42878 Tue Jan 17 17:06:35 -0800 2006 33 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 208674 Hi, I'm in the process of making a reservation for a special dinner in SF, and I want to make sure that wherever we choose has great desserts, rather than being a place where desserts are kind of an afterthought and not a focus. Any opinions on an upscale restaurant in SF that has great desserts? I'm thinking along the lines of Zuni, Delfina, Range, etc. Thanks! Tue Jan 17 17:06:35 -0800 2006 0 anonymous 1 208675 Aziza has great desserts. The challenge is to make it to the dessert course without being stuffed. I don't like the desserts at Boulevard. I think they're way, way, way too sweet. aziza-sf.com Tue Jan 17 17:12:25 -0800 2006 208674 0 Morton the Mousse 2 208677 Gary Danko is a possibility Roy's can be a bargain if you like the very popular dark chocolate "molten cake/souffle" desserts. Delfina and Range are so so for desserts in my opinion. Tue Jan 17 17:17:14 -0800 2006 208675 0 Cary 3 208681 Roy's in SF by far has the WORST chocolate souffle out of all the Roy's that I have been to (which isn't really saying much about that branch since I don't like that dessert . One of the better chocolate cake desserts around the Bay Area would be Oliveto. Their bittersweet choco cake is done very well. Tue Jan 17 17:25:16 -0800 2006 208677 0 Mike Lee 4 208684 Olvieto's desserts are to my taste the best around. But it's in Oakland. Farallon's executive pastry chef is Emily Luchetti (formerly of Stars), one of the best in the business. Link: http://www.farallonrestaurant.com/menus_recipes/dessertmenu.html Tue Jan 17 17:29:50 -0800 2006 208681 0 Robert Lauriston 5 208738 Sorry but Emily's desserts are boring. She is a very engaging person with lots of praise(see the Beard website) However her desserts are more Betty Crocker than not. They lack creativity. They lack any flavor other than sweet. They are BORING. No offense to Emily but(in my opinion)she's been mailing it in for years. L Wed Jan 18 00:36:12 -0800 2006 208684 0 lance 6 208796 One person's boring is another's subtle and delicious. We have a lot of dessert/baking cookbooks and Stars Desserts is overall the best. Wed Jan 18 12:35:41 -0800 2006 208738 0 Robert Lauriston 7 208811 I don't disagree w/your opinion. But STARS was 20 years ago. & not much has changed at FAROLLON. L Wed Jan 18 13:42:35 -0800 2006 208796 0 lance 8 208842 You say that like it's a bad thing. Wed Jan 18 16:34:48 -0800 2006 208811 0 Robert Lauriston 9 208877 I don't know if 'bad' is quite the word to use. I think of restaurants(not cooking at home)especially fine dining places like Farallon, with W. Allen's reference in 'Annie Hall': they're like a shark. They have to keep moving forward or they die. & far too many restaurants get comfortable & fall asleep, so to speak. & that's fine if you're in the taqueria price point. But, I expect more from chef's that continually appear in the J. Beard nominations. However maybe it's me. Maybe I expect more than I should from Beard award winners. But I'd venture a guess there are others who'd agree w/me. Any takers? L Wed Jan 18 19:13:50 -0800 2006 208842 0 lance 10 208892 I'll take this on, like a fool! I think you're both right: Emily is a bit boring (but not her fault) and she is very good (at what she does). Yes, chefs are supposed to keep swimming, but so are musicians and actors and painters. Some artists evolve, and others refine their one-hit wonder. Some diners and art lovers want constant change, and others want comfortable predictability. I like both,but at different times, and choose my dining according to my mood and desires, and try to judge food and chef on each its/her/his own merits. I only get upset when I pay $200 for a $50 value meal, like at CP or FL. Wed Jan 18 21:16:16 -0800 2006 208877 0 Claudette 11 208962 well said. L Thu Jan 19 13:04:14 -0800 2006 208892 0 lance 11 208995 The French Laundry is $210 including service charge. The most expensive meal downstairs at Chez Panisse is Fridays and Saturdays, when it's $85 for four courses (just went up $10 this week), with the 17% service charge that's $100. We went last Friday for a birthday celebration and it was a glorious meal. Having a different bottle of wine for each course drove up the tab but it still cost considerably less than FL's base price: - olives; prosecco-citrus apéritif - grilled Cannard Farm leeks with egg and black truffles; 2003 René Muré pinot blanc "Tradition" - Bronze turkey and chanterelle mushroom ravioli in brodo; 2002 Guillemot Savigny les Beaune Serpentieres - Line-caught striped bass, sea scallops, and steelhead trout in red wine sauce with pancetta and glazed onions; black flat cabbage [i.e. tatsoi] and Yellow Finn potatoes; 1999 J.L. Chave St.-Joseph (estate) - Baba au rhum with Valencia oranges; 2003 Durban Muscat-de-Beaumes-de-Venise If there's a restaurant in the area where you can get a meal like that for $50, I'd like to know about it. Thu Jan 19 15:10:53 -0800 2006 208892 0 Robert Lauriston 10 208898 I think there are a lot of people in here who would agree with you. Places like Aqua, Boulevard, and Hawthorne Lane have there detractors for not innovating, while others think they are are consistently excellent. Plenty of folks who once loved Slanted Door, now don't return for what is arguably very similar food. Wed Jan 18 21:45:48 -0800 2006 208877 0 Chris Rising 11 209005 I loved Slanted Door when it was on Valencia Street because it was good Vietnamese food with a great wine list at reasonable prices in a nice space. The food's about the same and the wine list has gotten better, but prices have gone up and the new space is grim and noisy. I'm happy to go there for business lunches but wouldn't choose it myself. Thu Jan 19 16:03:40 -0800 2006 208898 0 Robert Lauriston 5 208909 I completely agree with Robert on both these assessments. It's interesting how difficult it is to do desserts well. Chez Panisse has great summer offerings- again East Bay. I seldom find anything in the city I want to go back for. Wed Jan 18 23:08:16 -0800 2006 208684 0 Oakland Barb 4 208688 People can be split on how they like their chocolate "souffles". More "souffle" like, or more "cake" like, or very "molten" like. I just mentioned Roy's because it is very popular for their food and dessert. (prix fixe is $30 for 3 courses, which isn't bad) Personally I like the classic souffle but not many places do a good one. Tue Jan 17 17:58:03 -0800 2006 208681 0 Cary 5 208700 Sorry, my barometer for saying Roy's in SF is horrible is based on visiting Roy's in SF, Roy's in Woodland Hills, Roy's in Los Angeles, and Roy's in New York. I wasn't stating whether people would like their Souffles prepared flourless or cakey but merely a reflection of the said dessert at all its chains that I visited. I have been twice for lunch at the SF location and both times left disappointed in comparison to other Roy's. Tue Jan 17 19:09:18 -0800 2006 208688 0 Mike Lee 5 208709 Cafe Jacqueline makes great souffles. Tue Jan 17 20:48:46 -0800 2006 208688 0 Foodrat 6 208797 No entrees or desserts other than souffles, though. Wed Jan 18 12:43:47 -0800 2006 208709 0 Robert Lauriston 2 208712 Is Janet Rikala still with Aziza? IMHO, she's the best in town... Tue Jan 17 20:56:08 -0800 2006 208675 0 ron c 1 208678 Rubicon has excellent desserts, specially if you do not like things too sweet. The pastry chef there is without question brilliant. Tue Jan 17 17:19:57 -0800 2006 208674 0 Amy G 2 208735 I cannot 2nd this opinion with enough emphasis. I have tasted desserts from James Beard award winners & nominees & rate Nicole Krasinski with or better than all of them. She is wonderfully creative, blending flavors & ingredients that are rarely if ever found on any menu in any city. This woman's desserts are a true culinary treasure. Most often you will have to pause to evaluate just what it is you're eating. Because she is so inventive some will say this isn't dessert. Perhaps chef K is reinventing the genre. In her own way she is more Ferran Adria' than anything this country has produced. If you haven't tried desserts at Rubicon, turn off your computer & run straight to the restaurant(Rubicon)on Sacramento near Montgomery. No one & I mean NO ONE comes close to what Nicloe Krasinski does at Rubicon! L Wed Jan 18 00:29:00 -0800 2006 208678 0 Lance 3 208798 Interesting. Can't beat Rubicon's wine list, either. Link: http://www.sfrubicon.com/desserts.html Wed Jan 18 12:45:47 -0800 2006 208735 0 Robert Lauriston 2 208743 Another vote for Rubicon's desserts! Definitely the most creative palette of flavors among the restaurants I've tried. (And by creative, I don't mean weird or funky.) Yes, I'd go to Rubicon just because of the desserts. Wed Jan 18 01:18:01 -0800 2006 208678 0 Pia 1 208711 I love Town Hall's desserts which, I feel is pretty close comparably your examples of upscale. Gary Danko is not comparable to Range and Delfina. Town Hall has a chocolate and butterscotch pot de creme that makes my mouth water thinking about it, and a house made s'more that layers a graham cracker crust, fresh made marshmallow, ice cream, chocolate sauce, and caramel. It is fairly outrageous and comes with a menu warning that it is not appropriate for one person. Tue Jan 17 20:54:20 -0800 2006 208674 0 Chris Rising 1 208726 I love the dessert platter (bite size of several desserts plus some cookies and candies) @ Jardiniere. Would even go back and have dessert at the bar w/ a nice glass of wine or coffee. Tue Jan 17 23:09:01 -0800 2006 208674 0 anna 1 208748 winterland. The most creative dessert I had by far. Chocolate pie with a lavender sauce Curried banana Caramelized brioche with olive oil ice cream and that's the one I got, but there were many more I did not get to sample that looked amazing. Wed Jan 18 01:45:34 -0800 2006 208674 0 cedichou 2 208800 Oh yeah, the desserts were great there. Like everything else I tasted. Especially the pork belly. Wed Jan 18 12:47:18 -0800 2006 208748 0 Robert Lauriston 3 208856 the pork belly with praline foam *was* dessert. Wed Jan 18 17:35:21 -0800 2006 208800 0 cedichou 2 208821 I'd have to disagree about Winterland - when i went, although the meal was superb, our desserts were overpriced and bland. they came out on rectangular plates, with a little dab of all the different components sitting seperate from one another. For my $9, i got about 4 tablespoons of actual product. Although i forgot the specifics of the dish (since it was about 5 months ago), i remember it was fig themed - and not very sweet, and left me wanting more, not just because i really wanted a great dessert - but because i'd paid so much for it. Wed Jan 18 14:18:05 -0800 2006 208748 0 bea 1 208768 If very simple desserts done well are your desire,Zuni does quite well....I had a caramel pot de creme a few months ago there that blew me away. Wed Jan 18 05:28:14 -0800 2006 208674 0 M.K. 1 208781 Danko has at best mediocre desserts, their focus is not desserts. Range has great desserts (I favor anything with the cobbler crumb, galette, he has a great way with bread/crusty desserts) including the souffle, pistachio waffle, etc...They change the desserts alot though, so they might not have the ones you have seen mentioned. Delfina's Panna Cotta could have its own website IMO, but I have found the other desserts to be greatly lacking except for the crostata which I worship as well. Mina has a great peanut-butter dessert. Aziza's desserts are better than they were when they didn't have a pastry chef, I will leave it at that as I know the former pastry chef. Wed Jan 18 11:37:56 -0800 2006 208674 0 bandit 1 208782 Danko has at best mediocre desserts, their focus is not desserts. Range has great desserts (I favor anything with the cobbler crumb, galette, he has a great way with bread/crusty desserts) including the souffle, pistachio waffle, etc...They change the desserts alot though, so they might not have the ones you have seen mentioned. Delfina's Panna Cotta could have its own website IMO, but I have found the other desserts to be greatly lacking except for the crostata which I worship as well. Mina has a great peanut-butter dessert. Aziza's desserts are better than they were when they didn't have a pastry chef, I will leave it at that as I know the former pastry chef. Wed Jan 18 11:39:11 -0800 2006 208674 0 bandit