chocolate souffle

[Keepitfresh]

My girlfriends birthday is coming up and all she wants is a place that has good chocolate souffle. Any suggestions?

[Bugsey34]

The most delicious and light souffle I have had is at Le Cirque. It has a classic dark chocolate flavor. Every other one I have tried feels heavy as soon as I've eaten it.

[RGR]

There are several places that serve an excellent chocolate souffle.

La Petite Auberge, on Lex, b/t 27th & 28th Sts., would be my first choice. Their souffles are served for two and must be ordered at the beginning of the meal.

http://www.lapetiteaubergeny.com

Brasserie LCB (fka La Cote Basque), on 55th St., b/t 5th & 6th Avs. and Capsouto Freres, on Washington St., serve individual souffles.

http://www.capsoutofreres.com
Menu for Brasserie LCB can be found on menupages.com.

[Melanie]

Prior to Chef Humm taking over at eleven madison park, I remember having a decadent chocolate souffle for dessert. Is it still offered/as good? (The only problem with it was that it was so rich and chocolate-laden, I was up with insomnia for 1/2 the night!)

[izzizzi]

I had the souffle there too prior to the change in chef. Did they serve yours with ice cream?

[RGR]

No, that souffle was removed from the menu after Chef Humm took over. I never ordered it, but I recall seeing it once when it was served at a table near ours. Your description of it being too super-rich is borne out by the fact that two people were sharing it, and they left half of it uneaten.

Note: Nicole Kaplan, EMP's original pastry chef who created that souffle, is now the pastry chef at Del Posto.

[Melanie]

ah...thanks for the info, RGR! However, I don't think I will be following Ms. Kaplan to Del Posto for the Souffle - it was just too intense.

izzizzi, you know, I honestly can't remember whether or not we got ours with ice cream! It was so long ago and I was completely overwhelemed by the souffle... itself.

[RGR]

If the dessert menu on Del Posto's website is up-to-date, they are not serving a souffle, chocolate or otherwise. Not too surprising since a souffle is a French dessert, and all the desserts on Del Posto's list are -- also no surprise -- Italian.

http://www.delposto.com/menu.cfm?rest...

[kobetobiko]

RGR, I actually did try the chocolate souffle at EMP after Chef Humm took over! (shamefully I had never been to EMP until Chef Humm became the head chef). It was still too rich to my liking, but I didn't think it will be too rich for people who love chocolate. It was small afterall, so I would imagine two people finishing the dessert quite easily.

The time that I had the chocolate souffle at EMP, I did leave half unfinished, only because I am not a big chocolate fan in the first place.

[RGR]

kobe, When Chef Humm first arrived, he continued with the existing menu for a while, perhaps just tweaking it a bit until he unveiled his completely new menu. That didn't happen for several months, so I'm guessing you had that souffle while much of the old menu -- at least, the dessert section -- was still being served.

We had our first dinner with Chef Humm in charge after his totally new menu was in place. That souffle was no longer on the dessert menu.

Interestingly, when we had the Gourmand menu in January, the dessert was a souffle, but it was entirely different -- smaller, more elegant, and not overly-sweet. Looking at the current Gourmand menu, I see the dessert is now a chocolate "moelleux," which is French for the ubiquitous warm chocolate cake with the soft, oozing center. It is one of the selections on the regular dessert menu.

http://www.elevenmadisonpark.com/dinn...

P.S. When I saw that old souffle on the neighboring table at EMP, it reminded me of a chocolate dessert I ordered in a well-known restaurant in France. It was of gargantuan size, and the chocolate was rich to such a sickening extreme that I could only eat two or three bites.

[kobetobiko]

Hi RGR,

Guess what? I dig up my pictures and I found the picture of the chocolate souffle that I had in EMP (back in Dec 06). I think it was the petite sized souffle that you had. It was served with caramel sauce (in the whte jar) and salted caramel ice-cream. It indeed looked more elegant, and now I recalled that the reason I felt it was too sweet was because of the caramel sauce. Nevertheless, the ice cream was DELICIOUS! I will try to post the picture if I figure out how....

[kobetobiko]

Picture attached here!

[RGR]

That description sound very much like the souffle we had. Maybe it was on the dessert menu after Chef Humm refurbished the menu. But we all had tasting dinners, so we had the desserts that automatically came with them and didn't look at the regular dessert menu. Btw, the tasting dinners at that time were 6 courses + endless amuses + other little extras at the incredible bargain price of $78. My husband labeled it "The Let's Get Acquainted with Chef Daniel Humm Offer." lol

Edited to add: The picture isn't there.

[kobetobiko]

Yes, I tried to attached the picture but it didn't work. After some research on the Technical Help board, apparently this problem (unable to post pictures) has been going on for a few days. I guess I will have to wait until they fix the problem, but I will definitely post the picture then.

[RGR]

Hmmm... Funny that there's a little icon with "Attach Photo" at the bottom of the box as I type this, and it doesn't work. Not that it matters to me since one of the things I have yet to master is loading and posting photos. But I do appreciate your effort in digging out the photo. I look forward to seeing it once the glitch is fixed.

[kobetobiko]

Let's try the picture again....

[RGR]

Nice photo, kobe. The glass used for ours was opaque and much thinner, but same concept.

[downtownstefanie]

We just had a fantastic one at Fig & Olive in meatpacking a few weeks ago.

[tbear]

La Grenoullie.

[Lucia]

La Petite Auberge and La Grenouille.