Crème Brûlée

Burnt Sugar Fix

by Carolyn Wyman

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Published: Nov 13, 2007

Arden theatergoers dying for a taste of the dish prominently served in Michael Hollinger's food-focused play An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf (running through Dec. 9) need walk only a few blocks to get Tangerine's fix, a slow-baked creamy custard topped with fresh bananas and a traditional sugar crust.

Caramel-flavored custard is covered with a layer of chocolate mousse and then with torched confectioners' sugar in pastry chef Robert Corressel's updated variation on the crème brülée theme.

As if crème brülée made on the stovetop with coconut milk, agar (a gelatin substitute used as a binder) and agave sweetener weren't unusual enough, Horizons pastry chef/co-owner Kate Jacoby flavors this vegan rendition with savory saffron threads.

Featuring the classic congealed cream over a layer of the puréed Asian fruit, Foo's version of the dessert is adorned with a lacy sugar disc rising from the hard surface. It exemplifies her restaurant's elegant "Foo-sion" of Asian and French cuisine.

This hot breakfast oatmeal dressed with dark brown sugar and crème brülée-like zabaglione sauce should keep your delirium tremors at bay until lunchtime dessert.

An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, through Dec. 9, $29-$45, Arden Theatre Co., 40 N. Second St., 215-922-1122, ardentheatre.org. (See review on p. 31.)

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