I wouldn’t normally order dessert after a casual pizza lunch at the counter in Nancy Silverton’s popular Los Angeles eatery, Pizzeria Mozza. But what are you gonna do when the folks sitting smack next to you order a voluptuous Banana Gelato Pie, all foofed up with candied hazelnuts and shiny hot fudge sauce you could smell a block away? I mean, really, look at this thing. Would you pass it up? (Photos by Yelp.)
I loved every bite -- the silken ice cream, the intense bittersweet chocolate, the nutty crunch. Then I figured, hey, if one dessert was so good here, maybe we should order another, like maybe the Butterscotch Budino with Maldon Sea Salt and Rosemary Pine Nut Cookies.
Smooth as buttah, with the smoky caramel soul
of dulce de leche, a dollop of whipped cream, and a dusting of crunchy salt. Heavenly.
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Dessert at Jamonera in Philadelphia has the proverbial tough act to follow. We loved everything about a dinner that started with the lip-smacking Alhambra cocktail (Bombay gin, grapefruit puree, rosemary and ginger) and meandered indulgently through a terrific tapas menu. Yet, still, we were blown away by the final showpiece of the evening. (Photo by Foodspotting.)
The Jamonera Sundae consists of a warm
brownie spiked with espelette pepper, creamy nougat ice cream, a crumbled Spanish-peanut-pretzel praline, hot fudge sauce, and a fat, fluffy vanilla bean
marshmallow. How do you say “outtasite” in Spanish?
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Too bad that Elvis had left the building when I dined at New York City’s db Bistro Moderne last May. He would surely have flipped over pastry chef Ashley Brauze’s Peanut and Banana Napoleon. I certainly did, fighting my tablemates for every last lick of shiny, sumptuous banana cream, rum-glazed bananas, crackly feuilletine of milk chocolate and peanuts, and the coup de grace, spiced chocolate ice cream. (Brauze cooked at El Bulli in Spain and Per Se in New York before settling down in the Daniel Boulud empire of haute cuisine.) Her Peanut and Banana Napoleon is one Big Hunk o’ Love.
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Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. That’s particularly sage advice if you’re talking about the voluptuous Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding at The Hungry Cat.
This popular bistro in downtown Santa Barbara serves only this one dessert – a killer concoction of crusty bread cubes, silken ganache, bumpy brulée crust, all baked together in a classic French metal mold. (Photo by AliceQFoodie.)
The bittersweet chocolate is at the bottom, so the best way to enjoy the pudding is to dip deep with each spoonful and pull up hot chocolate ribbons along with the souffléed bread. The dessert is big enough for two, and digging into the sexy, little charlotte mold, right down to the gooey chocolate on the bottom, is about as much fun as two people can legally have over dessert in a public place.
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