Disappointment in Dallas

I've heard wonderful things about Asian Mint in Dallas, Texas, especially that the owner creates great desserts and drinks (all things sugary).  The food was wonderful, but the desserts were hit or miss. 

They taut their Signature Green Tea Ice Cream Cake, but it was a huge disappointment.  I expect my ice cream to be cold and frozen, but not the cake too.  The cake was so frozen that it was tasteless and had the texture of eating a brick.  It was just as hard to cut it.  The green tea ice cream, I was told, was not made in house.  I'm not sure where they purchase it from, but I've had much better from the grocery store.  My two favorite places for green tea ice cream are Blue Fish and Uptown Sushi. 

Signature Green Tea Ice Cream Cake

The Jasmine Creme Brulee was interesting, but refreshingly good (can you tell by the fact that it's nearly gone).  I thought the heart shaped dish was a bit corny, but the dessert made up for it.  It tasted like creme brulee with a hint of jasmine/green tea.  Very unique, and I personally liked it.

Jasmine Creme Brulee

If you go to Asian Mint, I'd stay away from any of their green tea ice cream desserts, but try some of the more unique ones.

I love NOLA

I got the opportunity to dine at Restaurant August in New Orleans (who dat?!), and I should really just give up eating entrees and skip straight to the entrees.  If you are curious for the gist of this blog: Restaurant August has great, homemade, gourmet desserts!

These desserts exceeded my expectations because lately the nice restaurants seem to not put as much effort on their desserts as their entrees.  Pere Roux's banana rum cake with creole cream-cheese icing is omg amazing.  Who is Pere Roux?  My role model...that is who.  By the way, "creole cream-cheese icing" just means it was homemade at Restaurant August.  No creole seasoning involved if you are picturing Chef Besh adding Tony Cachere.  This cake was not heavy, but rich and very palatable.  The cream-cheese icing was one of my favorite ever.  It was very smooth, rich but not heavy, and the sweetness was so refined (you could actually tell the sweetness was a higher quality than grocery stuff).  It was also a resonable portion (not one bite and gone, but also no cause for desserter's remorse either).



Pere Roux's banana rum cake
with creole cream-cheese icing

The Napolean of Nougatine with Valhrona chocolate bavarois and salted toffee ice cream was equally delish.  If you hear "Napolean" and think of this, you are in for a surprise.  It doesn't taste anything like your traditional baker's Napolean. 

Napolean of Nougatine with
Valhrona chocolate bavarois

& salted toffee ice cream

And although I technically didn't order this, here is the complimentary dessert at the end of our long meal.

Chocolate & peanut brittle




Churros in Cincinnati

Everyone needs to get to Cincinnati, go to Nada, and order these churros asap.  I realize this picture looks like it's meat, but it was the right amount of crunchiness/crispiness:doughiness:sugar:cinnamon.  I've had churros from Rick Bayless' XOCO, and they tasted like broken left over morsel chips at the bottom of a cheap vending machine chip bag.  Nada's churros were scolding hot & fresh and reminded me of Cafe Du Monde beignets, but not quite.

Churros: fresh mexican doughnut,
cinnamon and sugar

This was one of the best tres leches I've had.  I usually hate tres leches because of its heavy nature, but this was savory and light.  Oh, and I quickly realized that all things from Madisono rocks.  It is just dreamy...

Tres Leches with 

Madisono's strawberry gelato &

strawberry puree

Madisono will be a stop on my list next time I'm in that area.  It was delish.  I actually had to put my dirty napkin in it so I would stop eating it.

Strawberry sorbet from Madisono's

The cheesecake was like any other cheesecake, but a little airier and of course, lime-er.  I typically like the heavy thick cheesecake, but the airiness was a nice change of pace.  I have no clue what mascerated berries are, and I don't recall any mascerated-ness in this dessert. 

 New York Style Cheesecake with
mascerated berries and lime crema

Did I mention the churros?  I have plenty of other pictures of it...it was like taking pictures of a first born.  Or something like that.

Everything is bigger in Texas

If you want a dessert that's easily enough to share for 5-6, go to Tillman's Roadhouse.  How did I come to learn this valuable lesson?

Let's start with the chocolate cake.  I think they put those little Toy Story's army men knock offs to show you the sheer size differential.  Unfortunately, bigger doesn't always mean better.  You could taste the granules (sugar granules probably) so it wasn't creamy and smooth like you want your chocolate cake and chocolate icing to be.

Chocolate cake

The peanut butter chocolate chip cookie tower with banana ice cream, chocolate icing, and chocolate sauce was equally overwhelming, but in a good way.  I can't get enough of pb & chocolate.  And PS - it refrigerates quite well.  I won't belabor anymore on how it was your average "good pb chocolate chip" dessert.

peanut butter &
chocolate chip cookie tower

The smores.  Um.  Where to begin.  Oh yeah, the history if smores, so I've heard.  This dessert comes with several different HUGE marshmellow flavors: orange, maple and coffee as well as cinnamon grahams and dark chocolate bark.  And a very powerful flame thingy.  I would estimate that this serves 8+.  I'm not a general fan of smores (it's too nauseatingly sweet for me...I know shocker), but the variety and the experience of it is wonderful.  These, too, refrigerate well (they don't give you the flame thingy) and are perfect for the next morning breakfast. 

Smores

The dessert with no identity

Let's just cut to the chase on this post: I would not recommend the food at Bangkok City (the one on Greenville and Yale) in Dallas, Tx.  I have mixed feelings about the dessert though.


Fried Ice Cream


The fried ice cream was just weird and lacked an identity.  Jelly?  Whip cream?  The menu said fried ice cream, not jelly doughnut with whip cream.  Two forks down on this one.  It wasn't a good doughnut, and it was a worse fried ice cream.  If you want a doughnut, go to the Krispy Kreme across the street (literally).

Sticky rice with Thai Custard

This was one of my favorites (at this restaurant).  The thai custard (the mango colored stuff) was interesting, but the sticky rice was yummy.  I scrapped the cherry. 



 

Black Rice Pudding with Coconut Milk

This was the other favorite - I've never had black rice pudding before, but it tastes just like any other color rice pudding.  All in all, average desserts, but compared to the food, it was like a 5 star experience.

Sometimes trying to hard means mistake

Either I don't have a mature taste palette, or...nah that can't be it when everyone agrees with you.

Blackbird in Chicago is a highly rated restaurant with a Michelin star (not Michelin tires).  However, the desserts (and entrees) were just not up my taste bud alley. 

Let's start with The Good:


Sweet Corn Ice Cream

Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Bacon Brioche, Candied Pecan, Basil, and Maple Syrup.  The ice cream was delish.  I bet all yummy, sweet veggies would make a great ice cream, like sweet potato ice cream, beet ice cream, ok I'm out of ideas.  The bacon brioche was nothing exciting (as you may have anticipated since 'bacon' was in the same dish name as 'ice cream'.
 

Chocolae Ganache with Tahitian
Vanilla Gastrique & Parsnip Ice Cream

The chocolate ganache was good as well, but nothing that took my breath away or etched itself in my memory (hence this short description).
 

Pear Sorbet


The pear sorbet was a pleasant surprise.  I expected it to taste like eating a pear (texture, flavor, and all) because to me a pear naturally has a sorbet texture - if that makes any sense to y'all.  But this was really good - It had a mild pear flavor and the other embellishments on the plate helped with the flavor.

Let's move on to The Bad:



Panna Cotta with kentucky
bourbon barrel, candied pinenuts, &
caramelized macoun apples

The panna cotta with Kentucky bourbon barrel, candied pinenuts, and caramelized macoun apples was like listening to a new song by your favorite artist and then the song turning out to be crap.  I love panna cotta.  Candied pinenuts and caramelized macoun apples sound wonderful.  The consistency reminded me of a poorly made or spoiled boba tea drink.  Not my fav.

Passion Fruit Chocolate

This was the passion fruit chocolate.  I only put it under the bad category because it was straightforward and nothing exotic.  Like I could walk into Godiva and get a piece of this. 

And instead of doing The Ugly, I'll go with The Pretty:

Frothy Coffee

I'm not a coffee drinker, but I wanted to capture a pretty frothy coffee drink to end on a nice note :)



Barton Creek has done this one right!

Do you ever wonder if the food at high end hotels, resorts, golf clubs, and country clubs are really worth the price?  I've dined at many high end hotels where I much preferred a $5 burger than the $50 dish they served.  If you are in Austin, Texas, and would like a wonderful lunch buffet overlooking a great view, go to the Barton Creek Resort and Spa, dine at the Hill Country Dining Room, and order the Hill Country Buffet.  I honestly have no clue how much it is because this was part of a business meeting, but I'm sure it's reasonable :)

And sadly, I only have one picture of the dessert, and the best thing (their bread pudding is the most unique and wonderful ever) wasn't even photographed! 

Buffets are meant for me!

I will try to compose myself and not go on and on about the food, but the food is equally great.  The dessert bar is o.v.e.r.w.h.e.l.m.i.n.g.  (I hope the periods show the emphasis I'm trying to place on that fact.)  All of their desserts were wonderfully impeccable - from the chocolate cake to tiramisu to cheesecake to cookies.  Their bread pudding - OMG - is just incredible.  They use pastry bread instead of regular bread (so I'm told...that's how much I was in love with it).  And if you are in Austin next time, feel free to ship me some bread pudding :)

New Watermelon 2.0

I think the new generation of restaurants (or just the world in general) is adding either "New" or "2.0" to everything.  Like Web 2.0.  New Asian Fusion food.  New World Tex Mex.  New American.  and so forth...  I dined at La Condesa in Austin, Texas, and they are one of those "New 2.0"-ers.


Ice Cream

I started dessert with the "oldie but goodie"...or a nicer way of saying it, the classics.  La Condesa has a variety of helados de la casa, or homemade ice cream and sorbets.  The only way you can go wrong with ice cream is if you get a flavor you don't like.  Or if you get non-fat ice cream.  You just can't make ice cream with no fat.  Du-hh!


Watermelon 2.0

Next up was what I call Watermelon 2.0, or more specifically Crema Cocida: vanilla panna cotta, watermelon, agave, quseo fresco, pickled watermelon rind, roasted pepitas.  This is a must-try if you like watermelon!  Watermelon and acidity is my latest fav way to have watermelon...couple that with panna cotta and this is easily my favorite fruit dessert now. 



Eating home cooking on The Porch

I won't get all nostalgic and cheesy here, but home cooking is so calming in the fall and winter time.  There's a wonderful place in Dallas called The Porch, and I think the food tastes like some southern grandmama named LuAnn made it.  And with all great meals, you need a strategy and a plan.  I, unfortunately, did not make either when coming to The Porch, so I did not save nearly enough room to consume the amount of dessert I really hoped for (which may be a good thing because that darn scale of mine is going up too fast!).

What in the jiminy crickets is a Blueberry Butter Pie?

Blueberry Butter Pie

It is this wonderful creation! In all honestly, I'm not sure what it is, but it is the BESTEST pie ever.  I despise apple pies and such, but this tastes nothing like your traditional pies.  It's got a brownie cake type consistency and the ice cream on top is just superb.  I hope The Porch keeps this around all year!



Chocolate Mousse w/
Caramelized Bananas



The chocolate mousse with caramelized bananas was good as well - it tastes just like it sounds.  Not nearly as enjoyable as my butter pie though. 





 

Salted Caramel &
Chocolate Bread Pudding


I think restaurants are finally starting to get bread puddings right because this one was fantastic.  Normally restaurant bread puddings taste like Thanksgiving stuffing to me, but this one was wonderfully buttery, moist, and just the right amount of "chewiness" (if that description makes sense to you, then you know what I'm talking about).



Pecan Pie

The pecan pie was incredible.  It doesn't top the pecan pie with tabasco sauce still, but wow both the crust and the pecan/sugar ration were perfection!

Smores

Oddly enough, I've never been a fan of smores.  The marshmellow makes it too sugary sweet for me.  I recently heard the history of smores.  I personally like my smores with just the graham cracker and a melted peanut butter cup.

If I had to pick only one dessert...I'd definitely pick the blueberry butter pie to go with your dinner!

Ruth's Chris (not Ruth Chris') Steak House

I honestly used to think that Ruth's Chris Steak House was like a Red Lobster but steak.  Their neon sign isn't the most high end decor I've seen, and frankly, I don't understand how "Chris Steak House" can be Ruth's.  I always thought it was Ruth Chris' Steak House...like her full name was Ruth Chris.  But I love this place, both for their entrees and their desserts.  A little unknown fact, they started in New Orleans...and I love NOLA!


Peanut Butter Cup & Creme Brulee



The peanut butter cup was delicious: the peanut butter was like a mousse and not overbearing.  The creme brulee was equally delish, one of the best creme brulees ever.  It was probably because the carmelized top wasn't there (I'm not a fan of it).  It was not overly sweet, but really creamy, which I adore.  The best part of it all was that my portions (probably because it was part of a fixed price menu) was very remorse-free. 

Don't let the Ruth's Chris neon Vegas looking sign fool you.  Try them out!

I don't think sopapillas made it to San Diego

I learned a very valuable lesson on my trip to San Diego: you should not trust all of your friends' restaurant recommendations :)


Crispy flat sopapilla wannabes



I don't think the En Fuego Cantina and Grill in Del Mar (San Diego) has discovered sopapillas yet.  This dessert is described as "three flour pastries sprinkled with ground cinnamon and confections sugar accompanied with caramel chocolate".  I would describe it as burnt overly crispy chips with a crazy drizzle of chocolate Nesquik chocolate and too much whip cream.


Another valuable lesson: always make a backup plan (in other words, order another dessert).

Sushi, Mochi, and Tempura oh my!

I love eatting sushi because you get a great dinner, and I just love the typical desserts offered at sushi restaurants.  Here's the line up for Sushi House in Naperville, IL:

Everyone has ice cream, duh!  Sushi House has green tea or red bean ice cream available.

1 scoop of red bean & green tea

I have to say it wasn't the best green tea or red bean ice cream I've ever had.  (So I wouldn't recommend it if this is your first time)  The green tea lacked a creaminess that I like with my green tea, so instead it just tasted like frozen green tea.  The red bean ice cream wasn't creamy enough for me either.



Mochi

Sushi House has 3 mochi flavors available: strawberry, mango, and coffee.  They were all probably store bought, but the strawberry and mango ones are delish!  Hence the fact that you get a picture with only 1/2 of one left.  Yummy...  If you are curious what mochi even is, it is a combination of dough and ice cream.  How could it get better?
 

Tempura Ice Cream


Oh yeah, things could always get better if it's fried.  Tempura Ice Cream is a fancy way of saying fried ice cream.  Think Texas State Fair.  Fried anything is great.  Ice cream is great.  Perfect combo, except they added whipped cream and a cherry.  Weird, but easily "move out of the way"-able. 

Pecan Pie with Tabasco sauce

Enough said!  I was referred to Ron's Cajun Connection, but was warned that it was "in the middle of nowhere".  My referrer was right both about the food (it was delish) and that it is indeed in the middle of nowhere.  In fact, when I finally pursuaded my husband to eat here for an early dinner, he really only agreed because it was literally on the highway, and we didn't need to get off of Highway 6.  Seriously, think Highway 6 shoulder = Ron's Cajun Connection. 

Quick note about the cajun food here - omg wonderful!  And I'm cajun!  Try the gumbo and crawfish etouffe.  Drool....

Back to the dessert.  We got the pecan pie with tabasco sauce and Sisler's cinnamon ice cream.  I've had better cinnamon ice cream, but I haven't had better pecan pie.  You can't taste the tabasco sauce, but something makes this the best pecan pie I've ever had, and I hate pecan pie for the most part.  The crust is thin and just right.  The pie itself not made of filler junk with overly sweet syrup; it's got plenty of pecans and other goodness that makes this pie not overly sweet, but just wonderful.  I didn't need any milk to wash it down, just more pecan pie!

The cinnamon ice cream tasted pretty plain.  I could have done without this and just spent more of my calories on another pecan pie!

Dear Rick Bayless

Dear Rick Bayless,

I have enjoyed your entrees every time (well, all but once), but sadly your desserts are not on my top 10 list =*(

I love XOCO...the sandwiches are wonderful.  However, their desserts are not.  I had their churros, and they were so awful I had one bite, discarded them, forgot to take a picture (note: the ice cream on top was yum), and got two more desserts: a cranberry/white chocolate chip cookie and a shortbread (which tasted like pecan shortbread).  The shortbread cookie was decent; I've had better cranberry/white chocolate chip cookies on airlines.  Sorry Rick!

At Frontera Grill, I ordered a few desserts: the Torta de Elote, Cazuela de Frutas, and a chocolate mousse cake. 

The Torta de Elote is a "warm, moist sweet corn cake with Klug Farm blueberry salsa, blueberry-tequila ice cream, homemade fresh cheese and crema." (gotta put quotes around sited work!).  This was interesting.  It tastes like it sounds, but wasn't anything mind-blowing.  Think sweet corn bread + blueberry ice cream with a hint of tequila + something that tastes like blueberry compote on the bottom. 

The Cazuela de Frutas is made of "local blackberries and plums (shiro and methly varieties) baked under a crunchy cashew-cornmeal streusel topping. Mexican vanilla bean ice cream."  The actual fruit part was too tart for my liking, but the crust topping was my favorite part. 

To be honest, this chocolate mousse cake was unmemorable for me.  I'm beginning to wonder how food critics remember so much food in one meal...do they have an app to capture their thoughts and reactions?  I guess my recommendation is to go for the food, but don't stay for the desserts.

Gourmet Doughnuts

I suppose it makes sense that doughnuts are going gourmet, since cupcakes have gone fru-fru.

I had lunch at The Gage in Chicago, and they offer a signature "Coffee Stuffed Doughnuts Espresso and Crunchy Coffee and Hot Fudge" dessert.  It was pretty darn good!  The doughnut holes have a surprise in the middle - (gourmet) lemon filling! The sauce was ok (I'm not a coffee fan).  The doughnuts themselves are light but chewy (not the uncooked dough chewy...the I want to have chewy carbs type of taste).  If I posted this on Facebook, I would have "Like"d it.

I also ordered a "Market Fruit with Curry Biscotti".  The fruit was fresh and sweet and the mascarpone cream cheese was perfect.  This is a perfect dessert for those who want something healthier than doughnuts.  Sorry, the biscotti isn't pictured because they forgot about it.  But it tasted just like any ole biscotti. 

It was so good...I forgot the dessert names...Part II

I went to Abacus during Restaurant Week for the third straight time this year.  If you've never been here, I would highly recommend it.  The maitre-d (woman with French accent) is incredibly rude both on the phone and in person, so if you can get past that, the food is worth it. 

Their desserts during RW are meant to share.  That's unfortunate for my husband.  I thought this year the desserts were far better than previous.  I remembered all of the flavor and taste, none of the name.  Sorry guys.  But blogspot is mobile device friendly right?

On the far left of the dessert plate was this wonderful chocolate mousse sandwich-like thing.  It had a ribbon of chocolate mousse in between two layers of chocolate, topped off with 3 scoops of mousse and a raspberry.  The mousse was light but very flavorful, not heavy and superficially rich like poorly made mousse.  This was delish.  I personally think they should have put some strawberry slices with it...to give it a chocolate covered strawberry effect.  One of my favorite desserts this year!

In the middle of the plate was a lemon dessert of some sort with mascarpone cheese, a lemon drizzled/brushed thin cracker, and some lemon jam-like substance.  I am not a fan of limes, lemons, and other tart desserts, but this was one of my favorites (well, all except the jam part).  Then again, who doesn't like mascarpone? 

On the right of the plate was a peanut butter chocolate creation with some peanut butter cookies.  It was a very sophisticated dessert, and unfortunately, my palette has been trained over the decades to enjoy cheap peanut butter chocolate desserts, like peanut butter + nutella on a huge spatula at midnight.  It was a very yummy dessert, but very thick, solid, and heavy, which isn't to my liking.


Side tangent: the food and intermizzios are always wonderful here. This is where I got my idea for my famous watermelon-lemonade slushee.  This past year, they had a violet slushee intermizzio, absolutely wonderful!

Restaurant Week Part II

I love Stephan Pyles!  This is one of my other "regulars" on Restaurant Week. 

Gourmet doughnuts are definitely popping up more and more.  But Stevie is wonderful, and therefore his desserts are always unique and tasty.  His "Coffee and Doughnuts" are "freshly friend beignet-style doughnuts with expresso creme brulee and cajeta".  And being a huge beignet fan, and subsequently beignet expert, these doughnuts do taste similar to beignets - fluffy yet chewy.  Yum.  I am not a fan of coffee, or creme brulee, but that did not detract from the wonderful doughnuts, which I recommend everyone try!



The second dessert of the night was the "Mascarpone-Black mission fig empanada with balsamic sabayon and jamon serrano ice cream".  OMG OMG OMG.  This was absolutely great.  This belongs on my Top 10 list...which I will have to create shortly.  I have no clue what "balsamic sabayon" or "jamon serrano" are, but they are delicious in this dessert.  It tastes like a wonderful dessert empanada with amazing ice cream.  Must have more!

The third dessert of the night was the "Mexican chocolate tamales with roasted cherry-vanilla ice cream and sambuca-milk chocolate".  Very good indeed, but since I despise cherries outside of their plain fruit state, I was not a fan of the ice-cream.  I honestly would order one of the two desserts above before I would consider this one, but nonetheless, I still heart SP!

Overrated places in Dallas

Do you ever wonder why some places are ranked so high?  Here is my ranking of my top two most overrated places in Dallas for dessert.


Don't get this either

Don't get this



First up: Kathleen's Sky Diner

They are supposed to be known for their desserts, but the two cakes I ordered were extremely dry and unrefined.  I always liken these experiences to the grocery store cake, but in this case, it was worse.  It was like picked-over-two-days-old birthday cake at the office.



Next up: Celebration Restaurant 

Chocolate Layer Cake

Don't get me wrong, the food at Celebration Restaurant tastes like home cooking, but the dessert tastes like home cooking from the Easy Bake oven.  Their chocolate layer cake tastes like when I make it from a box, and the strawberry shortcake was unmemorable (sweet but you could better spend those calories on a few Twix bars).  I could have experienced the same brownie sundae taste at home with brownie mix and some Bluebell ice cream. 

Strawberry Shortcake

Brownie Sundae