Founding Farmers: Red Velvet Cake, a lament

Bill


We're sad to report that it appears Founding Farmers has changed its baker or recipe for its Red Velvet Cake. 

Allow us to wax poetic in fitting euology to this beloved friend.  The picture below truly brings a tear to our eye.  The old Founding Farmers Red Velvet Cake was on its way to becoming an iconic DC dessert.  The Southern classic red velvet cake was of the cream-cheese frosting variety, which is a Northeastern element.  It used to earn our divine rating with its fluffy frosting that perfectly mixed sugar and cream cheese flavors.  Its natural vegetable dye seemd to multiply the elegance of the cake's subtle chocolate flavor.  Founding Farmers served it in a portion that allowed diners, or rather worshippers, to choose their own adventure:  a few beautiful bites for each in a group; a decent dessert for two; or a transportative indulgence for one.  It dominated the plate, and the diner's week.  This cake could bring a moment of unchained joy to an otherwise imperfect life.  Goodbye, old friend.  We are better for having known you, and grateful that we were wise enough to love you before you were gone.

Where Giants Once Trod:  The Old Founding Farmers Red Velvet Cake

The new version is a disappointment.  Its vanilla-bean ice cream remains perfection, but the changes to the cake have ended the magic.  The cake portion is now the nearly solid, rubbery density one often finds in pedestrian red velvet cakes.  A cake of that consistency  has a longer shelf life because there's no delightful bouncy moistness to keep fresh.  The icing remains excellent although the texture is more solid than before. 

The Replacement:  The New Founding Farmers Red Velvet Cake

The unappologeticly sub-par cake portion can only allow us to award it a good rating.  This cake will still sell well to the less discerning because of its size (which always makes a dessert's quality suspect) and its good elements.

1924 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006
(202) 822-8783

Google map & reviews (4.05/5.00)

Yelp (3.5/5)

Open Table (4.2/5; Diners' Choice; Most Booked)

Dean & Deluca: Triple Chocolate Cookie

Bill

Dean & Deluca is one of our favorite dessert places, so this is the first of several reviews.  While the store/cafe has several great and divine desserts, not everything is up to that standard.
Dean & Deluca has been missing its divine triple chocolate brownie for months.  It has recently been reincarnated as a cookie.

The basic concept mixes two darker chocolates with large chunks of white chocolate.  The brownie's intensely deep dark and white chocolate flavors and fantastic texture contrasts are largely lost in the cookie version.  The relatively flavorless crunchy edge, which the brownie completely avoids, extends way too far into the center.  This leaves precious little of the cookie to enjoy the great flavor and texture mix.  That center is also much thinner than the brownie version.  This cookie deserves our good rating.


3276 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007-3624
(202) 342-2500

Google map & reviews (3.89/5.00)

Yelp (3.5/5)

TripAdvisor (5/5; #3 shopping place in DC)

Bourbon Steak: Black Walnut Financier

Bill


Bourbon Steak, in Georgetown's Four Seasons, is a place of wondrous culinary mastery.  That didn't carry over fully into the black walnut financier, but it still deserves our great rating.  Wikipedia provides some background on the financier.

Chef Michael Mina prepares these financiers with bulleit bourbon, maple ice cream, dollops of toffee, and figs.  The financiers truly and masterfully captured the essence of walnuts.  They had a nutty, mealy taste. The ice cream provided a nice textural contrast.  It was richly flavorful and mixed nicely with the crumbles below.  The toffee, some of which was hidden beneath other elements of this dish, was great.  The figs weren't very flavorful, which made them odd complements for financiers, which are only subtly flavored.


Four Seasons Georgetown
2800 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 944-2026

Google map & reviews (3.8/5.0)

Washington Post (Critic: 2.5/4; Reader 1/4, Editors' Pick)

Washingtonian (3/4)

Washington Times

Gayot 15/20

Yelp (4/5)

Open Table (4.3/5)

Serendipity 3: Cookie Dough Sundae

Bill


Our fourth review of a Serendipity 3 dessert will be our last for a while.  As of this writing, it only scored a 3/5 on yelp and a 62% approval on urbanspoon.  It looks like Washingtonians agreed with our assessment that this Serendipity outpost must not be as good as the NYC original. 

That overall mediocre impression also applies to Serendipity's Cookie Dough Sundae.  Three cookies and fudge top scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  The cookies varied widely in quality from below average to good, which means you run the risk of getting three disappointing cookies.  On the whole, the cookies were average.  The fudge was good, but I suspect Serendipity simply uses Smucker's fudge from jars.  In this and every Serendipity sundae, you'll find lots of extra fudge trapped between the glass and plate to allow you to customize your ice cream-to-fudge ratio.  The cookie dough ice cream also had quality variations; some cookie dough chunks were relatively flavorless.  The base ice cream also lacked a punch.  This cookie dough ice cream fell far short of Ben & Jerry's, which is the gold standard.

The nice proportions of the elements of this dish, and the availability of extra fudge earn this dish our good rating.  However, you'll find better sundaes and ice cream at other places in Georgetown.

3150 M St. NW Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-5193

Google map

Washington Post

Examiner

Revamp

Yelp 3/5

Larry's Cookies Union Station: Chocolate Chunk Cookie

Josh

If you are in the market for a well made cookie, and happen to be traveling through DC on a train or by metro, take a second and stop at Larry's Cookies in the Union Station food court.

The Chocolate Chunk Cookie has both the mass and volume needed to satisfy one's sweeter cravings.  It deserves our great rating.  Other options include oatmeal raisin, butter pecan, double chocolate, crispy chocolate, Heath, and white chocolate.  A very simple yet delectable dessert!

Union Station Food Court
(202) 289-7586

Other locations include:

1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004 (Reagan Building)
(202) 682-0080

1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW # 114, Washington, DC 20004 (Old Post Office)
(202) 682-1018

1633 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20009
(202) 234-2690 

1100 S Hayes St. Arlington, VA 22202
(703) 415-2066

Serendipity 3: Oreo Frozen Hot Chocolate

Josh

Anyone who has frequented or even visited Serendipity once knows of their famous hot chocolate.  My affinity for Oreos led me to this choice in the face of much greater-volume choices like the sundaes, cakes and pies.  I would not say I was disappointed, as it proved to be a refreshing and tasty option on a very hot day.  The only issue for me was it didn't feel all that "desserty."

The massive amount of whipped cream on top was high-quality.  For the most part it tasted like an icy milkshake, which from previous posts you know is not my favorite thing.  I prefer the thicker and more substantial tastes you get in an old fashioned milkshake, and this was not it.  

Serendipity's Oreo Frozen Hot Chocolate deserves our good rating.  It's definitely worth a try, but if you want a dessert at Serendipity that you'll never forget, go with one of the unbelievable looking sundaes!  At $10 a pop for the Oreo Frozen Hot Chocolate versus $12 for a much more substantial sundae, value, mass and substance are hugely against the choice I found myself making.  Don't be an idiot; go big when it comes to desserts!

3150 M St. NW Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-5193

Google map

Washington Post

Examiner

Revamp

Yelp 3/5

Serendipity 3: Carrot Cake Sundae

Bill


We find it necessary to review multiple desserts at Serendipity 3 because it's generated so much buzz based on its long-anticipated opening, NYC pedigree, and prime location in the former Nathan's space.  Out of several Serendipity 3 desserts, the carrot cake sundae impressed me the most, and I'm not a big fan of carrot cake.

The carrot cake sundae starts simple at the bottom and increases the novelty and decadence toward the top.  Scoops of vanilla and butter-pecan ice cream start the party at the bottom of the bowl.  A piece of carrot cake slides on top of that.  Drizzles of maple-walnut and white-chocolate fudge crown this monument to humankind's search for greatness.  It is served with a pool of chocolate fudge surrounding the base of the bowl.  The end result is unique, and blends the flavors and textures masterfully, at least if you like nuts in a sundae.

The carrot cake is velvety smooth, moist and flavorful.  Its cream-cheese frosting is better than average, and the maple-walnut and white-chocolate fudge add delightful flavor and texture elements.  The added touch of fudge on the bottom provides you an opportunity to alter this mixture to your taste.  Note that the carrot cake has a large volume of nuts throughout, which is somewhat uncommon.  Overall, this dish had too many nuts for my taste.  It still deserves our divine rating, because anyone who likes this amount of nuts would surely rate it so.


3150 M St. NW Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-5193

Google map

Washington Post

Examiner

Revamp

Yelp 3/5