Desserts at One Market Restaurant in San Francisco often explore various flavor aspects of a star ingredient, according to Patti Dellamonica-Bauler, pastry chef of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group dining spot.
“It’s about taking things that relate to an ingredient and finding different ways to present them and reinforce the theme,” says Dellamonica-Bauler. “We play a lot with seasonal ingredients here, so usually I lead with the fruit and go from there.”
Take her Peach Dumpling, a plating of puff pastry-wrapped peach, peach frozen yogurt blackberry thyme “jam,” gingered bourbon mascarpone and pecans. “We have the icy peach yogurt, the warm peach dumpling, a little chew from the candied ginger and the bourbon cream,” says Dellamonica-Bauler.
A dessert with a variety of facets “eats better,” Dellamonica-Bauler says. “Your mouth doesn’t get tired when you are eating it. There are all sorts of little things that change—flavor and texture and crunch. Your mouth is constantly being bombarded by little sensations.”
Dessert flavor pairings get even more topical and creative on One Market’s Weekly Beast menu, a nose-to-tail feast centered on a whole pig, goat, lamb or salmon. For example, when goat is the featured critter, Dellamonica-Bauler may carry on the theme with goat chevre cheesecake, goat cheese ice cream or flavored yogurt blended with goat cheese.
“It brings a bit of a cheese-course feel to the ending of the meal,” says Dellamonica-Bauler. “Things that have more savory edge or tang balance the sweeter parts of the plate.”
Menu Sampler: One Market Restaurant
“Mini” Desserts 5.75 each, Mini Platter (3 choices) 15.00
- Corn Brown Butter Cake, Sebastopol blackberries, sweet corn ice cream
- Blueberry Ricotta Cheesecake, organic blueberries, graham crumbs, lime cream
- Duo of Crème Brûlée, vanilla bean & espresso, tiny cookies
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