Dessert at Cafe Zuchero

Cafe Zucherro

1731 India St
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 531-1731
www.cafezucchero.com

When my cousin that I hadn't seen for 10 years was visiting a few weeks ago, she told me she loved desserts and enjoyed baking. I had no idea we had so much in common. I thought I would take her to some of the great dessert places in San Diego. 

Then she told me that her favorite dessert was tiramisu. While I enjoy tiramisu, it's never been a dessert that I'm craving and so I've never really bothered to try tiramisu at the many dessert places I've been to. The only one I knew that had pretty good tiramisu was Cafe Zuchero.

For those who have not been to Cafe Zuchero, it's a small Italian restaurant, located in Little Italy. They have a nice bakery section in the restaurant, where they have fresh gelato, and various other Italian desserts.  You can dine in the restaurant, or you can just stop in for dessert and they have plenty some seating outside and inside.

You can read my previous visits to Cafe Zuchero here.

On this particular night, this is a sample of what was being offered:

That night we got a pistachio gelato, a three layer chocolate mousse, a giant chocolate covered strawberry, an opera cake, a creme brulee, and of course, the tiramisu. The only one I didn't like much was the opera cake which I thought was dry. I thought the tiramisu was  pretty good. Light and not too rich. Everything tasted pretty good.  My cousin really enjoyed this place and even brought some desserts back.

It was dark and I was in a rush, so I didn't snap many pictures of our desserts. Unfortunately, some of my shots came out a bit blurry.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lately I've been interested in testing out various chocolate chip cookies to see which one is my "perfect" chocolate chip cookie. I found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that used brown butter and I thought I'd try it out, since I recently discovered brown butter through the brown butter button cookies I made.

When I made brown butter cookies, I was amazed at the way butter changes when it is browned. It seemed like it would do amazing things to chocolate chip cookies as well.

Surprisingly, the brown butter did not seem to do much to the chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't taste the nuttiness of the browned butter. I liked these cookies, but I don't know if they are the perfect cookie. They were slightly too sweet for me and that might have been the result of the browned butter.

A lot of the perfect chocolate chip cookies require patience, such as refrigerating the dough for 24 hours or more. This recipe didn't require that, which is another reason why I chose it. I haven't had the patience yet so far.  I found the recipe on The Ivory Hut, which she got from American Test Kitchen.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe found on The Ivory Hut, taken from American Test Kitchen)

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 sticks butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour and baking soda in a bowl. Whisk and set aside.

2. Melt 1 1/4 sticks butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Keep
swirling until butter has a dark golden brown color and a nutty aroma,
about 3 minutes. Transfer it to a bowl and mix in the remaining
butter until melted. (You can read more details on browning butter from my browned butter cookies recipe directions)

3. Add the sugars, salt, and vanilla to the butter and mix well. Add
the egg and the extra yolk; whisk until smooth, about 30 seconds. Let
it rest for 3 minutes, then whisk again for about 30 seconds, before
letting it rest again. You’ll want to whisk this about 4 times, until
you have a thick, glossy, and smooth mixture.

4. Gently stir in the flour and baking soda just until combined. Stir in the chocolate and nuts.

5. Form dough balls about 3 tablespoons in size, and place them on a
lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-14
minutes (Mine actually took 8-9. The first batch I set for 10 minutes and they were burned on the edges), then put the baking sheet on a cooling
rack and let the cookies cool on the sheets.

Funny Food Fotos: Fancy Wall Lights

Hi everyone.  Kirbie's Boyfriend here, with another edition of Funny Food Fotos.

If you haven't heard, Kirbie loved this place called Papa Walk with the Snow Flake Shaved Ice. I have to admit it was delicious, it was actually better than "REAL" snow. Its also probably cause it was jam packed with condensed milk and carbs. White food equals carbs, right? no? well… ice is white with a little yellowish tint… This is where the phrase "Don't eat yellow snow" can be ignored, maybe it should be rephrased… "Don't eat yellow snow that smells like urine." It doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but you get the idea.

Other than the Asian Celebrity signatures of when they visited there were other oddities across the entire place. From the rooster, maybe it was like something about "early bird special" or something?

To the silly character on the door.

I'm not sure what the following signs were put up for in relation to something interpreted differently in Asian cultures like the kids wearing the Playboy logo because it is a sign of celebrity rather than the actual connotation of Female Nudity and Sexuality. How else can this one be read? Does this mean no slavery or no S&M allowed you can be the judge.

This next one is a little bit more straight forward, "Peeping over this way."

Finally this last image isn't as crazy as the ones above, but it is probably more relevant to the store. Forgive the not so great image quality as I was only using the phone camera rather than an actual camera, its all about the James Bond quick photo snapping. If you can't make it out clearly, this is a bowl of their Snow Flake Shaved Ice. I can't agree with the statement of this thing quenching my thirst as it is nothing like water, but I'm pretty sure that it if you're eating something spicy this can definitely cool it down for you.

I hope you guys enjoyed this adventure.