Citizen dessert

Scott and I spend our Wednesday night’s watching Top Chef on Bravo together. It’s Iron Chef meets Project Runway, and takes place in San Francisco. I like watching it to see where the contestants go shopping and see what San Francisco iconic chefs are their special guests. The episode on two weeks ago featured Elizabeth Falkner, executive chef from Citizen Cake, and Madame S (we also saw Scott’s friend Jonathan, the same man who I had very readily allowed to molest me at Aunt Charlie’s, looking very cute in the episode). So, when it was up to me to decide where to have an after dinner dessert, Citizen Cake was where I wanted to be.

We ordered the rocky road concoction and the rose petal crème brulee with saffron cookies. The rocky road dish was Citizen’s Cake interpretation of rocky road ice cream. It was a little round mound of warm chocolate cake, a glass of marshmallow soufflé with a chocolate sauce bottom, a scoop of walnut ice cream sitting on a Chinese spoon, and chocolate covered nuts and cookie crumbs sprinkled on the plate that held everything together. We were supposed to get a little bit of each thing in one bite, which was a little bit of a challenge as the cake would slide off into the marshmallow cream. When I was finally able to work it out, it was fabulous. The cake dense, rich, warmth, was offset by the airy lightness of the marshmallow cream and the sleek coolness of the walnut ice cream. The nuts and cookie crumbs added a nice bit of crunch. Each ingredient was good on its own, but together they were incredible.

The rose petal crème brulee was also fabulous. The caramelized sugar top was hard and cracked beautifully with the hit of my spoon. Inside, the custard was creamy and smooth, with a touch of rose essence. And, on the side, two little rectangles of saffron cookies sat. They were flakey and buttery like shortbread, and was a magnificent spoon for the custard. Delicious.