Dessert for Dirt Candy

Those of you who read this blog (or know me in real life) know that a few months ago I cooked a meal and a slew of desserts for Amanda Cohen and her wonderful staff at Dirt Candy. Since then, I’ve gotten to know Amanda better (and have brought her and her staff assorted treats and brought a ton of mini cupcakes in a Dirt Candy-inspired flavor to her Iron Chef America viewing party). Little did I know that all this would lead to an incredible opportunity.

The lovely little cake I made for the fine folks at Dirt Candy

A little over a month ago, Amanda asked me to participate in celebrating Dirt Candy’s upcoming 2nd birthday by creating a dessert for the restaurant to be served the week of their birthday. The only stipulations were that the dessert contain a vegetable and that it be made in the spirit of Dirt Candy – so no crazy scientific components (I refuse to call it molecular gastronomy) a la my two favorite pastry chefs, Alex Stupak and Johnny Iuzzini.

Johnny Iuzzini's beet parfait - isn’t it gorgeous? And it’s a vegetable dessert, to boot.

Alex Stupak's licorice custard, sake sorbet, and bartlett pear dessert

Yesterday, Amanda announced the week-long celebration of Dirt Candy’s 2nd birthday on her well-written, insightful, and generally hilarious blog. Each day of the week, diners who order a dessert get a free plate of one of the four desserts on the menu, but on their birthday – Friday, October 29 – the free dessert is one that’s not on the menu – it’s the one that I’m creating for them.

[To be clear, I’m not actually making the dessert that will be served in the restaurant that night. I’m developing the dessert (I’m doing lots of testing this weekend!) and then giving the recipe to Amanda for her and her staff to make in the restaurant and then serve on the 29th.]

I’m keeping mum on the details of what it is, so make a reservation now - you can use OpenTable but it's better to call the restaurant directly - if you want to find out what it is and try it.  The restaurant is small and will be fully booked soon (if it already isn’t) so get moving!  And let me know if you managed to snag a table. I’ll be there earlier in the evening so I’ll make sure to say hi.