Tiffany Tastes

3 Couse Feast: Desserts

Welcome to the final installment of my coverage on the 3 Course Feast benefit for United Cerbral Palsy of the Mid-South.  Today we're covering the best part, desserts of course.  For those just joining us, we (Tom and I) sampled all of the dishes provided and ranked them on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being absolutely delicious and 1 being almost inedible.  Our scores and notes for each dish are outlined below.

Now, onto the good stuff!

Spumino- Fresh-made spumone semifreddo with layers of pistachio, vanilla, and berry topped with crumbled pistachios
Cafe Toscana (Chef: Giacomo Ciabattini)
Kudos to Chef  Ciabattini for entering a submission in 2 different categories.  This was my favorite dessert.  It was light and fruity and all the flavors blended together nicely. I actually went back for seconds (okay thirds, but who's counting?) This was, by far, my favorite dish of the evening. (Tom didn't necessarily agree because he thought the duck sliders were the best dish of the night, but he thought the semifreddo was delicious nonetheless) Our rating- 5 out of 5

Lemon Zabaglione Marscapone Torte, Apple Semolina Torte with caramel, and Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Torte
Bari (Chef: Jason Severs)
I love the idea of a trio of desserts as long as they are equally good across the board.  These came very close to the mark.  My favorite was the lemon torte because the Marscapone topping reminded me of a very delicate lemon mousse.  Tom liked the apple semolina torte the best because it reminded him of an elegant apple pie, and the semolina crust gave a nice, unexpected flavor to the overall dish.  The one we liked the least was the chocolate torte. It was too heavy, too dense, and the flavor was decidedly one-note.  Our rating- 4.5 for the lemon torte and the apple torte and 3 for the chocolate torte

White chocolate bread pudding
Felicia Suzanne's (Chef: Felicia Willet)
I'm a huge fan of bread pudding, but I have high standards. While the white chocolate bread pudding offered had great flavor, it was quite mushy when we finally got around to sampling it.  This could be the result of the bread pudding being over-soaked or under-cooked.  Either way, the bits of toasted coconut on top didn't make up for the complete lack of texture that the bread pudding offered. Our rating- 3 out of 5

Bananas Foster, Cherries Jubilee, and twice-dipped chocolate strawberries
University of Memphis Holiday Inn (Chef: Edward Nowakowski)
Since the event was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Holiday Inn, I think it's great that the hotel's chef presented a dish. However, these dishes were not up to the standard of the other culinary offerings.  The cherries jubilee tasted like pie filling and the bananas foster was cold and gummy even though it was being prepared to order in a pan over an electric hot plate.  Neither of these dishes were lit on fire (which is the customary presentation), they lacked depth of flavor, and were overly simple. The redeeming quality was that they were served with premium vanilla bean ice cream.  The strawberries were tasty, but didn't seem very difficult to make.  Our rating- 3 for the strawberries and 2 for the cherries jubilee and the bananas foster

Tom I believed that Cafe Toscana provided the best dessert with their Spumone Semifreddo, and the other guests agreed.  Chef Ciabattini took home top awards in the dessert category as well as the entree category.

This brings me to the end of my 3 Course Feast Experience.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed documenting the event.

Unti Next Time...

3 Course Feast: Entrées

For the next installment of my coverage of the 3 Course Feast benefit for United Cerebral Palsy of the Mid South, I will discuss the entrées that Memphis-area chefs submitted to be judged by the crowd. In case you forgot,  ranked each dish on a scale from 1-5 with 5 being the best and 1 being almost completely inedible.

Now, for the food!

Pork Tenderloin stuffed with prunes, walnuts, and wild rice
Circa (Chef: John Bragg)
This dish suffered from a lack of seasoning.  The meat was a bit rubbery, and the rice was completely mushy. Our rating- 1.5 out of 5

Shrimp with white bean casolette
Erling Jensen's (Chef: Erling Jensen)
The shrimp was well-cooked and well-seasoned.  Using the white bean casolette as the starch was a nice surprise. Being someone who finds white beans to be a little bland, I was more than satisfied with the flavorful bean mixture. Our rating- 3.5 out of 5

Steak Sandwiches with baby arugula leaf, xocopili and lemon aioli on grilled Italian semolina bread; Warm Winter Vegetable Salad with grilled asparagus, green beans, roasted pmpkin, red pepper and corn drizzled with a cinger sambal oil and garnished with shaved French feta and toasted sesame seeds.
Noodle, Doodle, Do, The Beauty Shop, Do, Mollie Fontaine's Lounge, and Another Roadside Attraction (Chef: Karen Carrier)
We were very excited about these dishes from their extremely detailed description.  The steak sandwich was extremely tasty; all the flavors worked well together and it was the perfect, meaty, bite of food.  However, the warm winter salad was a different story.  While the salad had decent flavor, there was just too much going on on the plate.  The flavors of the components weren't distinct and the outcome was a bit muddled.  Our rating- Steak Sandwich 5 out of 5; Warm Winter Salad 2.5 out of 5

Big Eye Tuna Sashimi with jalapenos and motsuku seaweed salad
Bluefin (Chef: Nick Scott)
The sashimi was well-executed, but seemed fairly simple compared to some of the other more difficult offerings. That being said, the fish was extremely fresh and all the flavors melded well together. Our rating- 4.5 out of 5

Short Rib Slider with red cabbage and jicama slaw
Napa Cafe (Chefs: Bobby Baker and Ben Adams)
This dish looked great and tasted even better.  I really enjoyed the fresh crunch from the jicama slaw, and the short ribs were cooked with bacon which offered a nice smokiness. Tom and I differed on this dish. I thought it was amazing, and he thought it was really good, but not his favorite. My rating 5 out of 5; Tom's rating 4 out of 5

Slow Simmered Louisiana Crawfish ettouffee over steamed long grain rice
Orleans on Front (Chef: Clint Boutwell)
It had good consistency, but the sauce was extremely bland. I also found 2 bay leaves in my serving. It was okay, but nothing special. Our rating- 3 out of 5

Lamb Ragout with saffron pasta stuffed with ricotta salata
AM Italian Kitchen (Chefs: Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman)
I thought the texture of the ravioli was nice, but Tom felt that it reminded him of Chef Boyardee.  Overall, the ragout could have used a bit more flavor.  Our rating- 2 out of 5

Saffron and Seafood Risotto
Jarret's (Chef: Rick Farmer)
The risotto was extremely creamy and flavorful.  It had a wonderful texture.  It was topped with a sauteed shrimp and scallop that were extremly well-cooked. Everything was well-seasoned and the flavors blended quite nicely. Our rating- 5 out of 5

"Arista Ripiena con Pure di Zucca," Stuffed pork tenderloin with italian suasage and spinach with mashed butternut squash and potato medley
Cafe Toscana (Chef: Giacomo Ciabattini)
The way the pork tenderloin was served made it a bit difficult to eat, but the flavors were far superior to the other pork tenderion served at the Circa booth.  The Italian sausage offered nice flavor and the butternut squash added a nice sweetness to round out all of the flavors.  Our rating- 4 out of 5

BBQ Duck Confit Sliders
McEwen's On Monroe (Chef: David Johnson)
This slider was served with pickeled jalapenos and nice, soft potato bread.  Tom felt that this slider was not only better than the short rib slider from Napa Cafe, but it was also his favorite dish of the night.  I tactfully disagree; I believe that while this slider was quite tasty, the short rib slider had more depth of flavor, and come on, it had bacon. My rating- 4 out of 5; Tom's rating 5 out of 5

Moroccan Lamb Ragout with Orzo Pasta
Grill 83 (Chef: Chris Windsor)
Tom felt that this tasted a bit livery, but that the orzo was well-cooked a he liked the addition of the raisins for the added hint of sweetness. I didn't feel that it was livery at all, but the flavors seemed a bit muddled and the seasoning was a bit off.  Our rating- 3 out of 5

We were thoroghly impressed with most of the dishes presented.  My favorite was the short rib sliders from the Napa Cafe table, while Tom preferred the duck confit sliders presented by McEwen's on Monroe.  However, it seemed like most of the crowd selected the Italian sausage stuffed pork tenderloin from Cafe Toscana as their favorite dish of the evening as it won the entree competition.

In the final installment of the series, I will attack the desserts which were a sweet way to finish off the evening.

Until then...