Dilettante

I spent most of June traveling up and down the west coast of North America, from Vancouver, British Colombia all the way down past the equator to Mexico City.  Along the way, I found a few sweets that definitely inspired me to crank out some new clay confections for the Bit of Sugar store.

While in Seattle, Mom, Angelo, and I stopped in for dinner and dessert at one of my favorite confectioneries, Dilettante in the Capital Hill district.  Baby brother Angel, only 20, indulged in one the signature hot chocolates.  It was so rich my lactose intolerant stomach took one sip and started crying.  Oh, but it was sooooo delicious . . .

Dilettante Hot Chocolate

Mom and I both had the Sea Salt Caramel martini made with Ephemere truffle sauce (Dilettante's signature chocolate), fresh cream caramel sauce, vodka, caramel Bailey's, and garnished with a salted coco rim.  Now mind you, I'm usually a 2-3 martini type of girl, but after one sip, I knew I wouldn't be ordering another one.  At $10, I initially thought it was a pretty pricey drink, but this pretty little glass is potent enough to make any frat boy woozy.  The vodka felt a little vaporous going down, which makes me think they're using low-quality booze.  That's a big no-no in my book!  The chocolate, caramel, and salt didn't overpower the vodka and overall, the drink was good but not great.  Pretty to look at and take pics of?  Certainly!  Would I order it again?  Nope.

Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Martini

*Nom Nom*  Angelo's plate of grilled flat iron steak had tomatoes skewered on rosemary sticks and it smelled so delicious!  As they say on Iron Chef Japan, "My nose hairs felt like they were being tickled by herbs from heaven."  Lil' brudder has become quite the foodie this past year and his "specialty"  is steak.  He loved every last bite of his meal, and if I remember correctly, I think he voluntarily ate his veggies with no nagging from Mom. 

Grilled Flat Iron Steak

Mama had the grilled gouda and tomato sandwich and some type of cream soup.  She's a germaphobe so I didn't taste her food.  She always offers us a bite, but we know better . . . While it smelled delicious, it also looked very, very rich.  This is probably the best grilled cheese sandwich I never ate :)

Grilled gouda and tomato sandwich with soup

My choice was the Hungarian meatloaf, which is ground meat wrapped in bacon. I don't like red meat all that much and I hate bacon, so I must have been feeling anemic to choose this.  I can literaly count on my fingers the number of times I've had bacon in my life.  My initial plan was to unwrap the meatloaf and give all the bacon to Angelo, but I think this bacon came from a magical pig because it was super scrumptious!  Now that it's been a few weeks since we ate at Dilettante, I feel sick just looking at this pic . . . can you say protein poisoning?  At the time, though, it was so so so delicious and I would recommend this to any carnivore!

Hungarian Meatloaf

BACON! Magical pig bacon!

And now for the best part of dinner -  Dilettante is known for their extravagant, rich desserts.  You won't find fancy French desserts with names that no American can pronounce.  Dilettante does familiar, classic desserts, and they do them very, very well.  I just wish they had a dessert sampler offering because I wanted to try them all!

Angelo had a classic ice cream sundae.  Nothing fancy, just rich, creamy vanilla ice cream with yummy toppings.

Mama had the Strawberry Chantilly.  I did try a bite of her cake (and transferred my germs) and it was just right.  The cake was fluffy, the frosting was light and airy, and it was not overly sweet.  The almonds, however, I did not care for because of textural reasons. 

Strawberry Chantilly

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember the name of what I ordered.  I believe it was the Mocha Praline, but I can't be sure.  Please cut me some slack because ridiculously strong martini + protein overdose + sugar = food coma.  All I know is that it was REALLY, REALLY good and I went into Beagle Mode.  What is Beagle mode, you ask?  Beagles don't have the ability to moderate their food intake, so if provided the means, they will eat and eat and eat until their stomachs literally explode. 

Mocha Praline

For those of you in Hawaii, come visit us at Made in Hawaii at the Blaisdell Center from 8/19-8/21.  We'll have a couple of miniature cakes inspired by the confections served at Dilettante!