AlwaysInvestigating: Trifle-Spotting

The Gluttoness — November 04, 2009

Left to right, The Standard Grill’s ‘Deal Closer,’ Yerba Buena Perry’s Tres Leches Parfait and Gansevoort 69’s Banana Cream Pie.

During my fall tour of new restaurants, I’ve noticed three desserts that use the trifle composition to reinvigorate familiar dishes. You may recall one, The Deal Closer. It was recently a Featured Dessert.

The Standard Grill’s (view), “The Deal Closer” ($12.00) is fun to eat just because you get to do it with a spatula. Putting that aside, this ginormous dessert actually features trifle-like layers of bittersweet chocolate mousse and moist chocolate cake.

Yerba Buena Perry’s (view) three-layered Tres Leches Parfait ($9.00) features traditional Tres Leches Cake at the bottom of the glass topped with Pisco Panna Cotta and a slightly spiced Mexican chocolate mousse. Tres leches is fantastic alone, but even better topped with two complementary, sinful sweets.

Gansevoort 69 (view) also re-imagines a classic with a trifle composition: Banana Cream Pie ($10.00) built for two. A fudge brownie serves as the “black bottom crust” and a gooey coating of chocolate ganache makes for additional decadence. The rest is true-blue banana cream pie—thick banana pastry cream and bananas, topped with whipped cream that spills over the edges of the ceramic dish.

Featured Dessert: The Standard Grill Closes The Deal

The Gluttoness — September 23, 2009

The Deal Closer (for two—-or twelve).

When Mom used to bake when you were growing up, there was nothing better than licking the spatula clean. The Standard Grill’s (restaurant page) double-portioned dessert, The Deal Closer, plays off this childhood nostalgia—colorful Le Creuset spatulas included. Maybe the executive chef, Dan Silverman was particularly fond of pudding pie remnants because The Deal Closer’s heaping helping of bittersweet chocolate mousse and whipped cream is definitely reminiscent of this old-fashioned sweet.

Amongst the never-ending pool of luscious mousse, moist layers of chocolate cake created a trifle-like composition. It wasn’t long before the spatulas were digging towards the bottom, fighting for the bits of brownie. A mountain of schlag adorned the already over-the-top dish. It was dusted with chocolate shavings that instantly got interspersed amongst the creamy madness— hidden shards of velvety goodness. Digging in, you can’t avoid the sensuality of consumption, the exorbitance of the messy experience and the utter satisfaction that follows. This dessert lives up to its title. It may be a gimmick, but it’s just as good as if Mom made it.