Desserts at JoLe in Calistoga

I went to JoLe in Calistoga and concentrated on desserts.

My favorite was the Anjou Pear & Almond Turnovers.
Two little diced pear filled turnovers are served warm with vanilla ice cream and honey sauce. The puff pastry on the turnover was very flaky and crispy. Gives this dessert the perfect crunch. The vanilla bean ice cream was a good balance of flavor and sweetness to the turnover. The honey sauce was very nice and had some vanilla bean in there to round out the honey flavor. A ton of crispy toasted almonds were sprinkled on top to add some extra crunch. Very nice!! A super comforting dessert.
Cannot wait to see what other flavor combinations they serve in the future.

My second favorite was the Coconut Cream pie.
This pie was made with a bittersweet chocolate lined macadamia crust.
The creamy coconut flavored custard (probably has coconut milk or coconut cream in it) was nice and smooth. Unlike most coconut cream pies, this one has no shreds of meaty coconut in the custard. Instead all the shavings of toasted coconut are sprinkled heavily on top of the pie and plate. The plate is squiggled in a pattern with both chocolate and caramel sauces. Complemented the coconut custard perfectly. I really like the idea of macadamia crust, but I did not get a macadamia flavor at all. Kind of bummed me out. Would definitely order this again and again.

And I would recommend the Trio of ice creams...just would not want them to be served all together in the same dish again.
The flavors did not meld or melt together well. Of the three flavors, my favorite one was the vanilla grapefruit ice cream, yes ice cream, not sorbet. It had a lovely start in the mouth with vanilla undertones, then comes a creamsicle flavor of orange and cream and it finishes with a strong grapefruit taste. Very interesting.
We also had the Malted Chocolate (bittersweet chocolate ice cream with a tiny hint of malt) and Apple Cinnamon ice creams in the tulip glass.

JoLe: Farm to Table is located at 1457 Lincoln Avenue, Calistoga, CA

owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Matt and Sonjia Spector. Sonjia is the pastry chef and her desserts are updated versions of things her mom and grandmother made.

Peanut Butter

I know everyone is freaked out about the salmonella outbreak in peanut butter. Here is a link to a list of recalled items just in case you have something in question.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/PeanutButterProducts2009.xls

I still love my peanut butter.

Kara's Cupcakes, so good!!!

I know I said I would talk about Panna Cotta next...but I just had to tell you about the awesome cupcakes I just ate today. I was in Downtown San Francisco and had 4 wonderful cupcakes today from Kara's Cupcakes.
YUMMY!! I will be heading back into the city for the Fancy Food Show this coming weekend and will be buying more cupcakes...stay tuned!!

Today I ate:
Sweet Vanilla
Vanilla cupcake with madagascar bourbon vanilla frosting
OK, too die for!!!! This is a plain vanilla cupcake, yes, but there is nothing plain about it. Great vanilla flavor comes through in both the cake and frosting. (side note about Madagascar Bourbon vanilla--named for the region in which they are grown, has a rich, sweet flavor)
The cake was nice and moist and had a great crumb texture. And I love the little white sprinkles (or jimmies as I grew up calling them) all over the frosting. PERFECT!!!

Java
Chocolate cupcake with rich espresso buttercreamI am not a huge coffee person and this was just perfect...not too much coffee flavor to overwhelm and not just a hint to be subtle...just right. The Italian Buttercream style icing had little flecks of coffee bean all throughout...added a great look and great flavor. And there is a coffee bean on the top of the cupcake to add to the crunch!!! The chocolate cake was nice and moist. The icing just melted in my mouth...I love it.

Kara's Karrot
carrot cupcake with a cream cheese frostingI am a huge fan of carrot cake and this was so very tasty!!!Great spice flavor and moist cake. Cream cheese frosting that was so soft and creamy, just perfect!!

Peanut Butter ganache
chocolate cupcake with peanut buttter and milk chocolate ganache frostingI love peanut butter!!!Great moist chocolate cake with a perfect blend of peanut butter and milk chocolate frosting. I love this combo and could have eaten about 10 of them.
I love Kara's Cupcakes!!!

Peanut Butter Desserts in the Napa Valley

Hello!
I love desserts!! Life is short, eat dessert first is my motto.
So I am gonna talk about desserts that I will go back for again and again and some I will not even take a second bite of in and around the Napa Valley.
We will start here and then head out to other places soon.
I do have a weakness for Peanut Butter desserts...so let's start there.

Redd Restaurant in Yountville has the BEST peanut butter dessert hands down. The peanut gianduja is to die for. (quick side note about gianduja (zhahn-doo-yah) - a smooth creamy mixture of milk chocolate and roasted hazelnut paste). Nicole Plue, the world renowned pastry chef at Redd, does an exciting play on the hazelnut gianduja with peanuts. YUM!! It is so peanut buttery, smooth and the perfect balance of saltiness. The bottom crust is made of broken feuilletine cookies and a peanut butter milk chocolate ganache. Adds the perfect crunch to this dessert. (quick side note about feuilletine (fuh-yuh-teen) -caramelized biscuits from France which are broken up into small flake sized bits )
It is served in a thin rectangular slice portion along with a mini peanut honeycomb parfait. My favorite by far.

Well, that sums up the good peanut butter desserts in the Napa Valley...there was an awesome peanut butter pie on the Mustards Grill menu a while back...but we wont talk about that now.
Please let me know if you have had a good peanut butter dessert in the Napa Valley or beyond. I would love to go out and try it.
Next topic...panna cotta.