For those of us who consider pie (and ice cream) the perfect
breakfast, dessert is more than just the end of the meal. It is celebration, it is the best reason to
linger, it is the ultimate fireworks to the sit-down portion of the evening.
Thankfully, many Kansas City restaurants agree. They make the grand effort to satisfy the
sweet desires of their patrons, whether they outsource, leave it to the chef
and kitchen to create, or have a professional pastry chef at the helm.
Some restaurants recognize the time and creativity involved
in presenting a great dessert and decide to simply leave the work to someone
else. Sometimes they tell you this;
sometimes not. But what most do is to
find the very best dessert that reflects who they are and what their customers
want. And if, apparently, it’s the
Costco double chocolate cake that people want, I’m not telling you where that
was.
Waldo Pizza, a place you might not think about for desserts,
has many, there because of owner Phil Bourne’s love of them. Their menu proudly proclaims they serve Ted
Drewe’s custard (in keeping with his St. Louis roots) and notes their tiramisu
is imported from Italy, their cupcakes are from Babycakes, and their white
chocolate cheesecake is made locally by Phil’s Italian barber’s wife. They also make their own.
Some people have created such a special dessert that
restaurants are eager to serve it and thus contract specifically for that one item. Such is Jude’s rum cake, known for its
consistent high quality and local ingredients.
The business is owned by catering entrepreneur (Belly Up BBQ) Craig
Adcock who came up with the cake because his clients wanted a dessert. It is served at restaurants such as JJ’s,
Tannin, West Side Local, the Farmhouse, and others in and out of town as well –
some 35 and counting. His mother-in-law,
whose recipe serves as the base, would be proud.
The second way restaurants do desserts is that someone in house,
often the chef, creates them and then they are made either by the chef or by
one or two individuals on the staff.
This is probably the most common.
Ophelia’s in Independence, Café Provence in Prairie Village, Room 39, Hollywood
Casino and many others rely on their chefs’ mastery of dessert art. Joseph Jackson at Affäre does both
traditional and seasonal desserts and his painted desserts at your table are
well worth foregoing your diet.
A slightly different approach is personified by Liz Miller
at Pierpont’s who has been “extremely lucky” as she puts it. She started out as
a server and bartender, helped prep and liked it (and did) so well that she
started working on desserts. Now she’s
in charge of them under the guidance of the executive chef, Matt Barnes. Her goal is simple – the complete and total
expertise as demanded of a premier dessert chef.
That is the culminating step: the pastry chef. That designation can be achieved through both
schooling and practice. Chef Patrick Parmentier, program director at L’École
Culinaire, points out that programs like his, Johnson County Community College,
and the Art Institutes offer a specialty and various degrees in pastry (and
desserts). Every dessert chef, he says,
must know the basics of the kitchen and management of a restaurant if s/he is
to be successful. And more women than men are pastry chefs, he adds – the
reverse, still, of head chefs.
The pastry chefs in town all exemplify a true breadth of
expertise. Adding a pastry chef to one’s
retail kitchen is a substantial commitment of space, expense, and devotion to
the philosophical concept of the importance of dessert. The 801 Restaurants exemplify that commitment
– all their restaurants have its own pastry chef and each member of the 801
Group (Chophouses, Fish, and Pig and
Finch) serves different desserts. At Bluestem and now Rye, Megan Garrelts has
vastly affected the local as well as the national dessert scene with her and
husband Colby’s cookbook, eponymously named bluestem,
the cookbook.
The American Restaurant’s famed pastry chef and now James
Beard nominee, Nick Wesemann, mentions that what is best about being a pastry
chef is the creativity involved – taking raw ingredients like sugar, flour,
butter and devising something that is special. He also touts the independence, pace, and
setting one’s own standards and then meeting them in a fine restaurant. He likens the job, somewhat, to a scientist’s
– one must know ingredients, chemical reactions, formulas – but he is able to
tinker until it is simply perfect. Pastry chef Joseph Jackson at Affäre agrees with Nick, whom
he credits with a great part of his educational training. It was there, too, he became more familiar
with molecular gastronomy, a style of cooking which relies on scientific
principles for its innovation. He and
colleague Clinton Smith were watching “A Matter of Taste,” a documentary about Paul
Liebrandt and something they saw fired (literally) them up – and thus, the
famous painted dessert you can order for two to forty at the downtown Affäre.
Several chefs mentioned that (too) many people skip desserts,
due to calories, expense, being full, or a misbegotten sense of
superiority. (Well, they didn’t say that
last part, I did.) Perhaps one should forego that last couple bites of the beef
bourguignon or the extra slice of bread and instead, truly satisfy the palate,
sparkling the end of the evening with a fabulous dessert.
A Few Signature - Don’t Miss These Desserts
Gaslight Grill – Any seasonal cobbler
McCormicks and Schmick's – Chocolate Bag
Melting Pot – Chocolate fondue
Jack Stack - Carrot Cake
Pierpont’s – Chocolate mousse w/dark chocolate coffee
ganache
Rye – Any pie
Waldo Pizza – St. Louis gooey butter cake
Go International
Bo Lings –Crèmes Caramel and Brule
Drunken Fish – Strawberry Cheesecake Makimono
Nara – Tempura fried ice cream
Saki – Tropical Lover (tempura fried bananas)
Thai Place – Sticky mango rice
Tatsu's - Grand Marnier Soufflé
Grunauer - Viennese Apple Strudel
Le Fou Frog - Créme Brulée
Piropos - Flan de Vainilla
Can you recognize the desserts from the pictures? Tell us!
Six local chefs have teamed up with the Sunrise Project
to hold a dinner at the Lied Center on May 12th. The Sunrise Project aims to connect
the community with local and healthy food options. They have many projects
working with children to instill the value of healthy eating. The ultimate goal
is to build a thriving, self-sustaining community that works together to
construct a better environment for future generations. Maybe someday down the
road our children's school lunches will consist of locally sourced food. Sorry
for rambling, here are the stars of the dinner:
