Maple Avenue’s sweet treats

Sometimes you gotta venture out of your comfort zone to try new things. For a belated birthday brunch, I recently took Mr. X-sXe to Maple Avenue Restaurant in Vienna, VA—that exotic state where you can still get plastic grocery bags for free.

The dining space is tiny, probably less than 10 tables with no separate foyer/entrance area. We went for the brunch tasting menu. The food was consistently good: a gooey mac and cheese with panko, a savory mushroom crepe, cauliflower with Thai sauce and a sprinkling of scallions. But there were a few hints that the menu needed more thought.

The feast launches with a charcuterie plate—something I don’t necessarily have an appetite for first thing in the morning. Also, my stomach was hoping for some respite from the parade of heavy dishes coming out back-to-back. I craved a salad or fruit dish to cut the fat in this meat-and-dairy show. (Mind you, the set menu does change regularly.)

And now we turn to the most important part of the meal: dessert.

Yuzu-lime tart (above photo)

Wow, right? This was beautiful—its marshmallow peaks perfectly torched, blanketing the citrusy filling on a thick graham crust. Perhaps this wasn’t the chef’s intent, but anytime I see “lime” on a dessert menu, I’m hoping for some mouth-puckering action. Here the sweetness of the marshmallow fluff actually overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the yuzu-lime filling. Note: we ordered this separately from the tasting menu.

Waffles with Nutella and vanilla bean ice cream (part of the brunch tasting menu)

Sure, this elevates the waffles you’d get at the breakfast bar of a Comfort Inn. But is it good enough to warrant being on the menu of a nice restaurant? I’m leaning towards no. I was curious whether the Nutella was from the jar or made in-house. The menu didn’t elaborate on this point, but it tasted like the jar stuff (which is NOT health food, despite what the ads claim. Hence the class-action lawsuit. #onlyinAmerica).

Los angeles dessert haikus

A bit of wisdom served up on Santa Monica Pier.

We’ve been on blog break because we were eating our way through LA, trying sweets from various restaurants and bakeries. While we had some good ones (the coconut bavarois from Red Medicine is now a fond memory), most were unspectacular. We also tried one patisserie (Jin in Venice) that made us all-the-more grateful for Bethesda’s Tout de Sweet. As much as I wanted to like Jin–Asian owner, picturesque outdoor seating, tempting selection of lunch options–the goods just didn’t deliver.

A rundown of the sugar tour:

 

Red Medicine:

Coconut dessert

In a tropical ant farm

Reluctant to share

Bitter chocolate

Ruined by string of butter

Pastry chef misstep

 

Gjelina:

Famous pot de creme

JELL-O pudding on steroids

It’s salty! It’s sweet!

Strawberry rhubarb

A crisp more like a pot pie

Overly soupy

 Jin Patisserie:

Macarons and cake

A feast for the eyes, not mouth

Post-dessert remorse

Lavender-almond

Sesame-peanut cookies

Jin redeems itself?

 

Tender Greens:

Caramel cupcake

Like midget banana bread

Icing overload

 

Cake Monkey:

Two kinds of cookies

Both chocolatey sandwiches

Unmemorable

Yonanas, a gadget worth the counter space

When we first got a huge box from my mother-in-law around the holidays, I approached it with trepidation. She likes buying us kitchenware. And we’re already so short on storage space that things pop out and attack us when we open our cabinets.

Turns out it was the Yonanas machine, a phallic-looking gadget that turns frozen bananas into something akin to soft serve. Yonanas isn’t a juicer, but it’s designed specifically for creating banana magic. (Shockingly, Yonanas did not sponsor this blog post, and Michelle Obama is not the national spokeswoman.)

On Pie V. Cake we’ve extolled the virtues of Annie’s Banannies before in this review. You may have come across something similar at Chicken Out, with their Going Bananas product.  Here’s the clincher: it’s just a frozen banana, but it tastes creamy like dairy.

The other cool part is the show. Watching the machine go to work is half the fun. At first, it spits out a few shards of frozen banana. That had us worried. But by the time the second banana’s in the machine, it’s at the soft-serve-texture stage.

The cool part of having your own machine is you can add other fruit into the mix. Here we tried frozen blueberries. We’ve also done pineapple. One thing to note is that you always need plenty of bananas for your base, because you don’t get the creamy texture from the other fruits. Another tip: give your bananas plenty of time to freeze. Put them in at least a day ahead. When you want to impress dinner guests, it kind of ruins things if they have to stick around a few hours waiting for flaccid bananas to harden.

Rehoboth series, part 3 of 3: Annie’s Banannies performs magic with frozen bananas

We hit 3 places at Rehoboth Beach last weekend to get a sampling of the sweets scene: Cake Break, The Ice Cream Store, and Annie’s Banannies. In case you’re wondering, the famed Candy Kitchen was not one of these, because (1) I’ve got way too many fillings to be eating stuff like taffy (2) fudge is one of the worst bastardizations of chocolate I’ve ever encountered, and (3) the place is a madhouse swarming with kids who could spontaneously combust from sugar overload at any moment.

It’s funny how much junk you can justify eating while on vacation. The boardwalk is filled with double-fried fries, ice cream, funnel cakes, pizza, you name it. We walked past one lone frozen yogurt place. Tellingly, there wasn’t a single person in there that wasn’t an employee.

Luckily, offering healthy options isn’t a death knell for every business on the boardwalk. Annie’s Banannies, which makes vegan “soft serve” out of frozen bananas, has been there 2 years and is going strong. You can’t miss it—the store is decorated to resemble a jungle.

The product is simply frozen bananas run through a juicer; nothing more. You can get the works thrown on top, or just get it plain ($3.75 for a small).

We were transfixed watching them make these. They push the frozen banana in one end of the juicer while ever-so-slowly, it painstakingly poops out a smooth, creamy treat with the consistency of soft serve. No added sugar, no nothing. We felt like this was some well-kept secret among the Coven of the Frozen Banana Juicers.  I learned from their website that Annie’s mom was the one who introduced her to the concept. Apparently Annie had been kicking around the idea of opening Annie’s Banannies for a while:

“One night while folding laundry my dad came in and said, “Annie, you have to do it, Annie!” I thought, do what? “Do you need me to do some laundry for you, dad?” He laughed and said, “No. Banannies! You need to do Annie’s Banannies!”  I told him that I would, “one of these days.” The next day when I got home from work I found that he had passed away. It was the last thing he said to me. (He died September 26, 2006.)

Three weeks after we laid dad to rest, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. After surgery followed by a long 9 months of rehabilitation, it seemed she was getting better and was finally cancer free!

One night while watching TV together, mom looked up and said, “Annie, you have to do it Annie.” I said, “Do you need something mom? What can I get you?” She replied, “No. Banannies; you need to do Annie’s Banannies!” I promised I would as soon as she got better. It was the last thing she said to me; 18 hours later I found myself holding her hand as we took her off of life support. (She died July 6, 2007.)”

Annie has another location opening soon in Baltimore; I hope she successfully grows it into a nationwide franchise. As long as you don’t go overboard with the toppings, it’s so much healthier than the custard and ice cream places dotting the boardwalk. We even went back the morning after we’d first tried it to get another one–and to gawk at the employees making them.

Rehoboth series, part 2 of 3: The Ice Cream Store

We hit 3 places at Rehoboth Beach last weekend to get a sampling of the sweets scene: Cake Break, The Ice Cream Store, and Annie’s Banannies. In case you’re wondering, the famed Candy Kitchen was not one of these, because (1) I’ve got way too many fillings to be eating stuff like taffy (2) fudge is one of the worst bastardizations of chocolate I’ve ever encountered, and (3) the place is a madhouse swarming with kids who could spontaneously combust from sugar overload at any moment.

Much like Nicola Pizza (home of the famous Nic-o-boli), the Ice Cream Store has become a Rehoboth tradition. Our obsession is mostly based on morbid curiosity: what disgusting-sounding flavors will they come up with this time? Unfortunately, this past visit we didn’t see anything that intrigued us–if only because we’ve seen or sampled many of these flavors before.

So Mr. X-sXe went for the Samoas, based on the beloved Girl Scout Cookie. It had bits of the cookies in it, as well as a caramel ribbon. While it was good, it didn’t hold my interest (the only ice cream that does these days is a Drumstick or Magnum). However, if you’re a chocolate-caramel-coconut fan, you’ll probably tear into it.

Health department to Missourians: No more cicada ice cream for you!

Next time those pesky cicadas decide to pay us above-grounders a visit, let’s make ‘em into ice cream! Great idea, except that someone tried it in Missouri and got shut down by the health department. Apparently the flavor was like butter pecan except with cicadas, not pecans. The first (only) batch sold out quickly despite looking like this:

Image of Sparky's cicada ice cream from columbiamissourian.com

Remember when people’s pets were lapping up cicada carcasses last time they hit DC, then vets were doing overtime to surgically repair the clogged plumbing? I’m still haunted by footage of Rover’s cicada-infested innards.

Normally I’m game for trying novelty desserts. Bacon cupcakes, no biggie. Chicken ice cream, sure. But cicada ice cream—nope, not trying it. You shouldn’t put anything into your mouth that’s lived underground for that long and comes in units called swarms. Plus, have you seen the bulbous devil eyes on those things?

Loveliness via http://www.batw.net/Cicada.html

 

 

Locally sourced popsicles, popping up everwhere

Shortly after learning about the Pleasant Pops truck in DC, we stumbled on Locopops in Chapel Hill, a local chain. Its cheery storefront has taken over a former laundromat next to Great Harvest bread.

Summer always comes early to NC (like DC, spring is just a fleeting hope), so when we visited over Memorial Day it was hot as the third circle of hell. The Locopops were a great way to cool down. And guilt-free, if you opt for a no-sugar flavor like the cucumber-mint on the right.

For something sweeter, try a flavor like the Mojito (left). Like Baskin-Robbins’ daiquiri ice, it’s a refreshing cocktail-inspired flavor with no alcohol kick. (Even though I always felt like I was getting away with something when I used to order the daquiri ice in junior high.)

Potato chips, meet ice cream. Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Snack

If Ben & Jerry’s offered to make you a custom flavor, what would you put in it? Jimmy Fallon chose salted caramel and fudge-covered potato chips. While I’m down with the salty-sweet combos, the potato chip “clusters” in this taste greasy (think Lay’s, but concentrated). Mr. x-sXe begged to differ, though, and polished off half a pint in no time.

Maison Moschino’s Sweet Suite

If you’re into sweets, pizza, and fashion (and got don’t mind dropping some serious Euros on your hotel), check out the Sweet Room at Maison Moschino in Milan. The only thing missing is an edible cake-pastry-macaron spread worthy of Marie Antoinette.

Actually, I saw some pretty dodgy offerings on their sweets menu. Wasabi custard? Star anise ice cream? Sounds more like something you’d try one bite of than crave time and again. Attention, pastry chefs: exotically flavored ice creams are a copout. Is anyone else sick of the curry, 5-spice, goat’s milk, etc. ice cream accompaniments that seem to be on the menu of every nice restaurant?

Why fancy desserts can leave you high and dry

• They’re usually more of a feast for the eyes than the mouth
• The portions are “fun size”
• They always seem to come with a scoop of ice cream flavored with curry, 5 spice, or some other Iron-Chef-type flavor that’s more interesting in concept than execution

These desserts hail from CityZen, DC. Mr. X-sXe and I were big fans of the Sicilian pistachio mousse, presented cannoli-style. The cranberry sauce wasn’t something you’d think would go with pistachio, but it worked. We could’ve each put away another plate of these.

This pistachio mousse looked like Christmas on a plate.

I didn’t care as much for the chocolate tart with olive oil ice cream (it came with the tasting menu–probably not the dessert I would’ve picked, given a choice). The chocolate was too subtle; the olive-oil ice cream brought nothing to the party. I noticed the couple next to us barely touched theirs, so I’m not the only one who was underwhelmed by this dessert.

The small treats plate is to fancy joints what orange wedges/fortune cookies are to Chinese restaurants: that extra something that makes for a nice finish to a meal. Here, a chewy macaroon is flanked by a fruit jelly and Earl Grey chocolate. I’d take these over a fortune cookie any day.