Downtown Dining

Dessert is the final swan song, the last lovely thing to mark the end. Because this is my final post, the blogging version of clearing the table, it’s only fitting to pay homage to the dessert. Ordinarily, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. For my Valentine’s Day present two years ago, I was given the choice between really good cheese and really good chocolate. I chose cheese. For me, a happy upshot of the DD experience has been the opportunity to try so many great desserts that I never would have ordered on my own. (If given a choice, I would probably take two appetizers instead, but I’m glad now I wasn’t given a choice.) Umami Moto’s chocolate bread pudding with praline ice cream was so good we devoured it before I even remembered to take a photo. The pistachio gelato at Zarletti was a subtle creamy happy place, and Sake Tumi’s tempura fried ice cream put my skepticism of battered desserts to rest. Oh, let’s not forget those Red Accordion cheesecake lollipops. I see them in my dreams. For my last DD meal, I made sure the dessert was homemade, from a style of cuisine that even gave us the word (desservir: to serve), the French.

At Coquette Café I started with bubbles (Champagne cocktail with bitters and simple syrup), then went halve-sies with a friend on their Field Greens with Dijon vinaigrette and savory Watermelon Gazpacho, and happily tucked into the Coq Au Vin and Bacon Wrapped Strauss Veal Meatloaf. When we finished, it

was time for dessert worthy of its place as the finale. All of Coquette’s desserts are “built from the ground up, from scratch,” my server tells me. The Oeufs A La Neige are described on the menu as meringue snow eggs with caramel sauce, which turns out to be a soft meringue formed into the shape of an egg, covered in crème anglaise (English cream) and homemade salty caramel sauce, and topped with a crunchy toffee croquette. The meringue had the light but dense texture of a textbook French macaroon, with the salty flavor of caramel and fun toffee crunch. Yum. The homemade chocolate mousse, freshly whipped with dark and milk chocolate, and finished with a dab of homemade whipped cream, was piped into a pot de crème that we unabashedly licked clean. Mmm … chocolate, the perfect end to a night.

So, even though today is the last day of DD 2010, don’t worry that all the fun is over. If you still want a little DD dessert, there’s plenty of dining out follow-ups in the weeks to come. The Knick will be participating in One Heartland’s Dining Out for Life where 25 percent of proceeds from your meal will benefit their summer camp program for children affected by HIV (June 17). Chef Owner Chris Hatleli tells me that Coquette will offer an encore three-course meal deal throughout Summerfest (June 24-July 4). And ever-tongue-in-cheek Club Charlie’s, aka the “gay-friendliest straight bar” will host the Cream City Foundation’s After Glow party for the fundraising fete they’ve dubbed, “My Best Friend is Straight!” (July 29).

Looks like it’s going to be a sweet, sweet summer.