Earl Grey dessert from Le Bernardin Executive Pastry Chef Laurie Jon Moran

I recently checked in at Le Bernardin to see what their “new” Executive Pastry Chef, Laurie Jon Moran, was up to.  It’s been about a year since he replaced Michael Laiskonis at the 3-star Michelin restaurant and I figured that was enough time for him to put his stamp on their dessert offerings.  A quick glance at the menu supported the theory that it was now his alone, as there was no sign of  Lasikonis’ iconic egg dessert.

Mr. Laurie came to Le Bernadin after a recent two-year stint at Per Se.  Before that he worked at Picholine and spent a number of years at Daniel.  A short interview follows this feature. (more…)

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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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Nectarine posset with elderflower and shiso

Annisa reopened a little over a year ago after a fire destroyed the original 10-year old restaurant.  Normally, if you want a Saturday night reservation you have to give a few weeks notice but after I told then I was with DessertBuzz they opened up there entire schedule for us (actually they probably never heard of dessertbuzz, but they did have a cancellation!) (more…)

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Chocolate souffle from The Four Seasons Restaurant NYC

When I first found out I was going to lunch at the Four Seasons, I was pretty excited but soon realized that despite growing up in New York City, I really knew nothing about this storied institution except that it has very special chain mail window shades.

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Dovetail's baked chocolate tart with pretzels, caramel and beer ice cream

On Sunday we were in the mood for a fine dining experience, but, like many New Yorkers, we can’t just drop $100 per-person whenever we please.  That’s where this recession thing comes in handy.  Even some of the best restaurants in town have special deals to lure more diners when things are slow.

Dovetail's banana bread with spiced walnuts

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