I love dessert! I love it so much I would marry it.
Friends and family are well aware of my fervent baking endeavors. While my ambition in my own kitchen varies, I remain in awe of those with the savvy to create towering cakes and pâtisserie without breaking a sweat. Such a dedication to sweet foods has resulted in a deep appreciation for desserts that I am not yet skilled enough to produce but have had the privilege of enjoying at some of New York’s best restaurants.
The restaurants that qualified making this list have such incredible dessert programs and, apart from the savory stuff, have placed themselves among my very favorite meals in New York. Desserts, baked goods, and pastries are not just about tasting good or having extravagant presentation. It’s about the impeccable execution of the afterthought of a meal. It’s about getting customers excited about a secondary, smaller menu that comes when you’re already so full you’ve loosened your belt.
This week’s newsletter is a two-parter—that’s how serious I am. The following list includes desserts in Brooklyn that are worth saving room for. You’ll get a second edition with the Manhattan list next week!
Before we get going, I would like to thank the pastry chefs that have made these desserts happen—you are so unbelievably good at what you do and I envy your talent.
*As always, the location under each restaurant is linked to Google Maps for easy bookmarking!*
Place des Fêtes
This is one that will, without a shadow of a doubt, reappear on this newsletter at least three more times. In due time, PDF, as it’s known by its fans, will receive a writeup full of adoration in acknowledgement of all of its special qualities. For now, dessert! only! Place des Fêtes is a cozy, candle-lit respite in Clinton Hill—even in its chic interior and among its noticeably cool patrons, it is impossible not to feel comfortable here. The wine bar was opened by the team behind Oxalis about two years ago, and has made quite a splash since. Written up in The New Yorker, Eater, The Infatuation, etc. it is clear that something special is happening at 212 Greene Ave. It isn’t just the white brick walls, the beautiful ceramic plates, or the perfectly squat, customized wine glasses that make PDF special, it is the environment and service that make you want to linger at your table for as long as possible.
My first meal at PDF was an important one—after an extensive dinner that induced a lot of wow’s, we were offered an irresistible dessert menu. I’ll spell it out for you— choux craquelin with chocolate and miso caramel. A fist-sized chocolate choux with the most perfectly crisp, sugary top cut in half with some sort of whipped chocolate and miso caramel sandwiched between. Insane! It brought me to the astonishing realization that there were few restaurants where I was so stunned by the dessert that it seemed to cause the rest of the menu to fall away. I was genuinely shocked by how good this dessert was. I have gone back for it many times and I ask for it every time I go, even if its not on the menu, just in case they’re hiding one in the kitchen.
I have been equally blown away by other PDF desserts, notably a financier with smoked date and pawpaw (which our waiter explained was a mix between a mango and a banana) and a summer strawberry choux filled with jasmine cream and a Harry’s Berries strawberry syrup situation. Most recently, Hallie and I went to PDF on Christmas Eve for a feast of the seven fishes. The final fish was a plate of two fish-shaped madeleine cakes that were so good we ordered a second round of (which, at a set menu affair, isn’t exactly a normal thing to do).
I adore this place but the main takeaway is, whatever you do, don’t skip dessert.
*Reservations open four weeks out—plan ahead for a weekend reservation!*
Gage & Tollner
Not only did I have to beg my family to have my birthday dinner here, I also had to finesse a reservation for 6 a month in advance. It wasn’t the New York Strip I was after, or even the ever-romanticized old school steakhouse vibe New Yorkers seem to love so much. I just HAD to have Caroline Schiff’s creations to celebrate my birthday—it was all I wanted. I have been following Schiff for quite a while, unclear on exactly when and where I first came across her famed Baked Alaska. She has one of my very favorite Instagram accounts to follow. More than the fashion influencers and the puppy videos that troll my explore page, Schiff’s creations are truly all I ever want to look at. In all honesty, she was the draw. Call me a fangirl, I can handle it.
There is something about Gage & Tollner that makes you feel important as soon as you step into the restaurant. Tucked into a corner in Downtown Brooklyn, there is an air of class, formality, and prestige that emanates throughout the restaurant and finds you at every point of the meal. From enormous steaks and cold oysters to PERFECT parker house rolls and classic martinis—Gage & Tollner is well suited for a special occasion. None of this extravagance dies down as your meal progresses and, given my intro, I am sure you can deduce just how important I felt when the time for a birthday dessert (or four) finally rolled around.
We ordered the coconut layer cake with lime curd, cashew-pink peppercorn brittle and morello cherry, a fluffy and perfectly delicate slice of cake garnished with flower petals, a special Baba au Rhum flambeed table side, a malted milk and dark chocolate torte with espresso créme anglaise and salted caramel, and the star of the show… a Baked Alaska with layers of fresh mint, dark chocolate, and amarena cherry ice cream atop a chocolate cookie crunch bottom layer, topped with torched meringue. The Baked Alaska was everything I hoped it would be and more, the ice cream cake’s cool, classy older sister and a true treat. It felt special, and important, and could not have been more delicious. I’ll be back for the Baked Alaska, at the very least.
A special note for the weekend pastry boxes the Gage & Tollner pastry team is rolling out!! These were incredible and I can’t wait to go back and try more.
*Reservations open four weeks out!*
Bar Bête
Last but certainly not least, we have Bar Bête. Due to its location semi-deep into Cobble Hill, I don’t think Bar Bête gets all the accolades it deserves. While I know the Instagram foodies have certainly caught wind of the French spot, I can’t overstate how good my meals here have been. As mentioned with Place des Fêtes, Bar Bete will absolutely get a dinner-focused feature on the newsletter in due time. For now, I need to talk about the dessert.
One of my more distinguished qualities has to be how painfully type-A I am, and somehow that primarily manifests in needing to check menus several times before I actually visit a restaurant, especially the dessert menu. Maybe I like planning ahead, or maybe it is just to bolster the excitement prior to the meal. In any case, there are few instances where my excitement for a reservation or meal as a whole was so egregiously overshadowed by my excitement for a dessert. All I needed to see was “yellow cake, dark chocolate frosting, sea salt” to know my fate was pre-destined. I mean, for a sophisticated French menu with wagyu and poached trout, seeing something so obviously simple and irresistible to just about any palate is exciting.
I don’t love yellow cake with chocolate frosting so much that I would travel far-and-wide to order it at a restaurant. My general philosophy is also typically to be less excited about desserts I could, in theory, replicate at home. All this is to say, knowing this spot had two dessert options, one of them being a seemingly simple cake, made it clear how much they believed in that dessert. Bar Bête is right to—sometimes simple decadence is all we want at the end of the meal. No pretentious pastry or overly complicated flavor profile. Just yellow cake and chocolate frosting. The lightest, fluffiest yellow cake I have ever had with a layer of rich dark chocolate frosting that nearly topples over—its density not able to be withstood by the delicate cake it sits on. Like any chocolatey dessert, it is made that much better with a sprinkle of Maldon salt to finish it off.
My last visit to Bar Bête was in December with my mom and sister. Not only did we finish a slice of the cake after our meal, we did in fact order a second slice to bring home which we ate over the next 48 hours. I have to thank whatever Weiss/Rich genes made me so comfortable ordering a second round of dessert but I am proud of that quality. If you know what’s good for you (or good for your happiness, if not your heart health) go get this cake and grab an extra slice for the road.
*Reservations open four weeks out, but usually don’t require too much planning ahead to secure!*
This newsletter also gets two honorable mentions because picking three was hard.
The Four Horsemen for their sticky toffee pudding, pavlova, and literally anything else they make, ever.
Ha’s Dac Biet, a pop-up I’ll visit at every opportunity. These meals are perfect every time but they get a super special shoutout for the peanut and coconut ice cream sundae and the strawberry and rhubarb jam pie swimming in cold custard they were serving this summer at Rolo’s.
FINALLY! My top three spots I am wanting to go to this week :)
Sailor (hopefully will be there before the end of the month yay!)
XO thanks for reading and stay tuned for more desserts in Manhattan!
"It’s about the impeccable execution of the afterthought of a meal. It’s about getting customers excited about a secondary, smaller menu that comes when you’re already so full you’ve loosened your belt"
I really love this because I've never thought about the dessert menu as an entity existing on its own, a secondary menu. I feel like a lot of people don't even stop to consider getting dessert, maybe because they loaded up on main dishes, or it's too expensive, or they don't see the point. But what I love even more about this week's edition is the idea that the best thing on a menu could be a dessert, which so many diners just ignore!!! Like look at your pics.. they don't even know!!!!!