manhattan.
13
Restaurants are businesses. A streamlined dessert menu may inspire many diners to simply ask for the check along with a cheeky espresso; turning tables faster. Getting more patrons served each day makes the challenging restaurant economics more manageable in metropolises like NY or London. One may expect a fabulous soufflé at a spot aiming for their first Michelin Star. In a busy bistro with folks waiting, why not do everyone a favor and pop out for a healthy stroll to a local patisserie? Then again, this gentleman prefers a cheese cart over an Insta-worthy sundae any day.
16
I hate to be the party pooper but.. restaurants say that fewer than 1 in 10 order dessert, which is probably why most restaurants have dropped the pastry chef and gone over to one sundae. After 1200+ calories of the main meal, never mind wine, bread, and appetizer, the thought of another 900 calories or so of sugar is at very best a splurge. These days I'm into veg, fruit, whole grains, fish, olives, and the same weight I used to have. So life w/o sugar is lovely :-)
19
Maybe that's because there are so few desserts worth ordering, along with overly large bills for underwhelming food.
14
One in ten order dessert since all they have to offer is the ice cream I have at home.
1
Sugar averse and height-weight proportionate people are still mortal...
Make your own sundae. The best hot fudge sauce is featured in Joy of Cooking (mine is from 1972). I have made adjustments - 3/4 cup of sugar rather than 1 cup, only boil for 3 minutes, and I eliminate the small amount of corn syrup. Make it ahead, serve it with premium ice cream and you have a simple dessert.
My favorite is with vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries. If a restaurant doesn't make its desserts, I don't order them.
7
Small scoop of the best vanilla ice cream, crushed raspberries with a bit of liqueur.
Or, if in the SF Bay Area, of course it's Fenton's Creamery in Oakland.
3
Don’t poo-poo that little bit of corn syrup. If you like your hot fudge chewy when it hits the cold ice cream, it makes the sauce. Try it! If you like the sauce thin, leave it out.
1
OMG! Fentons -- have not thought of them in years.....they had wonderful ice cream and would pack in a carton (like a Chinese food carton), so full that it could not be closed and then topped it with some waxed paper! I just loved going there. I haven't been back to Oakland since college, so it's nice to know it is still there. (My other favorite was Old Uncle Gaylord's, which was just down the street from Fenton's Creamery, both on Piedmont Avenue!)
2
Sometimes I think I go out for dinner expressly to order dessert. It's so disappointing when the desserts are all either à la Sysco or ice cream. In that dreary case, I'll pout, skip it and never come back.
17
My favorite sundae, since childhood at drugstore soda fountains when it costs 15 cents, is chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce.
18
I would think that a pasty sous-chef just out of school would know how to make a decent fruit tart with interesting spices, or a galette, or some other uncomplicated fruit dessert. Or an almond or cornmeal cake. I mean, I can do any of these in my home kitchen, though I would not be competent to scale up to 100 servings/day or whatever you need for a restaurant. But these types of desserts are elegant and not gigantic sugar bombs; they're what I want at the end of a meal, if I have dessert at all.
15
Life is uncertain, eat dessert first! (And be adventurous, not the same thing every day.)
11
Two sailing friends named their boats: "Just Dessert" and "Desert First".
I simplify the whole thing by living in the Southern California Dessert, where it is Sundae every day.
6
Exactly...
This made me miss my Grandma Elsie’s homemade butterscotch sauce over Breyer’s vanilla ice cream with her toasted salted almonds.
It also made me happy I live on Cape Cod.
19
those pix look pretty gross to me - nothing exceeds like excess ?
my fave ever was sitting on a cafe terrace in a village square in Southern Italy during sunset passeggiata with a coppa con panna - where they spatula three different flavours of gelato into one side of a hemispherical stainless steel bowl so the third one rises out the other side making three-quarters of a sphere, and then they fill in the sphere with whipped cream and top with nuts.
OMG - I was in heaven - partly the village atmosphere of course - but I've never enjoyed a 'sundae' more.
12
Sadly, before ordering dessert while strolling in Italy today, requires a written contract, to avoid the astronomical charges small cafes can charge for ice cream deserts.
1
Many years ago I had a piece of coconut chiffon cake at one of the Brennan restaurants in New Orleans. I don’t remember what I ate for the entree but I distinctly remember that absolutely wonderful cake.
17
I had a dessert in a tiny restaurant in Bilbao Spain. It was late when we got in, I asked it it would be acceptable to simply order a dessert. They obliged, and I had a wonderful concoction of flaky pasty, a creamy center and raspberries., to order. Memorable.
10
If I want a real sundae, it will have to be made at Crown Candy Kitchen in St Louis. They make their own ice cream and all of their own toppings. And they are delicious!
They also make classic soda fountain sandwiches - tuna melts, BLT's with more bacon than one can imagine - you name it. All served in the old original booth with non-wooking juke boxes in each booth.
In NYC, I want a dessert souffle, floating island, crepes suzette, cherries jubilee or some decadent cake or tarte. I don't want a soda fountain sundae.
21
You can have a classic diner sundae if you leave the city and take a short ride out to Holsten's Ice Cream, Chocolate & Restaurant in Bloomfield, NJ. The sundaes and ice cream sodas are excellent and truly old school. Take a ride some afternoon. You can even sit in the same booth where Tony Soprano was last seen enjoying onion rings.
13
Years ago while traveling in Spain, my husband and I met a couple who were both cardiologists. They said that once a week they ate only desert for dinner. Their chosen treat: rhubarb clafouti. The we got back to to Seattle I found a recipe in a Sunset Cookbook and tried it. Definitely worth giving up lots of anything to eat it!!! Yummy.
12
Clafoutis are excellent with other fruits, too. We love pears or peaches when they are fresh. Great for weekend breakfast, too.
1
Il Palio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina served me the best dessert I ever had. A three tiered plate of beautiful to look at and delicious to taste cookies. Yes, cookies. Just enough sweetness after a sumptuous meal to have with a coffee or the rest of the wine and they boxed up the rest for us to take home. Why can’t all restaurants serve a little plate of cookies to finish off a wonderful meal? It was just right!
18
We have long seen the dessert menu devolve into "truck to plate" dishes bought from large distributors, along with variations of custard. Such as: Panna Cotta and Crème Brulee. Nobody knows how to make a cake, or a pie.
20
And tiramisu of course.
19
I remember with great fondness the hot fudge sundae at Rumplemeyer's; it consisted of premium vanilla ice cream with whole pecans sprinkled over the top and amazing, delicious hot fudge, served in a sauce bowl, so you could add it as you ate. It was amazing. If not that hot fudge sundae, try the coconut ice cream with hot fudge at 4 C's - best eaten from a bowl standing in the parking lot.
For a bit more exotic experience, try the apple beignets with cardamon ice cream, served at Rasika in DC. Just heavenly.
16
Less than ten years ago I became the owner of the Rumpelmayers name. I was unable to attract a single big investor.
1
A note: 4 C's is located in Centerville, Mass and is the best, most delicious destination on all of Cape Cod.
1
I will die in a bubble bath, hopefully many years from now. A glass of wine in one hand, a dish of high quality strawberry ice cream in the other.
NO toppings or junk.
36
This paper's recipe for ice cream with the strawberry option is the most perfect ice cream I've ever had, by a long shot.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/01/dining/the-master-ice-cre...
4
I was just scrolling through and this comment made me laugh out loud
Thank you! Maybe for my Birthday.
Thanks for this article. Some much-needed light-hearted subject matter, and the comments are all great, as well. It's good to know that there's one thing that will bring us all together—dessert!
While I sympathize with any restaurant-goer who finds an ice cream sundae boring, I could personally live on ice cream, just varying the flavors to keep life interesting, but a few suggestions for creme brûlée and chocolate pots du creme looked mighty good too.
14
Dessert, when innovative and well made, can surprise, delight and be a highlight of any meal. When younger, I would skip dessert to save money, not calories. Now, despite counting calories, I always order dessert searching for something new, or at least technically well done. Points off and disappointment when the dessert menu is bland, uninteresting or something an average cook could make; I do not return. I move on to new places who respect both my time and money by, at least, trying.
7
Fun story. Could have been an important story if it centered more explicitly on hiring practices and less on the florid descriptions of yucky afterthought desserts. Also, give me a perfect Peach Melba any day of the week and I’m happy.
7
I like something slightly sweet after a meal, but as a lactose intolerant diabetic, these sundaes would make me sick. Simple fruit embellished in some novel manner would be a welcome final flourish to a good meal.
3
I'm diabetic but not lactose intolerant. I just bump my insulin up to compensate for the ice cream.
4
Funny that you mentioned Prune: Years ago, I went with a group of friends to Prune, eagerly awaiting the food, which was very good. The special dessert item was butter pecan ice cream, "drowned" in Vermont maple syrup [it was fall].
Somehow it seemed perfect, and all 6 of us ordered it.
I was seated so I could see into the kitchen, and watched a staff member scoop Haagen Dazs, one small ice cream ball per bowl, and then add a teaspoon of syrup. My friends all looked at the sad little thing when it arrived and laughed at the server, who was indignant.
Skip dessert and go to the Bodega for a single-serving pint of ice cream. Eat it in the taxi on the way home, but use a napkin.
105
I agree with the premise, but not the tone of this article. Desserts in New York have become boring. I usually skip the last course at restaurants and buy a pint of ice cream on the way home. The one exception here is Joe Allen, where the banana cream pie is worth the trip alone.
11
Agreed. The ice cream sundae must be stopped. It cannot be the only offering on a restaurant’s dessert menu. Pete points to Is the real issue being one of food costs and skilled labor. Add to that a paucity of imagination. Chez Panisse is known for perfect fruit in season, tangerines with fresh dates. Cheers to Prune for being equally creative.
4
I love ice cream and I love pie.
When I don't know which one to pick I pick both.
(don't tell my doctor.)
I like a combination of vanilla and mocha and some nuts and some rum to give it a little kick with a side dish of hot apple pie and whip cream.
I don't like the ice cream on top of the pie as the temperature of the pie cools down when you do that.
I don't want syrup as that takes away from the ice cream flavor.
If I want syrup which I do sometime I put it on some whip cream not ice cream.
Stone: If you ever get the opportunity to have apple pie (or baked apple) with cinnamon ice cream - grab it!
4
Why.
A good apple pie has cinnamon already baked into the crust,
1
So don't. She was only offering a suggestion. You were supposed to say Thank You, not Why.
Could it be that economically these restaurants are swapping fancy cocktail menus and "cocktailians" for well thought out desserts and pastry chefs? The public has spoken (at least for now): fancy cocktail menus are more important. Perhaps there is more money to be made there as well.
Pity though, I prefer a fabulous dessert.
16
I would love a small ice cream sundae for dessert, but in many of the places to eat here in CA, there is either orange slices, nothing. Most of the Chinese places here do not do dessert, because customers will either visit a Chinese bakery or Yogurtland/Pinkberry.
2
The only sundaes worth having are the killers at Serendipity 3. Before that, Rumplemeyers. Otherwise, I have no use for a sundae at a 2-3-4 star restaurant. I dine there for cuisine, not for ice cream, unless it's house made, and accompanied by (sitting on top or adjacent to) a perfectly executed pie. period. ;-)
9
@Euphemia
Yes, I was just going to mention Serendipity and all the Schrafft's restaurants (Schrafft's ice cream was the best you could buy in the grocery store. And then that wonderful place across from Central Park, Rumpelmayer's whose demise was helped along by someone named Trump.
13
Rumplemayer's was THE place for generations of kids. It's demise was a sad day -- the history, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_St._Moritz
If there is one sort of sundae to eat, it is the grapefruit concoction at Boulud Sud named grapefruit givre. Pure heaven.
4
You can have that at home. It's grapefruit sorbet in a scooped out grapefruit half. (You're welcome :)
4
And while you're at it, you can make the savory dishes too so you don't have to go out at all !
1
We always had ice cream in the house growing up, so while it was always dessert it was never a "special treat". Creme de Menthe parfaits were for special occasions, but no sundae I've ever had compares to the "Boy Scout Specials" (AKA "Tin Roof") we ate at least once a week: Vanilla ice cream topped with Hershey's syrup and salted peanuts. I can make that at home for peanuts anytime I feel nostalgic.
I agree with quite a few of the comments: When I eat out, I order what I can't or am unwilling to make for myself at home. I also check out the desserts when deciding what to order for my entire meal. If there's a decadent dessert that looks amazing, I'll order a lighter entree or skip a drink. Just ice cream on the menu? No dessert for me.
These days I share those decadent desserts with someone. Unless it's really really good. Then it's all mine. Get your own.
18
I scream, you scream.......
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is more about hiring
practices than the Ice Cream Sundae.
37
WOW - excellent point merc!
2
Eating dessert in New York has become akin to lighting up a cigarette. We don't do it any more.
BUT ... when I visit France, where dessert is considered totally normal, then the choices are there.
No surprise then, in the earlier posted comments, that it comes from Isabelle in France, who lists several delicious options.
Vive la France !
34
There are days when I would sell my soul for a perfect Affogato....
8
Sundaes are a lazy and cheap choice for restaurants to put on the menu. It requires no skill. Why would I spend big bucks at a restaurant for one when Baskin Robins can do it well for half the price and no tip.
18
I worked my way through college at Baskin Robbins in Pasadena in 1963-7. We had cheapskates even then who wouldn't leave a tip. But we had Hollywood stars who would leave an autograph. And a tip.
16
Would love a recipe for that navel orange!
6
Being gluten intolerant, it is a relief to find a sundae among the multitudinous mouth-watering glutinous deserts offered that I cannot eat.
5
Every one of those photographed "ice cream sundaes" looks disgusting. I don't even know what those brown chunks are on that plate of white goop with the "obligatory cherry on top". Gosh, can these restaurants make this American creation any less unappetizing? Mr. Wells is spot on with his demand for this time to be stopped.
True and authentic ice cream sundaes can only be found in a small town diner, a Big Boy restaurant, or in any mom and pop establishments in Two Rivers, Wisconsin which is the home of the original ice cream sundae. A real ice cream sundae is a thing of beauty and a joy to relish and cherish with each delightful spoonful of decadent frozen bliss, albeit chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, rocky road or any other chosen favorite flavor of ice cream. The only thing the three items depicted in this article share with a real ice cream sundae is in name only . . . PERIOD.
Anything less is like trying to dress up a pig's ear with Karo syrup and crushed pine nuts.
25
no mention of the peter luger sundae topped with copious amounts of schlag?
6
What a fun read. Not least for this line: 'a depressing display of cake scat and cookie droppings.' Who hasn't closed a meal with that lately?
And stopping by Prune for a 'a few bites' and *two* desserts. My kind of guy!
I will add a celiac's lament... why put crushed cookies and cake on everything? Chances are I'm already hungry after a dinner that had gluten sprinkled everywhere. Can't I have some dessert too?
14
You could ask them to hold the cookies and cake.
I can't eat most commerical cake/cookies for non-gluten reasons. Ice cream is GENERALLY safe in moderation for me, but I rarely order it eating out, and syrups can be problematic too.
However, a good simple rhubarb sauce is amazing on ice cream in summer. Raspberry sauce too. And I'm always up for rarer ice creams such as ginger, green tea, or even red bean ice cream. These kind of things make me order ice cream once in a long while... and the tiny ice cream bite desserts too.
Or - OR! - Every place has ice cream because everyone wants it, because it's delicious, classic, and for many, the perfect end to a meal. As the article admits, it can be the perfect canvas for creative chefs as well. If only serving ice cream with no other offerings, I get it -- the problem there is a lack of dessert options in general, not the presence of ice cream. This was much ado about nothing.
7
Chocolate pots de creme is the only real dessert. If it's on the menu, I order it.
19
I prefer creme brûlée. Can’t have caffeine after 3 pm anymore or I’m up all night. Creme brûlée doesn’t keep me awake.
8
I like to make my sundaes at home with melted chocolate, broken oreos, walnuts, and barbecue potato chips. The whole point of eating at a restaurant, for me, is getting to eat something I can't easily make myself.
18
Sounds great. How about Thursday, 9pm ?
I'll bring the cocoa.
10
BBQ potato chips?! I’ll have to try that one.
I am so lost culinarily lost....ummm barbecue potato chips in a hot fudge sundae? Egads! I am both intrigued, appalled, traumatized, curious, and prayerful all at once. I think there is probably a 40 letter German word for all of those emotions, I just typed. But, I digress. I pray that you never make dessert for ANYONE but yourself. But, I am thinking as I type this, that might be mean and premature because I can't knock it if I haven't tried it... I quake at the thought. Perhaps, I lack simple courage. Carry on.
3
Part of the problem though is that people are just not ordering dessert like they used to. The food guilt after wine, appetizers, dinner with maybe some carbs is just too much.
10
Maybe they don't order dessert because there's nothing worth ordering: a vicious cycle.
2
I know plenty of outstanding bakers who are not pastry chefs. Every item they create is delicious and noteworthy primarily due to real ingredients, i.e., butter, cream, eggs, chocolate, etc. Nothing used is artificial. Their desserts are items folks crave: carrot cake, decadent chocolate cake, apple pie, just for starters.
I never understood why restaurants don’t hire people just to make a finite selection of daily desserts. Heck, my mother used to do that for one of the local restaurants in my home town. But then, I think people came to the joint just for her desserts.
I guess fancy NYC restaurants can’t get away with that idea but how is serving ice cream ANYTHING even an option? When Jen Yee, executive pastry chef of Resurgens Hospitality Group stated ice cream “ holds well, it doesn’t really get old” I thought, man, she got that wrong. Ice cream DOES get old if it sits in the freezer for long periods of time after it has been opened. It’s called freezer burn. On a few occasions I have been served old ice cream and it tasted almost musty. There is only so much one can do to gussy up a scoop or two of ice cream. It’s the various sauces, candies, and other peculiarities the kitchen staff will use to make a bowl of hum drum ice cream look more fancy and special than it really is.
If I want an honest to goodness outstanding and delicious sundae, I can make it at home with real ingredients. Why would I ever consider ordering that from ANY restaurant?
36
Agreed! What ever happened to really good doesn't-even-have-to-be-fancy cake?
16
10-4 DS. Sometimes the simpler and more basic dessert is the best because one can truly taste and savor the ingredients without the distraction of other silly, superfluous elements. I personally detest sprinkles of any kind, color or flavor.
11
II second that Sprinkles, Jimmies are way too waxy.
2
Sundae? For adults? What about Baba au Rhum, Paris-Brest ( a donut shaped chou filled with praliné whipped cream and coverd with roasted almond slivers), Millefeuille , Pistachio Eclair, Fraisier... and so on!
67
Finish the PBP and be rewarded a Paris Brest and you'll feel even better.
The Paris-Brest-Paris bike ride is 1200 Kilometers that is to be completed in under 90 hours, including sleep. You gifted the pastry when you finish.
The next ride is in August, 2019. Start getting in condition NOW.
https://rusa.org/pages/pbp
1
Yes, please! The best desserts (well, the best food in general), I had during my Paris visit last year. I cannot wait to return for another tarte au pommes, eclair, and profiterole. Le meilleur du monde!
3
Panna Cotta, Creme brulee, Cranachan
1
I check the dessert menu before deciding on whether to order an appetizer. I'll even order the dessert when I order dinner to make sure it's not sold out by the time I'm done my entrée. I've got my priorities straight!
69
Genuis!
2
As has been the case for decades, the reason so many restaurants not only cannot keep decent desserts on the menus, much less good staff, is not the cost of staff, but the over-inflated cost of the associated egos who own and manage said properties.
Staffing is not where the fat doth lie. It's upper management; it's owners thinking they should make a living of playing restauranteur. (You can make a living, just not a 6-figure living.)
Anyway, it's nothing to dance about, but in respect to ice cream, this ain't too bad (aside from being enough sugar to kill an adult):
http://www.wildgoatscafe.com/ice-cream-menu.html
4
I think the point is that dessert is part of the meal experience and for what you will pay at some places, deserves an effort. I enjoyed the dessert ideas on the recent Top Chef series. They looked interesting.
5
Best "sundae" I've ever had was the bananas Foster at Brennans. Timeless and perfect.
18
White chocolate bread pudding at Bayona . . .
1
Oh! I LOVE bananas foster! Best I ever had was in New Orleans.
I love your essay.
However, ice cream is almost my least favorite dessert, after chocolate anything. What happened to dessert, for Pete's sake? I would kill for a decent piece of pie.
And as for that Thai sundae, lots of people don't like coconut. What do they get for dessert?
Alas.
7
I cannot make a pie for you (you can't afford me, lol), but I can point to Paul Prudhomme's _Louisiana Kitchen_ and his recipe for Sweet Potato Praline Pecan Pie, which I've also made with pumpkin and a host of other winter squash (all work well). I don't even make the Chantilly cream for it because, my god, one can only ingest so much sweet.
It is, though, D-sert. Lots of fat/butter, sugar. Pastry crust. I sub maple syrup for the corn syrup, but other than that, just run a few miles daily for a couple days prior to making this, and all will be well. Then a nice 40-ish mile bike ride, and your arteries are safe.
But really, who cares. Excellent pie.
1
DKM - Keep your vegetables out of my dessert! I don't want potatoes or squash for dessert, no matter how much sugar you douse 'em in...! Which means they weren't intended to be dessert! The Creator would have made them yummy in the first place...!
8
Boregard - I grieve for anyone who cannot appreciate the yummy-ness of slow roasted plain sweet potato, flashed with high heat towards the end, so as to caramelize the the escaping juices. Good enough for dessert! I'll light a candle that your tongue might learn to see.
Mr. Wells, If you chat over dinner with even half the reflection and wit you display in your writing, those who dine with you are lucky indeed. This was a pleasure to read. Thank you.
207
I can see Wells' point here. But for me, my children are still young, and sundaes are a rare dish that can delight an entire table of people young and old and can be shared easily. A no-brainer for restaurants.
10
But many of those restaurants are not places people dine with small children.
1
SUNDAE DELENDA EST!
Surely, I thought, this article is the cranky ramblings of a food critic, who just hates on the regular food that "normal people" enjoy.
But I think he makes his point - if restaurants are not hiring proper Pastry Chefs in favor of underpaid sous-chefs, we're going to get phoned-in desserts: vanilla ice cream with candy toppings.
Dessert can be so much better.
64
Mr. Wells....do you not like puppies either...???
11
Only with whipped cream and a cherry on top!
7
Oh, heck. How sad. If this is truly the way things are going in the city, then you might as well return to a good creamy rice pudding (a la Automat) and some Jell-o, and stewed prunes.
No self-respecting eatery would stand for the lack of a pastry chef. Even if all they make is a tarte rustique, hand-formed crust with some fruit. With or without a dollop of ice cream.
After all, the very last thing a diner remembers just might be the very last thing he or she consumes. Grand Marnier Soufflé or Alpha Bits on yogurt...?
84
Love it!! cake scat and cookie droppings!! A mid afternoon sunday after a nice walk, with a bunch of happy kids diving in, is one thing. After dinner in an expensive restaurant , I don't expect or want to see that kind of sweet mess. Enough. Offer real desserts, especially at the price that is charged.
38
This reminded me so much of Jay Raynor’s rant, uh, I mean column, last year about this time in The Guardian, “I am Sick of Half-Hearted Desserts: Bring Me a Proper Pudding”. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/20/bring-me-a-proper-p...
10
The sundae from Uncle Boons looks amazing!
2
"cake scat and cookie droppings". How delicious!
118
"Cake scat and cookie droppings" made my day.
I like ice cream, and worked in 2 sundae joints as a teen, but I prefer to order something I cannot make at home when I am dining out. As long as there is a choice of something else interesting, I see no harm in having a sundae on the menu.
39
"And I feel nothing, apart from a burning impatience for everybody to act like adults again."
I completely agree with this. Why does the current generation of chefs insist on feeding us "elevated" hamburgers and tater tots and toasts? It's not whimsical, it's lazy.
123
YES!
Spot on. This is why I read the times!
19
I was going to hate on Pete for this article until he justified it all by correctly mentioning Prune. The whole orange is what I had at the end of my most recent meal there, and he does make excellent points re lazy dessert choices.
Let me also add "the fresh gooey oversized cookie" to the offenders list. This is a genius way to keep a tub of raw dough in the walk-in, dump a scoop of it into a single serving iron pan, blast it under a salamander to burn on a crust and take the fridge chill off of it, and charge $15. See also: "Gooey" brownies, often paired with...ice cream.
139
I agree about the "gooey oversized cookie". My partner and I ordered one after a quite good meal recently and when it arrived it was a giant underbaked cookie. It was still raw in the middle! I am not a fan of raw cookie dough (and thankful for it given the recent E coli outbreak linked to uncooked flour) and it was so disappointing, particularly as I am on a low-sugar diet and it was my one treat of the week. This trend is an affront to good cookies everywhere.
I loved making fruit tarts and freshly baked items in restaurants. Trouble is,if people don’t order them,and you refuse to sell day old goods,it’s adios and happy treats for the staff at the end of the night,which costs money,and can cost you your job. This is also why you see pannacotta and other custards on menus...they keep a little longer. Sundaes are the burgers of desert world-people like them.
23
I'm a grown man and am very happy to have a sundae for dessert at any restaurant, fancy or otherwise. In fact, as shameful as it is, my only complaint is that they've gotten too artsy and small. I'm perfectly content to pay more and build my own monster, gooey and spilling over the sides of the goblet, thank you very much! Ahhh what a fine invention the ice cream sundae.
13
Most folks share these sundaes and it's a sweet (sorry) reminder of another era.
Richard's right; don't be crabby!
7
"Dessert was put on this planet in order to surprise us". -- Hmm ... I wonder if desert is not intended to round-off a meal with something sweet that makes one feel good. To me, a balanced meal ends in a good cigar, after the desert.
5
I'm afraid I have to agree.
Much as I love a sundae, the confections pictured look rather excessive, over the top, disappointing.
Calorie-free nostalgia trip:
A Chocolate Sundae On A Saturday Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqkWClPFMMI
3
Also...People in Europe seem to have a more level headed idea of when and what to have for dessert. You have a little something mid to late afternoon,while on your stroll,between meals. The idea of eating a big honking sundae or any rich desert after a multi course meal is silly. Personally,a nice bracing sorbet is a nice refreshing contrast after a meal,with no regrets later.
45
Last dish of a healthy diet should be seasonal fruits ; America the obese !
5
Skip the needless fructose, eat vegetables, and enjoy a pastry every now and then. A tree-ripened peach or a wild black raspberry is worth eating, but the chance of finding such fruit more than a mile or two from the source remains low, despite the current love for the locally grown.
5
Fresh fruit is not an unusual dessert in Europe. It would be a nice change if we saw it in the U.S.
2
It's a Motown thing, but as for nostalgia and Detroiters, nothing beats a Sanders hot fudge sundae. Doesn't matter what culinary school or which Michelin starred restaurant a pastry chef trained at, you can't beat that hot fudge.
As far as some of the other sundaes pictured, like 4 Charles Prime Rib or the Loyal, looks like they just throw everything with sugar at you like flinging mud at a wall and hope something will stick to a palate that can't handle subtlety. Meant to be shared? What's the price? Looks like some could feed a Little League team. At Farrell's if you ate the Zoo the servers had a mini-parade with an award ceremony.
7
Thanks for mentioning Sanders. Here in Detroit, it's a legend and the place
to go for a delicious hot fudge sundae. A close second is any ice cream or gelato made by American Spoon Foods in Petosky.
8
Okay Pete, 86 the sundae but how about a banana split instead? There is some dexterity with a knife involved in its assembly as opposed to just a scoop.
7
"You may be asking yourself: What kind of sociopath complains about ice cream sundaes?" Thank you for the laugh, I hope it is not my last one of the day!
The author makes a good point about the demotion of the pastry chef and the cost savings to restaurants. I for one rarely have dessert so in some way I feel as if I have contributed to their demise. Nowadays many folks including myself take their extra calories in the form of fancy cocktails and the like so eliminating desserts seem like a rational choice.
138
I love ice cream but as the only dessert possibility not so much. Would be very thrilled to see a salted caramel torte, a glorious chocolate something or a delightful fruity concoction. I can make a sundae at home with my grandkids bring me something magically delicious for my restaurant treat!
10
I miss the times when the dessert menu is actually interesting. Now I always see panna cotta, ice cream, and some kind of fried dough listed on the dessert menu in most restaurants.
27
Really. Enough with the fried dough. And the doughnuts.
Have 12 year-old boys taken over the dessert station?
"And when you go out as often as I do, you start to notice that the one dessert you can count on seeing almost everywhere is an ice cream sundae. In many places, it’s the only dessert." So. I make ice creams and sorbets in a Donvier ice cream maker, and these are usually delicious. So, if I was a restaurant food-critic, and had made my way through a flawless from-scratch clear soup, and a flawless from-scratch meat and potato ordered to focus on the perfect green beans, I'd for sure want to make sure the sundae's ice cream was made in-house from scratch--perhaps the cow's standing in the kitchen--perfectly complemented by the in-house sauce. I for sure wouldn't let the restaurant off the hook just because of a whole lot of choice in sprinkles, unless each sprinkle is made in house.
17
Those pictures of ice cream didn't appeal at all, but I'd have loved to have seen that poached orange.
A new restaurant opened in Staunton, just down the road. It's called Table 44, but that's half the story and half the business. The other half is Paris Cake Company, which has more than cakes. A friend and I decided to show up for their opening day because as she said,"how bad could it be if they have cake?" I know that wouldn't have been our reaction if it had been named Paris Sundae Company. Their featured desserts change frequently and never feature ice cream, I'm happy to say.
25
When I was a boy 50+ years ago the only place I got ice cream was at the candy store which was hand scooped Breyers cones, Shoemachers Ice Cream Parlor and the Chinese restaurant. Only Shoemachers made sundaes. Other than that it was a piece of cake chocolate preferred.
For a real treat we'd go out to Queens to Jahn's. We had 10 people in my family and The Kitchen Sink was the most economical offering. It came in metal cup the size of a soup tureen filled with bananas, ice cream in various flavors, nuts and seemingly every thing in the kitchen.
I like my ice cream boring. Neapolitan, butter pecan. Skip the sauces but once in a while fresh fruit like sliced peaches can be enjoyable (not canned) and especially good with vanilla.
Ice cream is good enough in its natural state and doesn't really need embellishments. And if you are going to have ice cream buy only the ones with the largest fat content. No sense wasting the calories on the cheap stuff.
24
Yep, the Jahn's Kitchen Sink, I remember it well from college. What a glorious mess!
13
Actually the ice cream that has a a lot of fat has fewer calories.
Iced cream that has less fat has more sugar so has more calories.
I don't see it as embellishment when it complements the ice cream not competes with it.
Nuts and chocolate chips adds a crunch that compliments and improves the experience without detracting from the flavor that the ice cream has.
3
I long for Schraft's vanilla. IMO it was the best... and mocha almond fudge -- for a few summers and now gone... Cooked apple over Haagn Daaz Mango pairs well.
Banana splits were to be shared as a snack.. I agree ice cream is a lazy dessert even at home BUT better than no dessert at all.
Real apple strudel -- no more.. Real lots of things.. no more. Can she bake a cherry pie? probably not.-- but then IMO pie with milk over it is the perfect breakfast.
2
Sundaes rule. What is this nonsense? A well made sundae with quality ingredients ( not canned whipped cream or jarred sauce, freshly made only), is the ultimate. A perfect combination of creamy, crunchy, and sometimes meaty. Ice cream sundaes for everyone, all year round.
22
Preferably at an ice cream parlor where home-made ice cream, in standard and imaginative flavors, rules the day. I too remember Jahn’s, where the milk-shake was something called an Awful-Awful, and was big enough to make you thoroughly queasy.
In a restaurant, though, a nice piece of cake, or even poached fruit, or a simple home-made sorbet would be nice after a meal. Hold the candy--please please take it directly to the dumpster.
15
My parents took me over 50 years ago.
We only had the ice cream as everything else was not Kosher.
I remember the menu.
There was a dish called everything but the kitchen sink.
I remember seeing people eat ice cream that must have had alcohol as the waiter lit the ice cream with a lighter.
It looked good.
9
There are those among us ,such as myself, who don't really care for ice cream all that much. I see it at dinner parties when the host is too frazzled or too lazy to put much into dessert. Restaurants should really have some in- house made pastry options on their menu. Otherwise, no dessert for me.
33
"I see it at dinner parties when the host is too frazzled or too lazy to put much into dessert." Eh WHAT?? Too frazzled? Too lazy? Ice cream--or better--my favourite--sorbet--headed for a dinner party can be quite a lot of work, and very delicious, and definitely not a way to lower the chef's frazzled-level.
4
Lots of great bakeries around, why not BUY desserts if they don't have the time to make them?
1
I wonder if this article, and the frustrations expressed therein, are borne out of Mr. Wells' unique position as a critic and ultra-frequent restaurant patron.
The vast majority of us do not dine out with great regularity, or frequently encounter these ubiquitous ice cream sundaes for that matter.
It's as if Mr. Wells is sick of hearing the same song a thousand times, and since most of the rest of us hear it only rarely, it isn't as bothersome. It might even be enjoyable to many.
71
Probably something your former Governor Pence would likely enjoy also, I suppose.
2
Count me among those for whom nostalgia rarely works. Yes, I'm a fifty-something native-born working-class American so of course I grew up with Oreos and whipped cream out of a can and maraschino cherries, and I liked the first two in my childhood. (I never did like maraschino cherries, and never got particularly excited about marshmallows, either.) But as I grew up I discovered things like freshly whipped cream and bittersweet chocolate and cookies made with butter instead of palm oil, and I never looked back, because why would I? And especially why would I when I'm spending the evening and lots of hard-earned money in a fine restaurant, an event meant to celebrate my adulthood: the refined palate I developed with no help from my parents, made possible by the money I earned on my own, in the company of people I choose to be with, in a city I choose to live in? I can't be the only person who feels this way, and I imagine that most people who go out to eat in New York have similar stories. Who are these people who go out to fancy restaurants and get excited about seeing pieces of store-bought industrial candy bars and cookies in their supposedly gourmet desserts? I'm not a snob - I still have a weakness for peppermint patties and peanut butter cups and Girl Scout cookies, not to mention certain kinds of fast food - but I don't want to see those things in my $10 artisanal dessert. That just feels lazy, and, as Mr. Wells points out, an erosion of the noble pastry chef.
233
I suspect that most of the people eating at expensive New York restaurants are the perpetual child type who did not have to work to earn the money to pay the bill.
How much of this have we brought on ourselves by too often waving the server off when asked if we want to see the dessert menu, or ordering only a coffee?
Dessert has become a four letter word in too many places.
63
My thought exactly. I willingly have dessert on special occasions only - my birthday, our anniversary, or a stop in some place world class. For a Saturday date-night, I'd rather have a digestif.
I've done nothing to support the pastry chef for years, so no wonder the restaurant feels they've been made redundant.
19
I don't order dessert anymore for the reasons listed in the article: nothing unusual or handmade in the restaurant, or just the same stuff I can make at home. Brownie Sundaes??? That's the best you got? Whatever happened to gorgeous layer cakes or buttery pastry fruit pies? Or chocolate cream pie with real meringue? I would order dessert for those!
141
If restaurants didn't serve entrées that would provide a meal for two, or even three, people, more of us would have room for dessert!
4
Do people still have sundaes anymore? Dessert? After eating in a restaurant, most people I know are too full for dessert. I know I am.
43
If te meal is too big I'd rather eat part of it there and take the excess home. Sometimes I want desert and I make sure to leave room for it. My wife and I split it.
5
I'm with you, Tom. And if your will ever weakens, remember that we all must atone for our sins on the treadmill should we go over 2,000 calories per day.
3
NYGUENOT,
Your desert sounds a bit arid but in good company.
Best sundaes ever. Tiki Hut - behind the fitness club - in Celina, Ohio served 25 cent sundaes in the aughts. About two bites of ice cream with fudge sauce and a prototypical cherry. Yum.
2
C'mon, Pete! Don't be crabby! OK, so the sundaes are too common, and too big. So what? We live in parlous times; what with the things that come out of Washington, D.C., and Tallahassee (my state capital), a sundae provides calm, a sense of certainty and permanence, of comfort and pleasure in contrast to what i read in the contents of your newspaper. And even diabetics, like me, who can't eat the sundaes, take pleasure in seeing other diners dive in, eat their fill, and leave after a few moments of genuine happiness. Most of the diners i see don't, or can't, eat the whole thing. So what? The excess a reminder that there is a pot of gold beyond the rainbow, that these awful times too will pass - and there will still be ice cream sundaes to help us think about better times.
37
I thin he completely exonerates himself with this:
"You may be asking yourself: What kind of sociopath complains about ice cream sundaes? I am wondering about this, too."
7
Instead of at a high end restaurant, I'd rather get the real deal sundae at a real ice cream parlor, there are still a few around.
3