Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Desserts...where are you?

Finding a gourmet dessert in Alameda is almost impossible. There are your standard ice cream parlors of Tucker's, Loard's, Lappert's and Double Rainbow. These establishments however, serve only ice cream and not much else. Where can I order a chocolate souffle?

In my quest in searching for a gourmet dessert late one night, I went to Park Street. I was not in the mood for ice cream, so I bypassed Tuckers and Fudgelato. I went to Pappo's to look at their dessert menu and was not impressed. I then walked inside Burgermeister hoping for something, but they do not serve desserts. My last hope was Alameda Wine Co. To my surprise, they have desserts. The desserts are made local and come from The Feel Good Bakery. I tasted the Chocolate Tart. The portion size was generous and the presentation spectacular. The tart had chocolate shavings on top, with fresh raspberries on the side. The tart was dense and decadently rich. I am a believer that Chocolate desserts should be rich and not wimpy in flavor. I highly recommend this spot for late night desserts with a great glass of wine to pair it with.

The ice cream parlors of Double Rainbow and Loard's are not sit down places where one can enjoy the ice cream as well as the ambiance. The ice cream at Loard's never appealed to me each time I have gone there. The flavor of the ice cream was bland. Double Rainbow is inside Subway Sandwich. The smell of meat and bread while having ice cream is not a good combination. I use to eat at Double Rainbow all the time in San Francisco and the ice cream was always creamy and tasty. I would enjoy Double Rainbow ice cream more if the place was an ice cream parlor and not inside a sandwich business.

Fudgelato sells candy and gelato. The gelato is thick in consistency. I had gelato here a few times and found their gelatos lacked full flavor. The gelato was decent, but I recommend a sample before ordering. The best local gelato that I tasted recently was the gelato place in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. The flavors are rich and full and it comes from Italy.

Tucker's Ice Cream is a legendary Alameda hang out. The ice cream is decent and is really the only sit down establishment on the island. The banana splits taste better than regular scoops of ice cream. The fresh fruit toppings and chocolate sauce is what makes the dessert. I also enjoy their chocolate bananas. For the past four times, I got the chocolate banana instead of ice cream. The chocolate coating tastes good and the banana is a good combination. Tucker's is a great place for family fun and late night ice cream in a pleasant atmosphere.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went with a small group of people to eat at the new Tuttimelon. We were all drawn to the bright green color and the textured walls that looked intriguing. There was a fat free yogurt side which looked fine, but we were not looking for something fat free. So we all walked over to the gelato side. We got to taste test some of the flavors which were amazing. Our group ended up with three different flavors of white raspberry, mocha chip and hazelnut. The white raspberry was refreshing with the slightly tart taste of raspberry and a smooth follow through from the white chocolate. If you love hazelnut than you will be excited about Tuttimelon's hazelnut gelato. The flavors are intense of real hazelnut. The gelato is rich, smooth and creamy with a never ending taste of hazelnut. Mocha chip was the heaviest of all the flavors. The gelato was coffee flavor with chocolate chips. The ingredients blended together and there were plenty of mini chocolate chips to bite into. All three flavors were great and everyone in the group enjoyed all of them. There was no loser flavor of the bunch. We will be back for more.

Anonymous said...

Went with a friend to Shay's Cafe for dessert. The dessert selection was few and we decided to eat a brownie and 7-Up Cake. 7-Up Cake is a throw back to the 1970s and church bake sales.

The brownie tasted like it came from a box and the cake was dry at the bottom and sweet at the top. The citrus frosting on the top gave the cake moisture which it desperately needed.

Shay's Cafe is not a designated dessert venue. It's a place for sandwiches.