The sculpture like mint chocolate rocks on a bed of pistachio

No matter how many dessert tastings I attend I’m always amazed at how creative great pasty chefs can be.  Despite the hundreds of  restaurants in New York and the thousands of made-to-order plated desserts they offer, top chefs always seem to be able to bring something new to the table–something I’ve never seen before. And remember, I eat a lot of desserts.

Last week I visited SHO Shaun Hergatt where Executive Pastry Chef Jennifer Yee showed her creativity not just in the repertoire of techniques she employed but also in her artful, designed presentations.

Jennifer Yee’s pastry and chocolate resume is impressive.  She has worked for many big name restaurants including Gordon Ramsay at The Connaught, Gilt and Aureole.  And in addition to her Patisserie diploma from London’s Le Cordon Bleu she has a Fine Arts degree in Interior Architecture  (a link to her full bio is below).

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Shawn Gawle's "Vol au Vent" dessert

Corton’s Shawn Gawle has been on quite a run lately. In September he received the 2011 Rising Star Award from Starchefs.com. In February he was named among Food and Wine’s Best New Pastry Chefs and his “Birch & Chocolate” dessert was called out by Grub Street as one of America’s “most crazy-awesome new desserts“.   Hopefully, all this media attention prepared him for the kind of fame that results from a feature in DessertBuzz… (more…)

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The beautiful black sesame panna cotta, sour cherry sphere, mandarin sorbet

2011 has to go down as one of the most exciting and tumultuous years ever for the top end of the New York pastry chef world.  On the exciting side: Bravo’s Top Chef : Just Desserts franchise finished its second season with NYC’s own Johnny Iuzzini as the head judge and a bevy of New York based pastry chefs as guest judges and hosts.  Alex Stupak, another of NYC’s elite pastry chefs, finally got the praise he deserved for his restaurant Empellon, proving once again that pastry chefs can make the switch into savory (or management) and blazing a trail for future pastry chefs to follow. (more…)

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Paris New York

Today we continue to go through the sweet side of the menu of Dominique Ansel Bakery.  Go here for part I.

Paris-New York: Mr Ansel’s take on Paris-Brest features a split ring of choux pastry filled with chocolate ganache, peanut butter ganache, peanut butter cream, and caramel.  If the Mini-Me cake is a chocolate lover’s dream, then the Paris-New York is for peanut butter lovers.  The pastry is light and is used primarily as a (GDS) -that’s a ganache delivery system.  Why order it? If you like peanut butter and dark chocolate it’s a no brainer.  Ansel on the Paris-New York “a twist on the Paris-Brest, a pate a choux pastry usually filled with hazelnut cream. I call mine the Paris-New York and used chocolate, caramel, and peanuts as my flavors. Can you tell where I got my inspiration from? It’s the ingredients you’ll find inside a Snicker’s bar, my favorite candy bar.” (more…)

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World class canneles from Dominique Ansel Bakery

The recent trend in New York City restaurants and bakeries is to offer one thing and (hopefully) do it really well.  See Puddin’ on St. Marks.  But what if a bakery opens up and kills it in multiple categories?  Well, after my third visit I have even more conviction that Dominique Ansel Bakery is the best new bakery in Manhattan in a long time.  They have a number of best-in-class pastry from the canneles to the kouign amann (dubbed the next big thing by pastry chef and instructor Francisco Migoya) to special eclairs.  Let’s take a walk through the sweet side of the menu.

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Bisous Ciao had the NYC macaron crown for almost 2 years

Why is it so important for New Yorkers to know what other people think is “the best”?   With the opening of Laduree in New York City there has been a considerable amount of macaron hype, most of it around how superior their macarons are to everything else. Last week I finally got to try about eight of them (thank you Doctore) and I can safely say they are the best this city has to offer right now.  They feature perfect buttercream, super-soft almond flour cookie shell and insanely strong flavors–despite flying 3600 miles from Paris every day!   (more…)

Best of New York City, Bisousciao Macarons, Bouchon, Dessert Truck Works, Financier patisserie, Francois Chocolate Bar, Francois Payard Bakery (FPB), Gallery 32 bakery, Georgia's, Gourmet Macaroons, Hester Street Fair, Kee Chocolatier, LaDuree, Macaron Cafe, Macaron Parlour, Silver Moon Bakery | 1 Comment »

Locanda Verde's Mini Rhubarb Pie

Locanda Verde is one of my favorite restaurants in New York City for many reasons.  Their savory dishes are always excellent, it’s not that expensive for how great the food is, and their desserts, by pastry chef Karen DeMasco, are always off the hook.

Karen DeMasco's mini rhubarb pies from Locanda Verde NYC

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