Chocolate Mousse

Could there be a more perfect dessert? I believe my obsession started at a restaurant called "Garcia's" (the Albany clan will know this place), where Priya and I always ordered it for dessert whether we were hungry or not. (We secretly knew my Dad would eat a few spoons of it--he's also a big dessert lover--so we were really just doing the family a favor.) It came in an ice cream dish with whipped cream and a sopapilla on top (I didn't think it was odd at the time...), and would be devoured in a matter of minutes. It was not quite pudding, not quite whipped cream--a delicate balance between the two, with small flecks of chocolate.

Yes, I realize now that excellent chocolate mousse is not supposed to have flecks of chocolate, but we were talking about a restaurant known for their tex-mex fare. Can you really expect a place that has pinata donkeys hanging from the ceiling to have exceptional french desserts? Better yet, do you really expect a ten-year old to appreciate the difference?

When I moved to New York, it was a different ball game. If chocolate mousse is ever on the dessert menu, I will order it. It is the one dessert that trumps all others in my mind--and there is no better end to a meal than a wonderful dessert. My only problem comes when I order chocolate mousse and receive something that resembles a cake.

(Pause. Deep breath.)

Really people? Since when did the world's most perfect dessert get demoted to the level of frosting? Chocolate cake with some layers of mousse is not the same thing--they should put a disclaimer on the menu: "This is not actually chocolate mousse. Since we don't have the ability to make mousse that is good enough to stand on it's own, we've stuffed it between two layers of chocolate cake so you hopefully don't notice the difference. The mousse will be firm, as its role is to keep the cake from collapsing. Enjoy."

Just don't get in my way if I order mousse and end up with cake-- you might be wearing it.

Back to the mousse, however, I've tried it at a number of places, but my all-time favorite still belongs to Payard. It seems logical that a french-trained pastry chef has mastered the art of making a perfectly smooth chocolate mousse (without the flecks of chocolate, I may add), and I find myself going there so often that the pastry waiter gives me a knowing smile every time I walk in. Since they don't sell the mousse in "to-go" containers, I drag Ash there, fork over my $7 for the world's best dessert, and then give him a "you better order your own" look when he attempts to share. (Fine, I let him take a little bit, I am a decent wife.) I've heard rumors that Payard's recipe just uses chocolate, soy milk and tofu...next time I go I'll get the full scoop.

However, if you are also on a chocolate mousse hunt, Serendipity is not a bad option. It's not fantastic, but certainly not horrible--but at $9, it is $2 more than Payard's perfect dessert. If you are there and need to fill a chocolate craving, my favorite thing is (surprise surprise!) their frozen hot chocolate. Oddly enough, another restaurant is a small one called Harry's Burrito's on the Upper West Side. Their mousse is nowhere near perfect (remember the chocolate flecks?), but for some reason it takes me back to eating chocolate mousse at Garcia's. Nothing like a chocolate-fleck filled dessert to remind you of home.