Dessert tomorrow night in Berkeley/Oakland

[robertwells]

okay folks, taking the wife out for dinner tomorrow night somewhere in berkeley/oakland. Im not a big dessert fan, but my wife is. Who's got the best desserts currently out of places we like and have been to in the past? Such as, Dopo, chez panisse, pizzaiola, rivoli, lalime's, a cote, oliveto...I'd like her to be wowed.

Actually, funny story...we had a very good dinner awhile back at Pizzaiola (spelling?), however, my wife's selection for dessert was this peach melba type thing with ice cream, and it was blistering hot. within seconds, the entire dessert was reduced to a swamp. My wife's review: "This is bull----".

thanks,

bob

[MollyGee]

I'm another vote for Chez Panisse. I've never been to Dopo and it's been years since I've been to Oliveto, but you absolutely can't go wrong w/ dessert at Chez Panisse. I went to the cafe for lunch recently and the person I was w/ ordered the fruit. I rolled my eyes: OH, come ON, you can get this at the farmers market... But it came out looking like a still life painting and was just superb - the best of the crop. Every time I get a dessert at Chez Panisse I am so blown away and swear that there can be no better ice cream, tart, custard, cookie, whatever it is on the planet.

I love dessert, too.

And, ooops, you've already had your dinner and dessert, haven't you?

[robertwells]

thanks all...we ended up at eccolo as my wife wanted to check out a couple of shops on 4th street. uninspired dinner, but an inspired dessert...a chocolate cake with caramel that almost threw me into a diabetic frenzy!

bob

[lacerise]

i had a totally uninspired dinner last week as well. and my friend insisted on dessert so we requested the caramel you speak of on top of vanilla ice cream. i was as disappointed in the caramel as i was with the rest of the dinner. maybe the chocolate cake helped.

[Morton the Mousse]

IMO, CP Cafe does the best desserts in town, Pizzaiolo, Oliveto & A Cote all do great stuff as well. Surprised you didn't like the peach melba at Pizzaiolo, it's one of my favorites.

[zunzie]

I'm a huge fan of the bread pudding at Cesar, but you have to be a bread pudding person.

[Robert Lauriston]

My wife was raving about that the other night.

[milklady]

I'd think you can't go wrong with Chez Panisse desserts.

[robertwells]

thanks...anyone else????

[ML8000]

If it's a b-day, might be worth calling ahead and asking if something specific/special can be prepared...or just letting them know it's a b-day and something special would greatly be appreciated.

[Robert Lauriston]

Pizzaiolo hired a pastry chef a few months ago. Peach melba might have been back in the Bakesale Betty's + Ici era.

[Spatlese]

Nah, I think I had the same dessert he's describing, and this was within the past month or so - definitely during the current stone-fruit season. As I recall, it was an oven-roasted nectarine, along with a scoop of a pistachio-brittle ice cream and a crunchy thing of some sort. I rather enjoyed it, but yeah, the shallow dish it came in was emanating waves of heat from the oven it had evidently just been taken out of - the ice cream didn't stand a chance!