The dessert tray
When we ate at Pizzazz Tuscan Grille a couple of weeks ago, I was impressed by the pastry tray, which had 14 desserts on it.
I'm sorry I don't have a photo of it; the one in the picture was taken at Sanders' Corner. It looks pretty good, too.
We got to talking about what was the proper number of desserts for a pastry tray. ...
The eight desserts pictured look like the right amount. When we ate at the Hill, we were presented with a tray that had only three desserts on it, and that seemed skimpy. In that case, it's better if the server just tells the table what's available.
Something a restaurant should worry about when it offers a dessert tray is the overall effect. The desserts have to seem balanced, and they all have to look good as well as taste good. Much as I love a fine bread pudding, for instance, if your specialty is bread pudding I wouldn't bother having a dessert tray -- even if the bread pudding is better than all the rest of the choices. Visually it's a tough sell.
I wonder what makes a restaurant decide to have a dessert tray. Are customers that much more likely to buy when they see what's available? I guess so. Do they sell that last piece of chocolate cake even though it's been sitting on the tray all day, or do they remove it from the tray when it's the last one?
No, wait. Don't answer that.
My impression is that dessert trays are a dying breed. But one of my favorite restaurant memories (when I had more of a sweet tooth than I do now) was walking past the Tio Pepe dessert cart on the way to my table. It always held at least three long roll cakes as well as several other magnificent choices. Because of my fleeting glimpse of it, I thought about what I'd have for dessert all through my meal.
(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)
Comments
One time, one of my sisters reached up and plucked one of the desserts off the tray. Suddenly unbalanced, the tray tipped over and the rest of the desserts spilled all over the place. It was pretty funny. Doh!
Posted by: Sam Sessa | September 10, 2009 8:15 AM
My suggestion to restaurateurs is to lighten up their dessert offerings for the summer. Warm desserts like bread pudding, crème brûlée and chocolate molten cake need to have lighter offerings like sorbet, melons, berries. I look at the summer dessert menus and nothing heavy appeals to me. Think strawberries and ice cream with balsamic vinegar or Pernod and black pepper.
Dessert Tray: Dessert cart - Recently back from a dinner with many chefs at Le Bec Fin who offer a dessert cart and we were allowed to get as many desserts as we wanted. One can take a look at my September 7 post on the blog. The photograph is just one tier of the cart.
Posted by: Dara (Dining Dish) Bunjon | September 10, 2009 8:31 AM
"My suggestion to restaurateurs is to lighten up their dessert offerings for the summer. "
try the raspberry kiss at vaccaro's in little italy. it's a large helping of lemon ice with chambord. after a big lil italy dinner, we usually don't want something too heavy and will share one with an espresso. a perfect summertime desert.
Posted by: unbelievaboh | September 10, 2009 9:05 AM
We were at a local restaurant and their dessert presentation was a bit on the skimpy side. They included such dessert favourites as a chocolate croissant and a cheese danish. I am sure that someone thought they needed to fill in their selections, but it looked pathetic.
Posted by: pigtown | September 10, 2009 10:04 AM
I spent my formative years waiting tables on the side - and my advice about the dessert tray is this - ONLY ORDER WHAT IS POPULAR B/C THE OTHER SELECTIONS WALLOW IN THE COOLER FOR AGES.
Unless you are sure fo the freshness of the selections. Too many selections is not a good thing.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 10, 2009 11:37 AM