Some people assume that “escaping adulthood” requires a complete departure from grown-up tastes and sophistication. Hardly.
Let’s be honest; we may have enjoyed the delicacies produced by our Easy-Bake oven or our Snoopy Sno-Cone machine, but it wasn’t like we had free range of Mom’s oven or blender. I’m not advocating a return to a barbaric and unrefined lifestyle. I’m just not a big fan of boorish adult pretension. I think it’s really cool when people find ways to add a dash of childlike spirit into the ostentatious havens of Adultville.
Like gourmet cooking.
In high-class restaurants around the country, the dessert menu is getting a childlike face lift. A recent article found on TheLedger.com rounds up some interesting creations:
In Los Angeles, order S’mores at trendy Luna Park restaurant and the waiter presents a plate of freshly baked graham crackers and two fondue pots, one filled with melted premium chocolate and the other with handcrafted marshmallows.
The Peninsula in New York serves Campari Gelee, a distant cousin of Jell-O. Nebraska Cattle Company in Omaha makes s’more tortes and milk shakes that demand a designated driver.
“I think it’s the desire for sophistication and for old-fashioned comfort food,” said Brian Stapleton, executive chef at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Carolina Crossroads Restaurant there makes graham cracker crusts from homemade graham crackers.
“Desserts are the ultimate comfort food,” Stapleton said. “They are what we remember from childhood.”
Comforting memories of chocolate milk and cookies turn into elegant German Chocolate-Meringue pie with Oreo crumb crust. A shot or two of espresso or liquor makes a childhood-favorite milkshake or sundae very adult.
Every refashioned kids’ dessert Stapleton puts on the menu is an instant hit, he said. His kitchen has re-created a couple of his childhood favorites — Ding Dongs and Ho-Hos.
Instant hits. So not only can you maintain some sophistication when you escape adulthood, you can even be profitable, too.