Off to the James Beard House with our favorite dessert
BANANA CREAM PIE
I think the only time I've ever had banana cream pie was in junior high school - in the cafeteria lunchroom. I love bananas but the dessert never crossed my path again until now, for our James Beard dinner in New York City. That's the esteemed James Beard House. Really?!? Banana cream pie?!? I've been horrified at the idea but it's won me over!
Marcus Daniel is our Head Chef at Joseph Decuis. We've been trying to get away from titles because a restaurant is truly a team effort but this was Marcus's call. I dragged my feet on submitting the menu. I tried to change the name of the dessert. I suggested we serve something else, maybe something more farm related? After all, we are "Farm to Fork" and we do not grow any bananas on our farm. But no! It's banana cream pie...Marcus remained firm. Banana cream pie is his all-time favorite dessert and he was not budging.
So, we added the pie to our dessert menu at the restaurant and I am not too proud to say, I was wrong. I will say, it's nothing like what I've ever seen before. This is not your normal, run of the jungle, banana cream pie. It's been dissected, resurrected and recreated. It has taste, complexity and drama. Flambéed, it has a pastry cream with vanilla beans soaked in bourbon, dolce la leche spiked with Malibu Rum, a vanilla wafer crust with house-made vanilla wafers. How is that even possible? I thought vanilla wafers could only come in a cardboard box!
Last weekend, I met Stephanie and Heather who came to the restaurant for dinner. Stephanie's hands-down, absolute most favorite dessert EVER, is the banana cream pie. We brought them into the kitchen to watch Marcus prepare this sumptuous treat.
We are going bananas over our banana cream pie and we hope you do too. Catch our video on YOUTUBE.
Posted by Alice Eshelman
January 24th, 2018