1. Ovo, Adega
(1614 Alum Rock Ave., San Jose, 408.926.9075, adegarest.com)
Trained in Lisbon, pastry chef Jessica Carreira has expanded the dessert menu at Portuguese- themed Adega to include the traditional egg custard tarts pasteis de nata, while also taking Portugal’s passion for the yolk to new creative heights. For Ovo, Portuguese for “egg,” Carreira fills egg panna cotta with sweet egg cream, enrobes it in lemon gelatin and places it in a nest of egg strings sprinkled with cinnamon and almonds.
2. Super Moon, Four Seasons
(Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley, 2050 University Ave., East Palo Alto, 650.470.2889, quattrorestaurant.com)
At Quattro restaurant, chef Eric Keppler’s inspiration for this sea buckthorn tart with sea buckthorn caramel, creme fraiche Greek yogurt sherbet, black sesame crumble and cranberry-cherry gastric came after he spotted sea buckthorn, a superfood with antioxidants and vitamins C and B-12, he says, while honeymooning in the United Kingdom.
The Super Moon dessert features sea buckthorn berries.
3. Chocolate Souffe, The Village Pub
(967 Woodside Road, Woodside, 650.851.9888, thevillagepub.net)
This decadent concoction of egg, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, granulated sugar and vanilla bean, The Village Pub’s chocolate Souffe debuted, along with the restaurant, in 2001. It still merits the 20-minute wait, especially given the tableside presentation: After gently piercing a hole in the souffé’s center, the server slowly pours a variation of crème anglaise—Earl Grey, salted caramel or the current Grand Marnier—deep inside this most delicious of delicacies.
Photography by: Melissa De Mata
