wd~50
New York, NY
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Soft Chocolate, Avocado, Licorice,
Lime
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Stupak’s miniature
pliable ganache guides the eye from one end of the plate
to other – through tiny hurdles of dehydrated lime
paper, and powdered piles of chocolate meringue. Colored
geysers of avocado and mint puree are both close to, and
far away from, the chocolate bridge.
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| Pastry Chef Alex Stupak |
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wd~50
New York, NY
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“Creamsicle,”
Rooibos, Persimmon, Orange Blossom
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Stupak avoids any
sense of heaviness on the plate and creates a sense of
movement with a curling line – a clear orange blossom
ribbon weaving its way through candied flecks of orange
peel, persimmon puree and rooibos cream to a frozen liquid-centered
“creamsicle.”
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| Pastry Chef Alex Stupak |
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wd~50
New York, NY
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Yuzu Curd, Shortbread, Spruce
Yogurt, Pistachio
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Golden rectangles
of yuzu curd have the soft edges of sliced cheese, placed
as if on crackers, and delicately dotted with accoutrements.
Limiting his palette to greens and whites, using only
a third of the space on the plate, Stupak maintains a
balance of organic and planned symmetry – like a
picnic might look in the courtyard of New York’s
Museum of Modern Art.
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| Pastry Chef Alex Stupak |
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Varietal
New York, NY
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Chocolate Puree, Pear Sorbet,
Mushroom Caramel, Frankincense
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Kahn’s dessert
menu is a multiverse of alternate desserts universes.
In this case, the sharp, organic forms of dehydrated chocolate
mousse and crystallized mushrooms tower dramatically like
the fictional fortress, Castle Grayskull. On the outskirts,
a wobbling, encapsulated pear sphere threatens the landscape
with its liquid center.
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| Pastry Chef Jordan Kahn |
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Varietal
New York, NY
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Meditation in Purple
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Literal monotony with
Kahn is mottled and fresh in this strictly purple composition:
blackcurrant gel with the texture of toothpaste. Cubes
of Campari sponge. A crumpled pile of see-through hibiscus
cellophane. And a quenelle of rooibos ice cream tucked
in a fold of skin that looks freshly shed from a molting
chocolate snake, left in a lovely wreckage of purples.
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| Pastry Chef Jordan Kahn |
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Varietal
New York, NY
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The Absinthe
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Absinthe’s pleasant,
psychoactive properties may be absent from Kahn’s
dish, but visually, they assert themselves in bright colors
and kinetically charged black sesame lines. Liquid sable
twirls into an inverted rollercoaster and a quenelle of
sour apple sorbet waits at the end of the track.
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| Pastry Chef Jordan Kahn |
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