Agreed. I dined at Epicure right before everything shut down. Had the 20th anniversary tasting menu which was spectacular, but I was pretty much done when the desserts arrived. I pushed through but it’s a bit too much.
Definitely like the dessert course(s). Tells a restaurant’s complete story. Sometimes like with any tasting menu it can be too much.
George
I will usually ask for a cheese course iieu of dessert
For me it depends on the mood I’m in. At some meals (and most wine dinners) I don’t feel like dessert and will leave even a delicious one on the table. Sometimes it’s the perfect end of a dinner for me, especially if there is good coffee on offer to pair it with.
So I’m in the camp of wanting the option of substituting away the sweet course.
This is my one complaint about the otherwise splendid Noreetuh. They bring out delicious desserts when I’m really not in the mood.
I love dessert, but often do the same, including last week for our anniversary.
When I’ve set up a tasting menu with a restaurant I include a cheese course AND dessert
Not much a sweet tooth here so no I’m not a fan of those over the top dessert courses at a tasting menu. I might be in the minority but I would rather leave a tasting menu wanting a little more vs being stuffed but the later tends to happen more often even when trying to pace myself.
Best tasting menu dessert I’ve ever experienced were lightly grilled strawberries at Etxebarri. That was 12 years ago and my wife and I still talk about the course.
agree. Throw in another main or two.
For those who do like desserts get to Tickets in Barcelona and thank me later. They have a separate room just for dessert tasting. It’s Tapas style and you pay per plate so not really on a “tasting menu” per se but if you like to end the night with desserts this is the place to go!
As others mentioned I tend to like to leave these meals not feeling stuffed so 1-2 light dessert courses are fine. But as an experience Tickets was well worth it
I like dessert, but the borderline excessive dessert courses are the thing I remember most (and least fondly) about The French Laundry…well, that and them being d#cks about me taking my jacket off when the upstairs dining room was 82 degrees. Meanwhile the drunk, older, European guy who went from table to table introducing himself as Thomas Keller was a highlight!
I like dessert. I somehow had the idea that taking that part of the meal as seriously as everything coming before was one of the things that separated a 1 star place from a 2 star place.
I like dessert but, like many here, one is enough. My wife definitely prefers cheese to sweets. I don’t want 2, 3 or 4 desserts. And when doing a tasting menu we try to sub something or just omit one of the sweets.
Dang, if it’s no secret you are not a sweets lover, why do they keep offering them to you?
That’s just poor service.
My wife and I half agree with you. I disdain sweets, but she relishes getting to enjoy hers and then re-visit the experience via what I get served. I’m more with you: make dessert a cheese/charcuterie or pork belly thing to create an end of meal bite.
I’m pretty happy with the standard pre-dessert (something icy/light), a more substantial dessert, and petit fours. Even one more than that if they are all small and different flavor profiles. True the pairing breaks down a bit but whatever, I can sip water after the dessert and still drink whatever dry wine I still have at the table.
That was the problem when we dined at Maison Lameloise; 4 of the 9 courses were some form of dessert. Added bonus, they gave my partner a menu with no prices! (It was right around the turn of the last century.) Worse, or better yet: she paid the bill.
That’s intolerable. NFW I comply.
I once walked, sans jacket, to the balcony to eat a steak at Mastro’s in Beverly Hills. We had quite the confrontation as it was maybe 85-90° in the dining room. I told them to call the cops if they had to.
They require a jacket to Mastro’s BH? I’ve worn shorts and flip flops to Mastro’s Newport Beach.
This was back in the 00s. We were seated upstairs for a wine dinner but the restaurant lost their a/c during the day. They were just blowing fans and trying to gaslight us that the place was getting cooler!
The wines stored behind the glass in the walls all were covered by condensation!
Weird night, glad I slept in hotel instead of hoosgow.
I do.
Sometimes, accommodating people in the minority is not so bad. That is why I LOVE all-you-can-eat buffets.
In the wake of a pandemic, even one bowl of noodles without any dessert is a blessing. #NotElitist
Story would have been better, tho’.
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