The Washington Post: Tom Sietsema looks into his mailbag

The Washington Post

Food critic Tom Sietsema looks into his mailbag

By Tom Sietsema, Published: January 19

A periodic peek at the Post food critic’s e-mail, voice mail and inbox.

“Why are restaurants that are so inventive with every other course so reluctant to offer anything interesting at dessert time?” asks Randall Reade. The Washington reader thinks “there is virtually no variety” when it comes to the last course of the meal, which inevitably includes the “usual suspects”: flourless chocolate cake, creme brulee, ice cream or sorbet, apple crumble (or a variation), bread pudding and cheesecake.

Reade has a point. Restaurants dishing up safe dessert selections outnumber the more innovative establishments, such as the Tabard Inn in Dupont Circle, which last month featured chocolate chestnut dacquoise, pear-ginger layer cake and pumpkin-brandy pudding. Pastry chef Huw Griffiths, who changes the inn’s selection weekly, says variety is sometimes curtailed by fear of waste and economic considerations. Unlike, say, leftover meat, most desserts can’t be repurposed, which means pastry chefs have to create confections that “go off the shelf,” he explains. Tried-and-true desserts also tend to be profitable: A creme brulee that costs the kitchen $2 or $3 can be sold for as much as $9 at dinner.

“It takes a lot of hands to make complicated desserts,” says Tiffany MacIsaac, who oversees the bread and dessert programs at the Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s eight restaurants and two bakeries. “It’s a huge luxury to afford a pastry chef” and high-quality ingredients such as designer chocolate. Depending on the venue, sweets makers in the Washington market can earn between $40,000 and $75,000 annually — further reason some restaurant owners look to their sous or line cooks to whip up desserts rather than hire a specialist. My feeling is, dessert is a restaurant’s last chance to wow its customers. Why wouldn’t it take advantage of the opportunity?

P.S. to Reade: MacIsaac was upset to hear your complaint. She’d like to introduce you to her handiwork at Birch & Barley in Logan Circle.