When serving dessert course, chefs find less is more

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 12, 2001 by Pamela Parseghian

Smart pastry chefs know how to respond to guests who say they are too full for dessert. They offer smaller portions.

"People would rather have a couple bites of something that is flavorful and interesting instead of wanting a big hunk of chocolate cake," says award-winning pastry chef Gale Gand of Tru in Chicago. She recently compiled a book of 125 tiny dessert recipes.

"You only need one or two bites, and you are satisfied," admits Gand, who has witnessed a trend toward smaller sweets simmer within the last few years. That mini movement may be a result of the economy or a desire for diners to cut back on their caloric intake.

The now common dessert samplings or compositions that often are shared frequently come with a smaller price to match. Gand calls her small portions "demi" desserts, and they have become so popular that she says guests come in and ask to skip the savories and go straight for the sweet stuff. As a result of t the demand, Tru now offers a five-course, $25 dessert tasting menu available after 9 p.m. in the main dining room And all evening in the bar.

For guests seeking guidance in the beverage department Gand thoughtfully p airs her small confections with dessert wines or coffee flights. For example, lightly roasted coffee may be teamed up with a citrus item, while a medium roast could accompany custards and spicy apple desserts. She suggests pouring a dark-roasted, full-flavored, coffee with chocolate creations, such as her tarragon-flavored truffles.

Tru also offers a selection of petits fours on a large cart on wheels, a modern floating version on the classic Viennese table. One of Gand's recent minis was a root beer float served in a shot glass with house-made vanilla ice cream. Her house-made crackerjacks, which she says originally were manufactured in Chicago and therefore are a regional specialty, include dried cherries and peanuts.

"There is a childlike quality" to many of the desserts at Tru. "I just have a thing for tiny," the petite pastry chef says.

Chef Bruno Menard -- see profile on page 48 -- also offers a dessert cart of miniatures at The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta. He fills the shelves with updated creations, such as tiny dark chocolate pot de creme with sesame butter filling, fancy lollipops and lemon verbena creme. From the cart, customers can pick mini classics, including creme brulee, almond sable or coffee meringues.

The "cutest little thing at Kapalua" is printed on the dessert menu at Kapalua Hotel on Maui in Hawaii. For $4 guests receive Tahitian vanilla ice-cream balls rolled in diced toasted macadamia nuts and served with a chocolate cookie and fruit salsa consisting of diced pineapple, red bell peppers, honey, lime juice and a sprinkling of sliced fresh basil leaves.

Patrick Coston, pastry chef of the fashionable new Ilo restaurant in New York, offers guests a full range of dessert portions from a quarter pound of hand-made luxury chocolates to an eight-component citrus dish for two.

His chocolates, which come in 31 flavors and were listed recently as one of the "100 great things about restaurants" by Gourmet magazine, are priced at $18 per quarter pound and are also available in various sizes for takeout. Ilo's $22 citrus tasting includes lemon mousse layer cake with mandarin sorbet on top; blood orange grainte in a small covered soup terrine that is unveiled tableside; lemon buttermilk panna cotta; warm liquid center orange cake, warm lemon marscarpone and tapioca tart; frozen vanilla-lime parfait; a classic lemon bar and orange frappe, a blended mixture of orange sorbet and yogurt served in a shot glass.

"This is a concentration of one thing," says Coston, who plans an apple or chocolate concentration in the future. "In the past I've done sampler plates. I think this is nicer. You get a wide spectrum."

If the large number of items that sold is any indication, guests agree. "It is not a lot of work" for his staff of five at the 100-seat restaurant, Coston says. But, he admits, "It is heavy on production."

Coston creates the complex dessert because "it gives a wide variety and it shows what I am capable of doing." He also has offered creme brulee tastings, such as four teas: Earl Grey, jasmine, chai and mint. Each is served with crunchy meringue kisses flavored with the corresponding ground tea powder.

Also in New York, at Aureole, chef Gerry Hayden offers creme brulee "en parade," $10, this fall with vanilla, jasmine and cappuccino flavors. And for a wider variety Hayden scoops up a tasting of six sorbets and frozen custards, $8.50.

Downtown at Aureole's sister restaurant, Alva, also owned by Charlie Palmer, chef Scott Romano assembles a dessert sampler of his desserts, $11, such as the parfait de jour, lemon grass and coconut panna cotta, toasted almond bread pudding with caramel ice cream, caramelized fig tart with pomegranate and Calvados-honey sauce.

In Minneapolis at the new Vincent a Restaurant, chef Vincent Francoual says customers "love" the "three cream sampler" of a tiny creme caramel, creme brulee and chocolate pot de creme because "they get a taste of everything." In the same city Dish restaurant serves "American-fusion" cuisine with such items as a chocolate bento box sampler.