The Top 2 Restaurants With the Best Chocolate Desserts, According to Chocolatiers
Chocolate makes everything better, but some restaurants take their desserts to the next level. Wowing chocolate lovers is no easy feat, but a couple of spots are leaving a lasting impression and showcasing their creativity, technique and serious baking skills. To find the restaurants that offer the best chocolate desserts, Eat This, Not That! turned to the experts–top-tier chocolatiers. Here are the two spots they say are worth splurging on.
Red Lobster
You know a chain is doing something right when culinary pros and top chocolatiers take notice. While Red Lobster has had its share of money troubles and had to close several locations, the seafood chain is making a big comeback and food experts are raving about it, including Christian Paul Headley, Chocolatier & Founder of Christian Paul Chocolatier.
“The first time I tried this dessert was with my family, I was about 7 or 8 years old and my parents ordered the chocolate wave cake for me,” he explains. “I remember the server bringing out this huge piece of chocolate cake layered with chocolate icing and covered in mini chocolate chips. It was rich, decadent and fluffy all at the same time.”
Alinea
Famous for its immersive, artful approach to dining, Alinea is a favorite of Chef Norman Love, founder of Norman Love Confections.
“Alinea creates a whole plated dessert directly on the table–there’s a visual uniqueness to watching the chefs create a dessert right in front of you,” he says. Chef Norman adds, “They use various types of textures and components like liquid nitrogen, melted chocolate, caramel, and custards. It’s a genuinely unique dessert experience.”
It’s All About the Chocolate Flavor
When the chocolate flavor hits just right, everything else follows, and according to Christian Paul, the depth of the chocolate flavor can make or break a dessert.
“You don’t want an overly dark/bitter chocolate dessert as well as a chocolate dessert lacking chocolate flavor,” he says. “You want a healthy medium that gets you a chocolate flavor that’s deep and also not super heavy.”
Balance and Texture are Key
Another important factor in a good chocolate dessert is balance and texture.
“It needs to be well-balanced between salty and sweet, with enough salt to help accentuate flavors and reduce sweetness,” says Chef Norman. “It will also have many different textures and temperatures: something frozen like a sorbet, a delicate and buttery sablé, a component that melts as you eat it. It’s about layering and balancing textures properly to create enough contrast to keep each bite exciting.”
Visually Appealing
And finally, to have a stand out chocolate dessert, it has to be visually stunning.
“We Americans especially, love to eat with our eyes,” says Chef Norman. “So, it needs to have some type of visual artistry.” He adds, “It needs to look appetizing, interesting, and artistically expressed.”