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Vol.14 Sweet on San Francisco: The Pastry Scene
March 2007
StarChefs is back from three weeks of tastings in San Francisco
with a lot to share. While chefs have taken to streamlining their
dish descriptions on menus, the focus in the city remains on high
quality, seasonal ingredients. We arrived right in the middle of
that winter-spring lull, when a tiny black hole in the Bay Area’s
universe of produce occurs and early asparagus makes its uncontested
debut. Fruit and vegetable options may have been limited but chefs
stunned us with their versatility, especially the pastry chefs.
From green and black olives, chilies, fennel, sesame and Epoisse
to the more classic flavors of lavender, pine nuts and caramel,
San Francisco’s desserts are evolving on many levels –
from ingredient to technique.
At Quince,
Julie Cookenboo refines her classic repertoire with dishes like
warm almond Pithiviers but creates a flavor-profile reminiscent
of a refreshing classic cocktail with a fruit salad of Prosecco
gelee and citrus fruit segments and gelees. Another well-established
pastry team, Chad Robertson and Liz Pruitt, take the concept of
Tartine even farther with Bar
Tartine, whose dessert menu is a series of beautifully
composed, unpretentious dishes with palate-pleasing flavor combinations
like rose-geranium and rhubarb, chocolate and pistachio, or meyer
lemon with lavender-caramel.
We’ve said it before: San Francisco is not the place for
adventurous diners seeking edible thrills…or is it? At The
Fifth Floor Leena Hung uses finely chopped olives to create
a briny counterpart to a sweet lemon chiffon cake and mellow olive
ice cream. The dish is drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with
tiny meringues for a sweet and savory crunch. In Leena’s chocolate
dessert, she boldly infuses Thai chilies into a free-standing rectangle
of crème brulée and layers it with chocolate filo
and chocolate brownie for a variety of crisp textures. The heat
from the chilies is intense, but a cold dulce de leche ice cream
tempers it out. At Brick, Matt Tinder enthusiastically
brings the technique and ingredients from his years in the savory
kitchen to pastry, where he experiments with crisp candied pancetta
and sage in a bowl of spiced Kabocha squash puree reminiscent of
egg nog. Matt’s passion fruit-chevre cake plays on all the
notes of a savory dish: sour, herbaceous, floral, and nutty.
Nicole Krasinski at Rubicon
creates a series of unexpected desserts that use salt to expertly
bring out subtle flavors. Her savory flavor combinations are daring,
like walnut and Pecorino cheese, but always work. We visited with
Rising Star Pastry Chef Boris Portnoy who’s settled nicely
at Campton
Place. Boris also creates sweet and savory composed cheese
courses that match Epoisse with vanilla ice cream and argon oil.
Boris’ desserts are as playful and interesting as ever. His
ramp licorice salad with ramp sorbet and tiny pearls of raspberry
jelly is cloaked in a see-through tarragon-flavored veil that has
a slight bite to it. The tasty effect is simultaneously mouth-puckering
and tongue-numbing, not to mention visually stunning. At Citizen
Cake, Elizabeth Falkner’s pastry landmark, her high-concept
desserts can only be compared to her equally fun savory dishes like
Bloody Mary gel with fizzing wasabi Zoztz. The Black Island, pictured
in the gallery, shocks and delights with its alien orb appearance
and gentle, savory flavors.
At only 21, Alison Roman of Frisson
has the vision, technique and precision of a pastry chef who’s
been in the industry far longer. Her desserts combine fresh and
cooked seasonal ingredients, and play with textures in whimsical,
spontaneous presentations. Michelle Polzin’s classic profiteroles
and chocolate soufflé at Range put a little twist
on classics by adding a surprising flavor or texture, and are consistently
pretty and well-executed. Ryan West at XYZ
fills black pepper crepes with Meyer lemon curd, preserved lemon,
and artichoke ice-cream that tastes mildly green but transplants
the vegetal flavors into a successful dessert context. His Cara
Cara orange push-up pop was one of the most exciting sweet-savory
desserts in the city, garnished with black olive caramel, a shaved
fennel and orange salad, and a glass of orange soda with tiny cubes
of black olive gelee. The savory flavor combination and range in
textures from gelee to push pop makes for an incredibly bold but
completely successful dish.
At Gary
Danko Belinda Leong transforms familiar flavor profiles
like Ants on a Log to a whimsical, but clean and elegant composed
dessert. Her layered chocolate mousse bar with concentrated raisin
puree and pale green celery gelee recreates the childhood snack
while adding depth and elegance. Jessica Sullivan feeds the inner
child in a heartier way at Boulevard with desserts like
her Toffee Caramel, Date Sticky Toffee Cake, Warm Toffee Sauce,
Caramel Ice Cream, Lace Tuile Cookie, Caramel Mousse with Flourless
Chocolate Cake – a nostalgic and decadent story of toffee
that can only be described as…yummy!
Be sure to stay tuned for our San Francisco Rising Stars announcement
coming soon and more on notable savory chefs shaping the scene.
Cheers!
Antoinette Bruno
Editor-in-Chief
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