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).

After a few amuse plates that included foie gras spheres with squid ink, cherry pate de fruit, and an absolutely superb fish course befitting a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, we were ready to get down to business with the first of the desserts.

Cherry pate de fruit amuse

Chilled rhubarb consomme, petits pois ice cream, Greek yogurt

The desserts loosely followed a spring theme and the first course was a light, refreshing consumme that utilized rhubarb which is in season right now.  This dish was memorable because of all the small details.  In addition to petit pea flavored ice cream, which is an unusual but great low-sweetness choice, there was a garnish of candied peas made from fresh peas that were blanched, then covered with syrup.  Small discs of of crystallized mint made the dish even more refreshing than it already was.

This dish reminded me of Antoio Bachour’s rhubarb soup from a few years ago.  Antonio and Jennifer recently battled in the second annual StarChefs pastry competition in New York.

Chilled rhubarb consomme being poured over petits pois ice cream, Greek yogurt

The rhubarb consomme is poured at the table.

Detail of chilled rhubarb consomme showing the mint discs

Ricotta cremeux, carrot ginger cake, verjus

Ms. Lee called this dessert her play on a classic carrot layer cake.  This is one of those desserts where you have to use care to get as many components as possible onto your spoon in order to enjoy all the matching acid and sweet flavor combinations.  The sweet cremeux surrounds pieces of moist cake, bright orange carrot sauce, and salty walnut rubble. The verjus (a very acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes) sorbet adds acidity and “pays homage to the raisins found in many carrot cakes” says Yee.  The verjus sorbet is outstanding–they could offer it as a stand alone sorbet.

Ricotta cremeux carrot ginger cake, verjus

Soft chocolate ganache, basil ice cream, salted caramel

My personal favorite of the plated desserts was the soft chocolate ganache.  The ganache is very dark and very bitter.  The texture of the chocolate is velvety smooth but there’s not a hint of sweetness–it’s all about the great dark chocolate flavor.  The ganache is next to a scoop of basil ice cream that perfectly balances the chocolate.  A small area of salted caramel powder brings a “salty-sweet” aspect to the dish.  There are also a few, individual leaves of fresh micro basil and two tiny pools of basil seeds.  My lunch companions thought the fresh basil seeds made for a very cool presentation–I agreed.  A bit of gold leaf adds to the presentation.

Ms. Yee notes that “A couple drops of extra virgin olive oil (a gift from SHO’s visit to Vila Joya Hotel in Portugal) rest in the upturned basil leaves.”

Soft chocolate ganache basil ice cream, salted caramel

Petit Fours

Prior to this visit I had read that one of Jennifer Yee’s specialties is petit fours so I warned my guests to leave a little room in order to try some.  When the chef delivered the three petit four plates to our table there was a certain swagger in her descriptions.  I think she knew these were going to blow us away–both in presentation and in substance.

I have experienced (or at least I thought I had) unique and special petit fours before.  Recent petit fours plates from two and three Michelin starred restaurants included fresh caneles, flavored marshmallows paired with chocolates and  and ultra-mini macarons.  All were well executed and delicious, but none had anywhere near the beautiful, art-exibit-like presentaion of these. Plus, all three were fun to eat.

Chocolate dipped honeycomb

My favorite of the three were the “Chocolate mint rocks“.

The mint chocolate rocks were the most beautiful plate that came to our table.   I liked this dessert for so many reasons. First and foremost they were beautiful to look at.  On a larger scale it could have be part of an outdoor Japanese rock garden.   One of the payoffs of this dessert is that when you bite into the “rocks” you almost expect it to be hard, well, like a rock.  Instead, you get a soft  exterior layer of dark chocolate.  The mint ganache gave it the feeling of some kind of super-after dinner mint.  More in the chef’s words:

“These rocks have been on our mignardise menu since late last year. We’ve changed the flavor of the ganache from black sesame, to orange, and now to mint. For summer, we’ll change it again. Whatever the ganache, each piece is hand dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in a mixture of 10X and black cocoa powder. The rocks rest on a knoll of ground pistachio.”

Chocolate salami served straight from the butcher

The chocolate dipped honeycomb was so fun to eat and had such great textures and flavors I could have eaten a whole bowl.  Interestingly, the idea for this dessert came from “a hippie commune” in Australia.  Ms. Yee explains:

This is a confection close to Shaun Hergatt’s heart. “Honeycomb” is extremely popular in Australia. The chef has fond childhood memories of visiting a “hippie commune” deep in the woods, where the residents would make and sell huge slabs of the stuff to kids. Our version is on a much smaller scale, and we serve it in our signature shell piece with a piece of real bee’s honeycomb. Guests are encouraged to dip the candy in the puddle of honey or use it to sweeten their tea.

Chocolate salami

Finally, the most fun and whimsical petit four of the afternoon was the chocolate salami, which could be mistaken for a real salami.  Even though the presentation is probably what people remember most, I really liked the taste.  It reminded me of Rocky Road ice cream but instead of all the “stuff” being suspended in ice cream it’s suspended in chocolate ganache.

“Our guests have the most fun with this petit four because it has a sense of humor. The slices of salami are presented on a sheet of crumpled butcher paper next to a large log of salami draped in butcher’s twine. It is a bunch of tasty stuff suspended in ganache: pretzel, homemade marshmallow & sable cookie, amarena cherries, dried cranberries, pistachios.”

The sculpture like mint chocolate rocks on a bed of pistachio

Later when discussing the “fun” aspect to her petit fours Ms. Yee said:

When you’re in a fancy setting [like at SHO Shaun Hergatt], we also want you to be able to have fun too.

On where she gets some of  her ideas:

“[even though I work in fine dining] I’m kind of a hippie myself, I like going to second hand stores and love all the markets in New York City–which are getting much better. (she mentioned having recently been to Hester St. Market and visiting the Macaron Parlour booth) I also order desserts wherever I go.  Even in a casual place I order dessert.

I highly recommend a visit to SHO Shaun Hergatt to try Jennifer Yee’s desserts.  There’s a fantastic 3-course lunch pre fixe or if you just want to go for dessert there are plenty of seats in the bar area and lounge.  Whichever option you choose make sure you don’t miss what are without a doubt,  the best petit fours in New York City.

Sho Shaun Hergatt is located on 40 Broad Street (2nd Floor).  Jennifer Yee’s website is here.   Jennifer Yee’s full bio is  here.  Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter to stay up-to-date on all the latest desserts in New York City.

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…

Rose grapefruit burnt honey, ginger, grapefruit meringue

After graduating from culinary school in 1999 Gawle worked on the savory side in a number of well-known kitchens, including the Rittenhouse in Philadelphia under chef Jean-Marie Lacroix, L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and Veritas in New York and L2o in Chicago before coming to Corton in September 2010.  It wasn’t until his time at L20, nearly 8 years after graduating, that Gawle starting doing pastry–unbelievable, considering how evolved some of his desserts are.

Another view of the Rose grapefruit

I first met Mr. Gawle at Killed by Dessert in January and recently visited him at Corton in Tribecca to try a number of his desserts and petit fours.  Even though he was busy preparing for the evening service he graciously took some time to tell me about the different plates.

Detail of the white coffee gelato, with honeycrisp apple, toasted oat crumble

One of things I have noticed about the very best pastry chefs is that they all have an unbridled enthusiasm for talking about their craft that goes beyond the common and well-practiced stories they give to the media  For the extroverts among them this enthusiasm manifests itself exaclty the way you would think–animated descriptions of their creations with lots of hand movements to drive their points home.  The introverts require a bit more coaxing to get them to speak about their creations, but when they do, their thoughts and opinions seem to come rushing out.

"Birch" dessert from Corton- Gawle's signature dish?

Gawle is closer to this second group.   The level of thoughtfulness about every aspect of his desserts, from procuring ingredients and combining heavy and light elements, to the endless experimentation with ratios of different components, is on a very high–almost extreme–level.  This only became apparent after he began to explain the details behind each dish.  I got the feeling that if the evening service weren’t hanging over his head  he could have spent another hour telling me about the origins of each of his dishes and their ingredients.

Sesame financier

The first course out was the very light Rose grapefruit. There were two things about this dish that were memorable. The ginger pieces somehow took on the consistency of plump raisins, while still maintaining their strong ginger flavor; and the meringue, despite being only a small part of dish, had a distinct and pronounced grapefruit flavor.

Banana - rum caramel, frozen banana sponge

The next course, the Vol au Vent (hollow puff pastry) was the first of three truly superb desserts, each with enough unique and original components to be a popular dish in any three-Michelin-star restaurant.  The puff pastry’s texture was perfect–easy to cut through without too much force.  The inside of the puff pastry contained a delicious and flavorful apple crisp.  However, as good as the house-made puff pastry and contents were, the star of this show was the white coffee gelato piping and toasted oat crumble.

Detail of the white coffee gelato, with honeycrisp apple, toasted oat crumble

The white coffee gelato was the most flavorful coffee gelato (or ice cream) I’ve tasted.  I have experienced this level of coffee flavor  before but the pastry chef used finely ground expresso beans to jack-up flavor at the expense of texture–this gelato was super-smooth.  The gelato, along with the chunks of toasted oat crumble–with their satisfying crunch–could have been a dish by itself.  Here’s what the chef said about the white coffee gelato:

We use a white coffee from La Colombe. I’ve known the people from La Colombe in Philadelphia for years.  Actually, when I worked for chef Jean-Marie Lacroix at the Four Seasons (in Philidelphia)  they made us a special blend of coffee just for the restaurant.  Chef Lacroix felt very strongly that the coffee and expresso had to be a certain way –if someone has a bitter coffee or expresso and it’s the last thing they have before they leave [that wouldn't be good!]

Banana with rum caramel being applied

La Colombe came up with a special formula, a blend specifically for us here [at Corton], that’s very consistent, very reliable.  We take the whole beans and do a three-day cold infusion then we strain it–after that we treat it just like a gelato base [at this point the chef went into an intricate description and accounting of the different percentages of gel and emulsifiers used to make the final coffee gelato that was pliable and stable enough to make the beautiful piped ribbons along the "Vol au Vent". After the explanation he made a point to make sure I understood that he "only experiments and goes through (all this trouble) if it adds something to the dish--there's no reason to mess with food unless you have a reason, a purpose , an end result in mind and that the end result must be improved from what you already have or know.]

Gawle's canele - the best I have had

The Chocolate “Birch” has all the makings of a signature dish (sorry Chef).  1) It’s already been featured on its own in the media 2) it’s strikingly beautiful and 3) it’s a texturally complicated, killer, dark chocolate dessert.   It achieves the difficult feat of being a very deep, dark chocolate dessert that is somehow light enough that you don’t feel too full afterwards.

Black olive and Gianduja macarons

This is achieved with an incredibly smooth tube of dark chocolate referred to as an “amer” made with a Valrhona 66% Manjari and 100% blend to give the requisite depth.  I found it to be particularly rich, dark and flavorful.  The chef explains “I don’t like rich, heavy, chocolate desserts, so when I do something like [Birch], it’s going to be on the lighter side but very smooth and tasty as well and with depth [of flavor].

A plexiglass box of macarons for the table

Aside from the dark chocolate center there are other great aspects to this dessert, most notably the chestnut ganache, a superb birch sorbet and a mint blossom that balances the dark chocolate.  Visit Corton for dinner as soon as possible before he takes this off the menu.

Pates de fruits

The last main dessert, Banana, was the simplest component-wise, but may have been the coolest and most fun-to-eat pastry of the night.  Essentially, you are served a frozen banana sponge that takes up a whole decorative ceramic bowl (think Vermont ceramics studio) then the waiter pours warm rum caramel over the top and the dessert melts and folds into itself.  This dessert is all about the unusual textures and hot-cold temperature mix.  It’s hard to describe how satisfying this dessert is to consume–it reminds me a little of a cross between cotton candy and large hard meringue–but with much less sweetness.  Interestingly, the banana flavor itself is mild.

Chocolate olive oil and lime truffles

After the dessert courses there was a selection of chocolates, macarons, pates de fruits, a financier and a canele that was the best I’ve had  (look for a future post about the canele).  The black olive and gianduja macarons were excellent and struck a nice balance of salty and sweet.  At first I thought they were just fine.  Then I found myself unable to stop eating them.  The bourbon toffee macarons were also quite good and the first macarons I’ve tasted using those flavors.  Both macarons were low on the sweetness scale.

A beautiful flower on our table was a nice touch

It would be a challenge to pick a favorite among the three main desserts I tried–each one was special in its own way.   My recommendation is to pick a dessert based on the category you think you would enjoy most: The Vol au Vent is really closest to a “comfort” dessert due to the apples.  The “Birch” is a dark chocolate lover’s dream.  And the Banana is a fun-to-eat dessert that leans towards molecular gastronomy.  Luckily, Gawle says he prefers to change the dishes often enough to keep moving forward–so you probably won’t have too much say.

I didn’t try any of the savory offerings from Corton, but you can learn a bit more about the man behind the food in the documentary “A Matter of Taste” (about Corton Executive Chef Paul Liebrandt) coming soon to theaters in NYC.  Still to come from Corton:  Gawle’s Canele: The best in NYC?

Close-up of the Vol au vent

Corton is located at 239 West Broadway.  Their website is here.  Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter.

More fancy pants restaurant dessert reviews from DessertBuzz:

Le Bernardin: Michael Laiskonis

Jean Georges: Johnny Iuzzini

Daniel & Dominique Ansel Bakery: Dominique Ansel

Dovetail: Michal Shelkowitz (& Vera Tong now at Buddakan)

The Four Seasons: Chris Broberg

Catrine Oscarson: Mas La Grillade

Annisa: Anita Lo

Dessertbuzz coverage of the 2011 Top 10 Pastry Chefs in the US.

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.

"Peanut" flourless chocolate cake malted milk crunch salted peanut brittle, milk chocolate, whipped cream

On the tumultuous side: of the five restaurants with three Michelin and  four New York Times stars, three of them–Daniel, Le Bernardin and Jean Georges–saw their long-time executive pastry chefs depart.  Daniel’s Dominque Ansel had the decency to leave at the end of the summer while there wasn’t a lot of other NYC dessert news.  But Johnny Iuzzini and Michael Laiskonis each left on the last day of 2011!  I shouldn’t complain too much, these events resulted in two of the greatest weeks in DessertBuzz history, starting with a marathon tasting of last 15 desserts on the menu at Jean Georges, followed by a tasting of 6 of Michael Laiskonis’s desserts from Le Bernardin (two days before his final service).  Read about the Jean George tasting here.  Now, on to the Le Bernardin tasting…

Religieuse choux pastry detail

Consider Michael Laiskonis’ desserts.  To compare them to sculpture is so blatantly obvious that it’s almost a cop-out.  I imagine a precocious young child, unaffected by what people think, dining at Le Bernardin for the first time with his parents  saying “daddy the desserts look like the sculptures from the art museum!”  That’s what I keep coming back to, so that’s what I’m going with–Lasikonis’ desserts are like small plated works of art–imagined and created in advance and built to order.

Petit fours from Le Bernardin (March, 2011)

The first dessert to arrive was the Yuzu parfait which was completely new to me.  While photographing the plate I was reminded how fragile all the components were.  A dollop of foam applied with too much force or not aimed at just the right spot, or even a server over-tilting the plate, would ruin the composition and force the chef to start over.  It’s quite an achievement that a dessert as beautiful and delicate as this it can be plated in identical fashion over and over again.

Yuzu parfait with crispy sesame rice, ginger, green tea ice cream

The Yuza had a surprisingly pronounced citrus flavor especially compared to the yuzu-flavored ice cream common to many Japanese restaurants in New York. It went  nicely with the green tea ice cream.  I love these two flavors, and their similar, smooth textures made them even more well suited to share the same plate.  The green tea ice cream sits on a perfect square of green tea sponge and the sesame rice crisps add texture and crunch.  The white dollops are non-dairy citrus meringue–no egg whites (!)–just yuzu, water and sugar, whipped with soy protein.

Another view of the black sesame panna cotta from the sphere side view

I recently posted some photos of the Black sesame panna cotta on Facebook and joked that Laiskonis actually used a custom laser device in the kitchen to align all the elements so perfectly.  Nobody asked me if I was kidding.

Jokes aside, one of the pleasures (and challenges) of eating this dessert was deciding where and how to start.  Do I just pierce the ultra-delicate (and let’s face it, ultra-cool looking) sour cherry sphere and then try to combine it with some panna cotta, sorbet and cake?  Or, do I simply cut a perfect segment of panna cotta like a snowboarder slicing into virgin untracked powder and taste it on it’s own?   I opted for small taste of panna cotta followed by a pirceing of the sphere and then a quick, but not rushed, consumption of the rest of the elements.

The Mandarin sorbet from the black sesame panna cotta

The black sesame panna cotta has two of the coolest and most artful components I have seen on a plate in a long time: the black sesame panna cotta cube with its half-milimeter thick black top and a sour cherry sphere.  Despite it’s good looks the panna cotta doesn’t give up anything in the flavor department–as it tastes like sesame and has a perfect creamy texture.  The tanginess of the citrus from the Mandarin sorbet makes the other two parts come alive.  The “unifying sauce element” of the dessert is a mandarin coulis, bound with pectin, “to mirror the mandarin sorbet”  said Laiskonis.

Black sesame panna cotta, sour cherry sphere, mandarin sorbet

I asked Laiskonis whether the the thin, dark black sesame layer on the cube was there for flavor or for aesthetics: “It was actually the result of a happy accident: We blend a Japanese black sesame paste into a relatively standard panna cotta base (cream, milk, sugar). It’s then deposited into a silicon mold, then frozen, then unmolded and tempered. Popped out of the mold, it’s inverted–the ‘bottom’ becomes the ‘top’. We noticed this rich black sediment of sesame paste had settled to the bottom of the mold and immediately thought it looked so cool! We could have easily blended it further to make it more homogenous and thus more uniform, but something about the gun metal grey/dark black contrast takes the presentation to a higher level”

Even the mini-macarons are perfect

My dining companion Doctore, who has accompanied me on these missions before, proclaimed our third course, the Religieuse (elderflower ‘creme mousseline’, crunchy choux, pear coulis, black current powder) to be the best, non-chocolate, pastry he has ever had with the possible exception of Pierre Herme’s croissant isphan.  In order to explain how good this 4-star choux pastry was, I have to talk about Macarons for a momment.

Religieuse - Elderflower 'creme mousseline', crunchy choux, pear coulis, black currant tpowder

I’ve always found it odd that despite how many great pastry chefs we have in New York–many who are from France or who trained at Pierre Herme–the macarons flown in everyday from La Duree in Paris are still vastly superior to all but a few NYC-made macarons.  The point is, there’s some reason, as yet unknown, that elevates Parisian macarons above those from New York.

Back to the religieuse.  I have tried all kinds of delicious choux pastry, a few in NYC restaurants, some from bakeries that specialize in choux pastry as well as a religieuse or two from Paris and none were in the class of this delicious pastry.   The delicate flavors of the pear coulis and the black current powder  were subtle but could easily be detected and appreciated.  However, to me, the texture profile was what made this dessert fantastic.  It was crunchy on the outside and when you bit into it, it simply melted in your mouth until it disappeared like few other pastries I have had.

"Peanut" flourless chocolate cake malted milk crunch salted peanut brittle, milk chocolate, whipped cream

“Peanut”  is a crowd-pleasing chocolate and peanut dessert that would make Frank Lloyd Wright proud.  It features peanuts and chocolate in a number of different forms including a very thin “plaquette” of milk chocolate and a layer of flour-less dark chocolate cake.  There was also some great tasting malted milk crunch and a salted peanut brittle layer to take advantage of humankind’s innate love of the salty and sweet.  Whipped cream and a matching scoop of malted rum milk chocolate ice cream finish off the dessert.

Whipped cream and peanuts view

Pizza bloggers call this an "upskirt" shot.

The last two desserts have been on the menu at Le Bernardin for some time.  As I have said before, “the egg” is really the epitome of a successful salty-sweet dessert.  In addition, you won’t find two more satisfying teaspoons of dessert anywhere.  Go here to read why I think Laiskonis was actually sick of creating and serving the egg at LB.

The "egg" from Le Bernardin by Michael Laiskonis

The chocolate tart with wine reduction sauce and sweet potato sorbet has it roots in the common “molten chocolate cakes” you see everywhere, but those roots are buried pretty deep in the lineage as the sweet potato sorbet and caramelized wine sauce will be unique to any eater and both are really enjoyable flavors.

One of things I love about fancy-pants restaurants is that in order to make sure guests leave feeling utterly impressed, they always  send out a fixed number of post-meal sweet plates–no matter how many desserts you have already eaten.  I wonder if a waiter has ever come out and said “you guys can’t seriously be thinking about eating more sweets after all that can you!?”

Madeleines served piping hot

We were served a basket of piping hot madeleines and financiers (the only way to enjoy them) and the mini-macarons, (dulce de leche-passion fruit, vanilla and almond) had the same attention to detail as the plated desserts.  There were also chocolates–even after lunch.

two very nice looking pistachio Financiers

March, 2011: Michael Laiskonis in a rare non-working moment in the kitchen

What does the Chef have planned going forward?  Laiskonis wasn’t willing to share anything concrete but  mentioned a possible book about pastry from the perspective of the pastry chef in the kitchen, doing some consulting and the desire to share his knowledge through some kind of teaching role.  Next Monday, January 16th, he will be one of 6 acclaimed pastry chefs in attendance at “Killed By Dessert“, a charity event to raise money for Share our Strength–the event is sold out.

Coverage of our previous tasting of Michael’s desserts at Le Bernardin from March 2011 is here.  Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter.  Micheal Laiskonis’s blog is here.  Le Bernadin is located on 155 West 51 Street.  Their website is here.

After lunch chocolates

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.”

Cross section of Paris-New York

Cinnamon Roll: Why anyone would order a cinnamon roll at DAB is beyond me.  Not that it wasn’t tasty because it was. It’s just that with so many other incredible pastries to choose from, only the most unadventurous and very risk-averse should even consider this.  Allowances made for children (or adults) who are obsessed with cinnamon rolls (I’m sure there’s a website somewhere).  Note to the Cinnamon Roll Association: please don’t send letters.  Why order it? Hmm, I guess to see how one of best pastry chefs in NYC makes a cinnamon roll?

Gâteau Battu: The gateau battu is like a giant slice of brioche.  Anything that would taste good on a plain brioche would be perfect on top of the gateau–jelly, butter, peanut butter, etc.  The flavor and texture remind  me a little of a less sweet challah bread.  Why order it? You need a break from all the sweet but aren’t ready to admit you are moving on to savory.  Ansel on the Gâteau Battu: “similar to a brioche, but much lighter and fluffier, from my hometown of Picardy. You bake it in a mold that looks like a chef’s hat, so it’s a very signature shape.”

Pain Au Chocolat: Perhaps no other pastry is as an important barometer of the class of a French baker then the Pain Au Chocolate.  The good news is Mr. Ansel’s are superb.  They are thin on the chocolate content but have a perfect and beautiful-to-look-at, spiraled crust.  I guess there must be something about Spring Street–currently the street with the two best pain au chocolats and croissants in NYC.  Why order it? This is one thing you can purchase day after day!

Other items – Macarons: The macarons from DAB are quite good.  I recommend the lemon and the chocolate.  Unlike some other bakeries he makes them in small amounts and if they run out, that’s it!    This is preferable to making tons of them and keeping them for days until the unpopular flavors get stale.

Mini-Me’s: The flavored meringue drops that dot some of the pastry are also available separately.  I recommend the peppermint, lemon or blueberry.  These would make a great party or wedding favor.  Ansel on the Mini-Me’s: “Then there are some little creations of my own. I love the Mini-Me’s. They are short for “Miniature Meringues” and come in lots of colors and flavors. What’s fun is that there are at least 8 ways to eat them: add them into hot chocolate, drop them into breakfast cereal, use them as ice cream toppings, the list goes on.”

Hazelnut brittle (yes it's as good as you think)

Hazelnut Brittle: Another great stocking stuffer.  The hazelnuts in this brittle are incredibly flavorful.  Note: If you decide to buy  this as a gift it’s best to purchase two so you can eat one on the way home.

Rice crispy made with Valrhona Caramelia

Rice Crispy: Like Jacques Torres’ corn flakes this sure-to-please gift uses Valrhona Caramelia–a milk chocolate caramel delicacy.

I asked Mr Ansel what signature product his bakery will be known for in 5 years?  Ansel: “I don’t know.  New Yorkers will have to tell me! So much work goes into every product that comes out of the kitchen – even the savory sandwiches is carefully sampled and tweaked. They are all my children – how can I play favorites?

Also check out Blondie and Brownie’s “Eating everything at Dominique Ansel Bakery“.

Dominique Ansel Bakery is located on 189 Spring Street (Sullivan).  Their website is here.  Part I of this story is here.  Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter.

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.

Kouign amann from Dominique Ansel Bakery

Kouign Amann: Confession time for the editor.  I had never heard of a “kouign amann” before September when Ansel and some other high-credibility chefs started talking about them at his bakery.  I’ve now eaten two or three so I consider myself an expert (I kid!) You don’t need 17 years of pasty experience to know when you taste something special.  Here’s a video of  Ansel in action creating the pastry. The best description of what a Kouign Amann is can be found on David Lebovitz’s blog.  Why order it? Because it’s like a great croissant with a “perfectly-caramelized melange of butter, sugar, and salt” and in the words of David Byrne nothing is better than that.

Special addition black and white eclair with dual fillings

Black and White Eclair: Dominique Ansel in not from New York but he shows he has learned a bit about what New Yorkers’ like by offering a classic French pastry that evokes the iconic NYC black and white cookie.  The glaze is half dark chocolate and half white chocolate and one side of the éclair is filled with chocolate cream, the other with vanilla cream.

Inside the black and white eclair

The thing about eclairs is that I suspect most people have never tried a really good one.  I have memories of  the eclairs they sold at Twin Donut in New York in the early 80’s.  This is a place where on any given day there might be three homeless guys sharing a cruller and smoking cigarettes at their table.  Why order it? There are only 1 or two other places in NYC to get an eclair this good.

Canneles: Crispy on the outside custardy on the inside

Canneles: Without a doubt the best I have tasted in NYC.  They feature a dark, crisp and perfectly caramelized exterior and a  super-moist interior.  The custard-like-inside has plenty of flavor too owing to the liberal use of  rum in the recipe.  Read more about canneles along with some great photos here.  Why order it? Transport yourself to Bordeaux for only $3.

Mini me dark chocolate cake

Mini-Me Chocolate Cake: With all due respect to Verne Troyer this is the best incarnation of Mini-me.   The “Mini Me” meringue-topped chocolate cake is served from a case but it might as well be a made-to-order plated dessert.  It has a perfect blend of flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and a dark chocolate glaze.  Toasted meringue “mini-me” twists on top (available for purchase separately)  finish off the dessert.  Despite all the chocolate it’s still  not too sweet!  Why order it? If you’re a chocolate lover–stop contemplating and get it.

Visit us again tomorrow for Part II: Paris-New York, Gâteau Battu, and an interview with the man himself.

Paris New York

Dominique Ansel Bakery is located on 189 Spring Street (Sullivan).  Their website is here.

Follow DessertBuzz on Twitter.

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!  

Now that we have that out of the way let’s take a look at some of the other DessertBuzz recommended macarons in New York City.

Laduree 864 Madison (71^st St.) Recommended: all products are equally excellent.  The lemon and vanilla are my favorites. Notes: Why can’t one other place in all of New York make butter cream this good?

Bouchon Bakery peanut butter and jelly

Bouchon Bakery Recommended: Peanut butter and jelly, pistachio.  Notes: A surprisingly good value compared to the other items they sell.  Large size means more to enjoy.  Located in the Time Warner Center (10 Columbus Circle @ 59th St.)  and in Rockefeller Center (1 Rockefeller Plaza).

The lemon macaron from Bisous ciao

Bisous Ciao Recommended: all flavors (butter cream and ganache fillings) Notes: The other standout macaron in New York city.  The only shop that currently comes close to Laduree.  Many pastry chefs pointed me to this place. Located at 101 Stanton St.

DessertTruck Works monkey finger macaron - would Laduree approve?

Dessert Truck Works Recommended: Salted caramel, chocolate ganache.   Notes: Creative flavors excellent value.  Located at 6 Clinton St.

Francois Chocolate Bar Macaron with cocoa nibs

Francois Chocolate Bar Recommended: dark chocolate with nibs.  Notes: As good as the best if you get them fresh.  Very good chocolate macarons.  Located in the food concourse of the Plaza Hotel at 1 West 58^th St.

Macaron Cafe Dark Chocolate Macaron - worth the $2.25

The Macaron Café Recommended: Citrus flavors, lemon, orange, etc. Notes: very solid huge selection of flavors, friendly staff.  Two locations: 625 Madison (on 59th St.) and 485 7th Ave. (at 36th St.)

Silver Moon Bakery chestnut macaron

The Silver Moon Bakery Recommended: Chocolate, chestnut.  Notes: pick up a French bread when you go because Serious Eats just rated their the best in the city!  Located at 2740 Broadway  (105^th St.)

I also want to recommend at two other outfits that don’t have  a “bricks and mortar” store.  You can always order their macarons for  a special event such as a wedding or party.

Mad-Mac's Macarons

A delicious Nutella Macaron from the Macaron Parlour

Mad Mac’s macarons Recommended (website is here.) Notes: The choice of Jacques  Torres for his big anniversary party.  And The Macaron Parlour Recommended: lemon, dark chocolate ganache, raspberry.  Notes: These guys have a cult following from their Hester Street Fair appearances–you won’t be disappointed.  (website is here.)

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More coverage of the opening of Laduree. FloFab from the Times, Amanda Kludt: Eater NY, Craftiness Now, Yelp reviews

Ladurée is located at 864 Madison Avenue (71st Street), open Monday – Friday 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. ; Saturday at 9:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. Closed Sunday. Macarons $2.70 each (ouch!)

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

However, sometimes it’s hard to get a reservation, especially on the spur of the moment.  And sometimes, I just really want one of their desserts and don’t want to deal with all the fuss of dinner.  That’s where Locanda Verde’s bakery counter comes in.  Many people don’t know you can walk right  in and get  all kinds of bakery and dessert-like items without waiting.  Everything from scones  and muffins to donuts, coconut cake and slices of pie.

Nutella cookie from Locanda Verde Bakery Counter

Today I scored two mini rhubarb pies.  I couldn’t resist because Rhubarb is in season and they looked a bit like hostess fruit pies from my youth.  Imagine the format of a hostess fruit pie except created and baked by one of the best pastry chefs working today.  As if that weren’t enough of a pitch, they were also only $2.50 each!

Locanda Verde Scone

If you’re expecting a sweet, syrupy, pie-like rhubarb filling you will be dissapointed as these things were quite tart.  In other words a perfect use of a seasonal root vegetable.

Dark bitter pistachio tart from Karen DeMasco

Locanda Verde’s web site is here.

Locanda Verde is located at 377 Greenwich Street (off North Moore St.)