Last Course Legwork
Plate by plate, it's the biggest players in Seattle's dessert scene.
To uncover the seven iconic desserts Seattle couldn’t survive without, our sweet-toothed sugar squad dug into scores of scrumptious samples—scouring local eateries for the very best in all that’s frosted, frozen, and chocolate-coated. Warning: their rich, gooey findings are guaranteed to make mouths water and stomachs rumble.
Chocolate Madeleines with Dark Chocolate Sauce
Johnathan Sundstrom, Lark
Lark owner and Chef Johnathan Sundstrom makes each batch of his majorly moist mini cookies to order—guests receive 30, alongside a decadent dipping sauce. Anyone who has dredged one of his deep, dark minis through the drippy ganache will agree: The cocoa-flavored cuties are the only way to end a meal at Sundstrom’s seasonally focused Cap Hill eatery.
Secret Ingredient A pinch of salt in the sauce adds a note of savory to this sweet.
Bananas Foster
Bananas Foster puts the “dram” in dramatic at El Gaucho, the showiest restaurant in town. Rum, then crème de banane are splashed on tableside to lick up flames around the fruit, then mellowed by butter and brown sugar. Finally, a crown of vanilla ice cream. And a sigh.
Secret Ingredient Lemon juice.
Amaretto Bread Pudding
Susan Kaplan, Boat Street Café
A custardy confection is studded with golden raisins, its crags and valleys suffused with Amaretto, then dressed with rum butter cream sauce. Café founder Susan Kaplan stumbled on the formula by accident, when she didn’t have the ingredients for Amaretto mousse.
Secret Ingredient Plain old crusty French bread. (Tasting it, you’d swear it was brioche.)
Published: March 2009
