It’s just after midnight on Sunday morning, and I want dessert.
In what has become a weekly routine, I quickly scan my fridge knowing there’s nothing in it, search my cupboards though it’s futile and curse myself for not feeding my sweet tooth earlier. With a sinking feeling, I know I’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow to get what I really want.
My problem is this: I’m a dessert addict that likes real food. When I get a craving, it’s for cheesecake or fruit tart or cr?me brulee. It’s for desserts served drizzled in caramel and topped with whipped cream. Call me an elitist or a food snob, but a stale brownie from Ian’s will simply not cut it. And candy bars or prepackaged sweets? Don’t make me cringe.
This is what makes my late night yen for desserts so (pardon the pun) bittersweet. Although State Street is pulsing, it is not refined but fermented sugar that’s keeping everyone going. The restaurants on campus have either closed entirely or have switched to their bar menus, something completely unhelpful for those sad saps among us without a fake. As I begin to pout, I think about all the desserts I could have had if the restaurant industry ran on my schedule.
If I could choose any dessert in all of Madison it would have to be the raspberry cheesecake from Monty’s Blue Plate Diner. Although I’ve always thought it was kind of blasphemous to mix fruit with dessert (if you’re going to have dessert, go balls-out and have dessert), the raspberry topping is tart and refreshing and makes you feel less guilty for scarfing the whole slice.
The cream cheese frosting and graham cracker crust save the dessert from being too cleanse-the-palette-y, a fate we all know is worse than death by low blood sugar. Add to that the $4.99 price tag and the fact you can order it to-go at the counter, and this dessert is a hands-down winner.
The only other fruit-laden dessert that makes the grade for me is the pear and almond tart at Fresco. If you like marzipan, you’ll fall head over heels for this. The handmade crust is flaky the way your Home Ec teacher told you yours would never be, and the texture is perfectly juxtaposed with the honey whipped cream on the side.
The almond taste is more sweet than nutty, making up for the almost sour, yet still pleasant, taste of the fruit compote. Fresco’s menu changes seasonally, making this a dessert you’ll want to snap up soon. However, if you’re the kind of person that needs dinner before dessert, be prepared to shell out. Entrees range from $17-$29, and this dessert will set you back another $7.
If you’re not interested in spending almost an hour’s wage on a single dessert, just down the street from Fresco is a spot most of us know well. Besides serving up cheap Italian (well, Italian-inspired anyway) food, Mia Za’s also sells a selection of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake for the ridiculously low price of $2.99.
My favorite? The red velvet. One mammoth slice of this cake is comprised of alternating layers of moist red velvet cake and cheesecake, topped with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate chips. If this sounds excessive, it is. Sharing or saving half for later is the only way to go: conquering the whole thing yourself will leave you the victim of sugar shock. Despite the inappropriate portion size, this red velvet is the best I’ve had in Madison, out-moisting even Bluphie’s version.
The growl of my stomach causes me to look up. It’s now nearly 1 a.m. on Sunday and thoughts of delectable desserts are dancing in my head. Tomorrow will bring some kind of sweet relief – all I have to do in the waiting period is decide which one to pursue. During business hours, the possibilities are endless. So too is my quest to find the best dessert the city has to offer. I will leave no fork unturned.
Until then, I’ll just have to dig in to the lone coconut cream cupcake from Sweet Impressions I hid behind my milk for just such an emergency.
Allegra Dimperio ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.
