My Kind of Marti Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!

I fly to Chicago today to take my clinical skills Board exam tomorrow, so there won't be much opulence in my day.  However, in honor of Fat Tuesday I thought I would tell you about the place I WISH I could be with T today: Extraordinary Desserts, in San Diego!

T and I stumbled across this amazing restaurant when we were in San Diego recently.  

We still dream about it.

T's Bananas Foster dessert.  Oh how I wish I could make this for him!

It is the perfect place to go to celebrate Mardi Gras.  Don't worry about ordering a meal when you go.

Just order dessert.

They are all extraordinary.

There is no dessert menu, just cases and cases of desserts greeting you at the entrance to peruse and choose.

Trust me.

Rose petal-laden coconut cream tarts

Like I said, it's the perfect place to celebrate Mardi Gras.

Raspberry buttercream layer cake

The owner and pastry chef trained for over a decade at the Cordon Bleu in France and credits her exotic travels for the inspiration behind her extravagant creations.  There is no comprehensive dessert menu, because the temptations change daily and even throughout the day as she continually churns out new spectacular cakes, tarts, meringues, cookies, brownies, cupcakes.....

The coffee and tea menu is equally international and international, perfectly complementing the opulence of the desserts.  Dry samples of the available teas are even set out for scent testing so you can peruse them as you choose your dessert.

The triple chocolate truffle loaf

Can you tell that I had a hard time deciding what to order?

I can't even remember what this was called, but it looked amazing.

How about a meringue the size of your face stuffed with fruit and mousse?

Or an enormous neapolitan with layers of white chocolate cream and berries?

Or one of the chocolate layer cakes with chocolate shavings frosted with chocolate ganache?

Of course there is a whole menu of homemade ice cream and sorbet flavors if that is more your style.

So next year, skip New Orleans, St. Louis, and Miami, and celebrate Mardi Gras 

(or any other special occasion, for that matter)

at Extraordinary Desserts.

You'll be glad you did.

Have a safe and blessed Mardi Gras!