Cheese cart or dessert cart: you can only have one.

[Veggo]

This mouse will save a little room for the cheese. (Guess what I'm doing now!)

[NellyNel]

I LOVE cheese, LOVE it, and I don't have much of a sweet tooth. During the course of the day - I will choose cheese as a snack over something sweet nine times out of ten.

However, after eating a lovely meal which is probably mostly savory food, I will always choose to have something sweet. I feel it tops off the meal nicely.

When I lived in the UK, we would have cheese AFTER dessert.

(Yeah, I gained allot of weight living there!)

[lilgi]

Dessert, please.

[jujuthomas]

Dessert, since I'm not a huge fan of cheese. :)

[gingershelley]

I would take the cheese cart, especially since you said 'cart' not tray. This takes me back to the 3 macaron resto's my BF and I have visited in France and spain... the cheese selections are so lovely, and many I cannot get in Seattle (too perishable, or hard to find handled properly).
Plus, I can count on after the cheese cart, I can at least look forward to Mignardises:)! Tiny desserts that come without ordering - so I get both! Yeah!

[Miss Needle]

I'm really surprised by the overwhelming majority for cheese. Almost every place I know carries dessert. My vote is still for dessert (even though I'm losing my sweet tooth as I'm getting older). I really don't like to go through the trouble of making or keeping dessert at home. It's easy for me to go to the store and pick up some great cheeses. And I like ending my meal on a sweet note.

[racer x]

I feel the same, Miss Needle. Depending on where you live, it's easy to go buy some amazing cheeses and have them at home whenever you like. Not so with some of the finer desserts.

[alliegator]

Cheese! I just very cheesy :D

[DuchessNukem]

Cheese for meeees.

My savory fang always trumps my sweet tooth.

[INDIANRIVERFL]

Depends. On a first date or in a diner, home made pie.

Upscale coat and tie with a friend, always the cheese.

[thew]

i almost never have the cheese cart. i love cheese, but thats not the situation i like it in. so dessert...

[BobB]

Tough call. I'd have to say cheese most of the time, but dessert if they're really good and not too big. My local bistro offers a few cheeses but also tiny (2 - 3 bite) desserts for $3, so sometimes I'll get both.

[kerosundae]

uninteresting cheese or uninteresting dessert:
DESSERT.

mid-level cheese or dessert:
CHEESE

amazing cheese or amazing dessert:
DESSERT

[kubasd]

Hmmmm..... let me think..... Oh wait, silly me! CHEESE

[Rick]

Dessert for me, not even close. I'm surprised by how many are responding with the cheese cart yet I can't remember the last time I've been offered cheese after dinner in a restaurant.

[Harters]

You're not in Europe then, Rick? :-)

I can't recall the last time cheese wasnt offered amongst the desserts or as a separate course ("ethnic" places excepted, of course) - although it is rare to see a trolley.

[mariacarmen]

most nicer restaurants offer a cheese selection, at least in SF.

i will only have dessert if with my girlfriends who all love sweets. then i'll share what they order.

[Rick]

Nope, not in Europe! I will say that when we were in Ireland earlier this year we had some fantastic cheeses! We made a lunch of bread, cheese, and olives more than once!

[Kelli2006]

Cheese. It isn't even a question.

I cant remember the last time that I ordered dessert in a restaurant,mostly because I don't have a sweet tooth right after a savory course and very few places bake their own products any more.

[azveggieguy]

whichever one has the cheesecake

[montrealeater]

cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, CHEESE!

[Veggo]

Score so far: 21 cheese, 5 dessert, 3 undecided. I didn't expect it would be such a cheese rout. Could be a type 2 statistical sampling error. Fun nevertheless.

[racer x]

Tis surprising.

Wonder why such a breakdown.
Is it that those here who are saying cheese do not like desserts much in general?
Or just that the desserts they usually encounter on dessert carts are boring or are not desserts that they like?
Or that they are starved for good cheeses?
Or is it that they just love cheese that much?

[montrealeater]

I love dessert, but nothing touches my cheeseaholism. If the cheese was crap and the dessert looked great, I'd go for the dessert. And no sharing, people who try to share my dessert get stabbed with a fork.

[chowser]

Dessert. Though, as I get older, I'm losing my sweet tooth and preferring savory so asked me in a couple of years. Cheesecake--best of both worlds?

[meatn3]

9 times out of 10 I'd go with cheese. If I ever worked in a cheese shop I would become large enough for yet another horrid reality series of excesses...

Plus, I am usually completely happy with a small nibble from my dining companions dessert - taken strictly to be able to report fully about the experience on CH!

[linguafood]

easy. cheese for me, dessert for my man. then we share.

[lcool]

a last minute choice

assuming the selection and condition are equal CHEESE

[FoodFuser]

This dilemma is answered with absolute ease.
Postprandial delight derives best from good cheese.

At photo time, you'll never hear the phrase "Say dessert!"
What brings the best smile is when we all holler "Cheese!!!"

[Veggo]

As the OP of this quandary, I shouldn't waffle
and my penchant for souflee is awful.
But the camemberts and bries
pass my gullet with such ease
I regret that others find it barfel.

[FoodFuser]

We cheesers must be careful that we never never castigate
those desserters who drool for their cart, and its chocolate.

I prefer casein, aged and pressed deep in caves
but I give room to souffle-ers and their sweet laden faves.

I keep mind that the planer that I use to shave cheese
can also be used to give good curls of chocolate.

[NellyNel]

God, you are adorable!

[rorycat]

Definitely cheese, but I second what Harters said.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be invited to a fabulous and memorable meal at L'Espalier, where I had the opportunity to have both. I'd be hard pressed to choose between the two if ever I have the opportunity to return to that lovely restaurant.

[magiesmom]

cheese if the choices are good and it is well handled.

[Delucacheesemonger]

As my handle would imply, cheese.

[ultimatepotato]

Cheese.

[Peg]

Cheese 99.99% of the time, but on rare occasions something looks/sounds good enough to risk ending on a sweet note.

[Gio]

Formaggio per me per favore.

[Harters]

Depends.

If it is a trolley in a place that seems as though it knows how to keep cheese properly, then cheese it is. Unfortunately, too few places (at least, outside of France) keep cheese at a proper state of ripeness and condition. Assuming you're not eating right at the beginning (when it might still be over chilled), you can often get a good look when it's served to othe diners and make a decision.

I'm not big on desserts so will happily leave them out even if not faced with the selection challenge of the OP.

[TheHuntress]

Dessert for me because I don't like cheese. Yes, I know, infathomable to most, but I just don't like it.

[mariacarmen]

cheese cheese cheese, no contest whatsoever.

[babette feasts]

If I have reason to believe dessert is going to be fantastic, then dessert. If dessert seems uninspired, then cheese.

[ipsedixit]

Dessert.

I'd as soon munch on cheese as I would snort lines of rat poison.

[pikawicca]

Whoa, that's harsh. Did someone shove cheese down your throat in your youth? (You sound like my son who would die before eating cheese -- or any dairy, for that matter.)

[ipsedixit]

Aside from pizza, and maybe one or two other exceptions, I just don't like cheese.

Not on burgers.
Not on fries.
Not on sandwiches.
Not on pasta.
Not on anything really, except pizza.

[roundfigure]

Cheese, please.

[jlhinwa]

Cheese.

[Veggo]

6 to 2, cheese, with one abstention.

[Veggo]

Score so far is 5-2- 1 cheese. Go, mice!

[wadejay26]

Cheese and a glass of port is dessert! Yum!

[three of us]

Agree!

[pikawicca]

The only time I did both (at a 3 star in France) I almost died, so I'll stick to cheese, while DH goes for dessert. (For what it's worth, these "chariots" seem to be going the way of the dodo in France. Too bad.)

[racer x]

Must. Have. Dessert.

(You can always arrange for something cheesy with the appetizer or the main course, if necessary. Can't do that with the desserts.)

[chefathome]

Great question! Cheese for me as well absolutely.

[Billy33]

Cheese for me.

[betsydiver]

cheese, thank you

[babette feasts]

That's not fair.

[sherriberry]

For me, dessert cart. I don't eat a lot of sweets, but after a nice dinner, I enjoy a litle bit of sweet.

[AnneMarieDear]

Cheese, absolutely.

[acgold7]

To me they're synonymous. Cheese cart for me.