It all makes sense now. The Michael Mina restaurants have lost something in the dessert domain since Mr Carson left for the next adventure.
Norm's has the best desserts. Try their decadent Earthquake pie with bechamel sauce
There are some desserts you can remember for your whole life. Truly home made coconut cake at the now closed Prestons in Naples, Florida (owners retired, so sad we also miss their steaks-major respect for an animal protein) and dessert at the late Grace in Chicago. A light hand with sugar and an appropriate portion (maybe two or three bites is perfect for me) but this dish looked amazing....thoughts?
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While that rose petal pie looks amazing, the peach shake at Chick-fil-A is pretty amazing too.
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@HJS: hey I thought I was the only one who knew this! Their other shakes are just "fast food OK" but the peach shakes have REAL PEACH PULP, and are absolutely amazing. Also, fairly inexpensive (about $3.75).
They are seasonal for summer, but winter....the PINK PEPPERMINT with crumbles of real chocolate is fairly awesome too.
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@Concerned Citizen
Good to know!
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All looks and sounds “yummy” to me. Dessert and an espresso is the finishing touch on a great meal.
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I hope the Asian dessert chefs mentioned in the article get up the courage to put out Asian desserts that honor the highly refined and very different way sweets and desserts are viewed in those countries. It's so strange to go to an upscale Asian restaurant lauded for its uncompromising authenticity, expanding the American taste bud, etc., and then see chocolate cake and panna cotta on the dessert menu. (Looking at you, Slanted Door.)
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@uxf: So long as they keep something else, too.
I have tried, really I have, to like Asian desserts, but they're generally just bland and far too "unsweet" for this American's tastes.
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Albion strawberries taste like wood pulp. Use Hoods (Oregon).
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The best strawberries on the west coast are found @ Swanton’s Berry Farm, in Davenport, CA
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@ Marge Keller Midwest
. . . I always hope that at least one item on the dessert menu would be some variation of chocolate cake. Nothing is finer than a slice of decadent, moist, and rich chocolate cake.
To me the only chocolate torte worth of its name is a flour-less dark semi-bitter chocolate mousse concoction.
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@Tuvw Xyz - unfortunately, chocolate cake is often virtually the only item on a dessert menu.
Another excellent article by Ms. Rao.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just give me a solid cut of bread pudding, sitting upright in a puddle of whiskey sauce -- real or the mock -- and all's well with the world. How could it not?
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@JackI'm salivating with you...can we also share a Rum Baba?
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@Jack
Without the whiskey sauce. A nice lemon sauce is how they do it down south and it is quite good.
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I really enjoy going out and seeing desserts suggested to try by the server. However, often times one bite and that’s enough as it is either much too sweet or honestly really terrible. With that said, I’ve become extremely selective knowing that while I may pay between $6.00 to $12.00 for a “slice” of dessert and after one bite, push it away and go home to my homemade item instead.
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@Laurie S.: Yep. One of the reasons for the decline of desserts in restaurants was the astronomical rise in prices for same. I've seen many that cost as much or more than some of the small entrees (and I'm not talking complex ones, either).
I NEED to have the recipe for that rose petal pie!
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I’m loving this revival of the pastry chef in LA. I’m also guilty of stuffing myself on the savory to the point of opting out of the dessert course. But when I do order, it’s often disappointing because it’s the same standard selection of desserts across every restaurant. In ways, dessert is the most important course because it gives you the last impression of the restaurant. It shouldn’t be an afterthought. There’s a different impression I have of a place with a pastry chef and one without.
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@gears35
Yes. There are too many molten chocolate cakes, creme brulees, and cheesecakes, and not enough new or different options. Eaters cannot live on key lime pie alone.
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@gears35 Totally true. I am 35 and had never heard of an Eton Mess or half of the things they baked on the Great British baking show! Isn't weird when you go to an "ethnic" restaurant but all the desserts are your typical options? In some ways America takes its diversity and shoves it down the toilet. How sad.
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I wish prices were included!
I think I'll go eat some store brand cookies and cream ice cream.
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@Jim Greenwood
Let's hear it for ICE CREAM!
Exceptional choice Mr. Greenwood.
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@Jim Greenwood If you haven’t already, head on over to the WaPo for its evaluation of 15 different brands of cookies and cream ice cream, plus a robust comments section with posters adding their own preferences. Yummy indeed!
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Recently I had an attack of sweet-tooth following a traditional Italian meal. The dessert menu listed a banana split, and I thought, "Why not?" When it arrived, it was unlike any split I had ever seen: bananas hidden under three modest dollops of gelato, a drizzle of very dark chocolate, same of caramel, some pistachios on top of a bit of whipped cream.
It was the best banana split I have ever eaten.
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@dutchiris
I forgot to mention there was granola sprinkled on it too.
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That rose petal pie reminded me of a jelloish dessert that was served at Clifton’s Cafateria, which was visually arresting, but horrid. I always wanted to see a more delicious rendering of that visual, and it looks like Birdie’s might have nailed it
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@MK Actually, it looks just like the Crown Jewels Cake from the "New Joys of Jello"
Count me in for dessert! I had a wonderful concoction, a Tequila Sundae, at the Waterfront restaurant at Encore Boston Harbor. “Fresh lime sorbet, yuzu jellies, coconut cream and tequila.” I detected some cake in there as well.
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My words to live by ( as a professional baker for 35 years), were “ some people waved away the dessert cart on the Titanic”. It is so lovely to see the dessert back on the menu. In restaurants I usually order “ on the left”, picking from the starter side of the menu and it’s always a way to leave room for dessert.
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@ Lisa Murphy Orcas Island
I like desserts that are neither too gooey, nor too sweet, but after a good savory meal I would rather settle for a good cigar accompanied by strong coffee (N.B. -- not vice versa).
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"But anyone paying attention to dessert menus — not just in Los Angeles — has seen them shrink."
Most people turn immediately to the entree selection in a menu, I immediately dive into the dessert section, although way too often I am deeply disappointed. I knew the world of desserts was in trouble when I saw a section of donuts featured as the main option. Donuts for dessert? Good grief.
I loved this article and am thankful for Tejal Rao to have noticed and wrote that finally - "dessert is much more than af afterthought".
I used to work at a culinary college and became friends with a few of the pastry chefs. They were always experimenting and trying new flavors and combinations of such and often times I was their excited guinea pig.
I never tire of reading about these artistic pastry gods who take such pride and pleasure in creating mini masterpieces of delicious splendor.
I always hope that at least one item on the dessert menu would be some variation of chocolate cake. Nothing is finer than a slice of decadent, moist, and rich chocolate cake.
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I loved this: “Mr. Boonthanakit’s work was a reminder of what dessert can do.”
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