Let's talk desserts, shall we? I mean restaurant desserts, not the stuff you eat or make at home, like brownies or a bowl of Cool Whip with Hershey's syrup and salted mixed nuts...what? Oh, like you've never plopped that crap in a bowl in a pinch or in a fit of PMS.
WHAT!?
Anyway, every once in a while, I am able to get dessert in a restaurant or talk my husband or huge sons into finishing whatever I have a taste for. Here then are my
Favorite Restaurant Desserts
1. Creme Brulee
2. Chocolate Mousse
3. Pavlova
That's it. I'm not kidding. I am not a fan of cheesecake--too heavy, and I hate those molten lava chocolate puddingy things that are really just underbaked chocolate cakes with runny middles. What I love these days is the fact that many restaurants have mastered the teeny tiny dulces, the itsy bitsy demitasse creme brulees in all kinds of fantastic flavors that are no more than about 3 bites, which is perfect for me. I absolutely adore creme brulees, and two of the best I've ever had are 1) at the Ritz in Washington D.C. where Monica Lewinsky met Linda Tripp and spilled her horrid, traitorous guts; that one was an orange spice tea brulee that brought me to simultaneous tears and orgasm. I am not lying. 2) lavender vanilla creme brulee at some restaurant in Colorado, I think...perhaps called "Strings." Oh dear heaven.
Now the chocolate mousse is a really old-fashioned dessert, but I don't care. It's light, it has a great flavor and, when it's done correctly, it has a wonderful mouth feel. One of the best I ever had was on my Alaska cruise. Lovely.
Pavlovas are just crunchy bigass meringues with fruit or chocolate and whipped cream. I love them and hardly ever get them. No one at the Dept./Stuff cares for them, and I hate wasting the egg yolks. Restaurants will do little individuals, and I had a lovely one of tropical fruits on the aforementioned cruise.
What are your favorite restaurant desserts? Or...which ones am I forgetting?
12 comments:
I have never tasted your desserts. Chocolate Mousse I have had in combination with other things but never alone. I'm really not a big dessert eater so I don't have a lot to choose from but my all time favorite is Bananas Foster from Chez Francois. Love, Love, Love it!
And I do appreciate a good piece of Cheesecake.
I had a Creme Brulee at a restaurant the other night that was Amaretto and White Chocolate. Oh. My. God.
Chocolate mousse used to be my absolute favorite, but now there are fewer places that have it and those that do serve it, don't always do it well, but I still love it. You're right about the "mouth feel," Nance.
Creme brulee is the one I enjoy the most these days. Most fine restaurants do it well. I'm talking about a classic creme brulee. Although I did have a maple creme brulee several years ago that was very fine.
Similar to chocolate mousse, a few times I have enjoyed chocolat pots de creme that was out of this world. I can still remember exactly how fabulous it was.
I also enjoy flan or creme de caramel when done well. Typically, this has been in the Caribbean. ;-)
Shirley
Shirley--The fact that the caramel on flan is so runny and ice cold grosses me out. And I've had some lovely chocolate creme brulees that were incredible. You are quite the travelled woman, you know? I've never been to the Caribbean.
Jan--What is it about creme brulee for women? Men typically think it's "just pudding." Naturally, they could not be more wrong. I am not a huge fan of amaretto unless it's with chocolate. Mmmmm.
Nina--I've heard lots of people wax poetic about Bananas Foster, which is easy to make. I am allergic to rum, so it's not doable for me. It sounds lovely, but for me, without rum it's not authentic, you know? Next time you go to Brio, get a little creme brulee. They've got the tiny ones there, and they're all terrific.
I rarely have room for dessert since most restaurants give incredibly large and/or filling portions. But crepe suzette is one that appeals to me if you find a place that does it (which is usually a wallet-busting restaurant.)
I love Pavlova (and I can make it, too, just too lazy to do it anymore, so the restaurant option is a good one.)
In Spain I used to love crema catalana (http://tinyurl.com/kmbqve
) which is pretty close to your creme brulee. I am also partial to Baked Alaska (if I could just get a 2-bite serving!).
And... this is not a restaurant specialty, but I love a scoop (just one!) of really nice homemade ice cream (um, as in "made with CREAM"). I like to order it in a restaurant because if it is in my freezer at home, I am tempted to plop down on the sofa and eat the entire contents of, say, a bucket of Haagen-dazs and forget there ever was such a thing as dinner.
I'm really enjoying rading about dessert. Excellent topic Nance!
I must admit that the absolute best dessert I have EVER had was a white chocolate soup with a light drizzle of raspberry liquer. It was orange spice tea brulee worthy. It was at a pricey restaurant, but worth every bite.
I love dessert, but don't get it often :)
Roxanna--I have to say that I usually can come up with LOTS of food-related Stuff to discuss. LOL. Now, about that soup...I've never had a dessert soup except for a cherry one. Was it ice cold? I cannot imagine it.
Ortizzle--Oh, hell. Crepes are just eggy pancakes, and you know how I feel about pancakes. LOL. Just kidding. I do like a lovely crepe, but you can't find them anyplace for dessert anymore. And as far as Hagen Dazs or even Ben & Jerry's...it's ridiculous. I embarrass myself. Have you tried Hola Fruita? Lovely stuff, that.
I could eat a hot fudge sundae with cookies and cream ice cream anytime. In fact, I could probably eat two or three of them. I love them to death, so long as the hot fudge is good (Ghirardelli's is the best), and I can pack ice cream into my stomach like nobody's business.
The last dessert I ordered in a restaurant happened because it was so different and E. just had to know what it was like. It was two deep-fried Twinkies served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel and chocolate.
Never again.
I hate pancakes, too, but that has nothing to do with a paper thin crepe, lol. (Pancakes are so incredibly filling and yet unsatisfying for the same reason; it boggles my mind when I see TV commercials for iHOP with breakfast specials featuring a huge stack of pancakes accompanied by fried eggs, sausage links, and hash browns. Does anyone eat for 3 days after that? ---Assuming that they have not gone into cardiac arrest.)
I must try Hola Fruta. I just googled it and found out it was sherbet. Hello, fruit. Here we come!
Ortizzle--I have personally seen my husband eat that much. Not recently (in his OLD AGE, lol), but I have seen it. Sigh. Enjoy Hola Fruta. I highly recommend the Mango. I am crazy about mangoes.
J.--That is just so very wrong. I was watching The Food Network and they were featuring a restaurant that will batter then deepfry anything you bring in. How fun is that? Sounds like a great idea for my next Stuff post.
Mikey--I am not a fan of the cookies and cream ice cream for some reason. It's odd because I am a huge oreo fan. I love hot fudge sundaes, but I cannot eat a whole one because I just get tired of it. After a while it's just a bunch of melty stuff that isn't anything close to the original.
I like chocolate mousse.
Pavlova is a New Zealand specialty and I've had it every time I've visited Di. I love when she says, "Let's have a pav tonight, shall we?"
I loved my mother's apple pie, which was made with butter in the crust and only a hint of sugar added to the apples. Most restaurant apple pies are too sweet and have a slimey filling, so I never order them.
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