Food review: Maverick donut holes

Restaurant: Maverick (San Francisco)
Food description: Five doughnuts dusted with cinnamon and sugar
Food rating: 5 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

After just eating at Maverick for dinner, I remembered someone telling me their brunch was rumored to be great, so I made a second trip to scope it out. As I walked up, I noticed a 7x7 award for "Best Brunch" in the window, which typically is a good sign, not to mention the exiting restaurantgoers raving about how awesome it was. I perused the menu and, after resisting donuts all week after a workout marathon, I finally caved and ordered the donut holes. Now that my expectations had been all built up, I was assuming they'd be amazing, but sadly, that was not the case. I was expected an airy, light-and-fluffy donut that was delicately dusted with powered sugar. What I got was a heavy, doughy, 1/4 inch-of-granulated-sugar-coated donut hole--well actually...five of them! They were so dense that they were scalding hot in the center, so I burnt my fingers pulling it apart! Ouchie! I had to brush off a good portion of the sugar before they could be in edible form. There was also too much cinnamon for me (I'm not a huge fan). So the donuts ended up being a total upset and wasn't a very good start to brunch...

Food review: Butterscotch pudding

Restaurant: Acme Chophouse (San Francisco)
Food description: Butterscotch pudding topped with whipped cream and candied macadamia nuts, served with blonde brownies
Food rating: 8 out of 10
Times ordered: 2

This is the only desert I've had at Acme so far, and pretty much the only dessert I need to have. Normally when I see/hear/read anything regarding butterscotch, I avoid it like the plague, but thanks to a rec from my outstanding server Charles, I went out on a limb and went for it--been hooked ever since. The "butterscotch" part was actually more like a creamy caramel flavor similar to a crème brulée without the egg or the crunch. Though rather sweet, it was still light enough to polish off with no trouble. To help with the sweetness, it's served with two blonde brownies and some candied macadamia nuts. The nuts helped and added a little crunch, but I didn't care much for the brownies. They were a little dry, but also tasted slightly old/frozen/refrigerator funky. Whatever the case, they were easy enough to not eat. So overall, this dessert made for a great alternative to my usual dark chocolate addictions and just as satisfying. And if you're like me and put off by the though of butterscotch, don't be. I assure you it resembles nothing of those disgusting yellow-orange hard candies from your childhood.

Food review: Vacherin

Restaurant: Coco500 (San Francisco)
Food description: Coffee gelato with swiss meringue, candied almonds, and chocolate sauce atop a crisp wafer
Food rating: 6 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

It's funny because this dish was the opposite of all the other dishes in terms of portion size. It was gigantic, even though desserts are supposed to be small. Coco500 has their portions all backwards and upside down. Needless to say, I had to split this with a friend, which is always great because if you don't like it, you just eat slower than the other person until they've unconsciously eaten most of it. Such was the case with the sickenly-sweet vacherin. The culprit was the massive pool of chocolate sauce drowning the gelato. There was so much of it and given how sweet it was, less would've more in this case. I'm just not a person who derives pleasure from being all jacked up on sugar and caffeine, so I prefer quality over quantity when it comes to desserts. Speaking of quality, the coffee gelato wasn't really that great compared to other gelato I've had. The coffee flavor wasn't pronounced enough and the texture was solid-as-a-rock, where I prefer gelato that's much softer and easier to eat. The swiss meringue got completely lost and wasn't really necessary. The candied almonds were delicious as long as they weren't drenched in too much chocolate sauce, and worked well with the coffee flavor. The gelato was on top of a little white wafer, which I didn't like the texture of at all. I guess it was meant to mimic a wafer cone, but It was too crumby, almost dusty, plus the almonds contributed enough texture to eliminate the need for this element. After eating about 1/4 of this dessert, it was really only a matter of time before it started to make me sick of it. The part that I did eat was good, you've just gotta be careful or you'll overdose on sugar.

Food review: Chocolate strawberry shortcake

Restaurant: Luella (San Francisco)
Food description: Chocolate shortcake with strawberries, creme anglaise, and balsamic red wine sauce
Food rating: 6 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

As a general rule I am not a fan of strawberry shortcake but I was intrigued by the balsamic red wine sauce and my other companions wanted to order this, so I said what the hey, let's do it. The reason I don't really like strawberry shortcake is I think the shortcake part is really hard to do well without making it dry and sadly this one lived up (or should I say down) to my expectations. The shortcake was quite dry and I think the fact that it was a chocolate shortcake exacerbated the problem as the raw cocoa powder taste made the shortcake seem even drier. The strawberries were really delicious, especially with the balsamic red wine sauce. I am a huge fan of really good balsamic vinegar on strawberries with a dash of freshly ground pepper (try it, you will love it) and this sauce added that certain depth of flavor that balsamic vinegar can really bring out in strawberries. The creme anglaise was a light and delicious counterpoint to the strawberries and red wine sauce. If only the shortcake had been a little more moist then this dessert would have been sublime.

Food review: Niagara cake

Restaurant: Max's (San Francisco)
Food description: Chocolate cake layered with chocolate fudge and buttercream
Food rating: 7 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'm ashamed to admit how much I enjoyed this cake even though it was really nothing special. I admit I can be a bit of a food snob and I prefer only the finest chocolates such as Valrhona or Guittard to cook with but dang this cake was good. It had a very comfort food appeal to it for me. The chocolate was rich and moist and the fudge added the perfect touches of richness. The buttercream was uhh buttery and creamy (sorry, I'm too enamored of the cake to be inspired.) All those layers together made me a very happy girl. This is the kind of cake I imagine grandmothers to make lovingly one afternoon while I play in they yard. Over the whole thing was a chocolate sauce that tasted suspiciously like Hershey's syrup but it just made the cake that much more nostalgic. Even though this cake was absolutely no frills it was simple and good which I'd rather have than all frills and no taste.

Food review: Pot de crème

Restaurant: Absinthe (San Francisco)
Food description: Scharffen Berger chocolate pot de crème with crème Chantilly
Food rating: 9 out of 10
Times ordered: 1

I'll describe this dish in two words or less: positively addictive. I've been fantasizing about having this dish over and over again, and with Absinthe just a block away, I'll be lucky if I dont' end up in rehab or Jenny Craig. Even if you hate chocolate (though I can't imagine such a person), you won't after trying this pot de crème. It's made from Scharffen Berger chocolate--for those of you who aren't familiar with the name--it's the granddaddy of American dark chocolate and was the key ingredient to this dish's success. The consistency of the pot de crème was thick and smooth, less thick than a chocolate mousse cake, but thick enough so that if you stuck your spoon all the way in and lifted, the entire dish would be picked up. The high density of the chocolate made each spoonful extremely rich and decadent and was almost too much, even for 2 people (of course we ate it all though). The Scharffen Berger chocolate used in this dish was the real deal, not your everyday wannabe Ghirardelli chocolate. It was bittersweet and probably at least 70% cacao (translation: high quality, very dark, more bitter than sweet), with a deep roasted flavor similar to coffee, and would thus accompany coffee perfectly.

Though I thought the crème Chantilly and shaved dark chocolate topping gave it a nice presentation, I sort of dug around those elements with my spoon, so as not to taint the perfection of the chocolate beneath. I tasted the shaved chocolate alone, and it wasn't the same chocolate flavor used in the pot de crème itself, and not nearly as good. The crème Chantilly was good by itself, but I didn't want anything messing with the pureness of the rich dark chocolate. I'm sensitive to desserts that are overwhelmingly sweet, and this dish delivered exactly what I look for in good dessert: high quality ingredients that can stand on their own without relying on sugar to make them good. I won't dock points for this, but the presentation was slightly lacking. If you'll notice in the picture, the dish was served on a piece of triangular paper. Perplexed, I unfolded the paper and realized it was a piece of an old menu folded in half. Did they run out of doilies or something? Nevertheless, after taking one bite, they could serve it on a Post-It note for all I care. It was some of the best dessert I've had in a while. Indulge yourself!