bread pudding challenge

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 7: Eleven Eleven Mississippi!

by Stephanie on February 22, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Dessert, Dinner

Good morning, and welcome to my second favorite day of the week: Wednesday! We’re halfway through the work week, and more importantly…it’s Bread Pudding Wednesday! I think BPW should be a holiday. What do you think? Smile

Anyway, I can’t believe we’re on Week 7 of the challenge! Just a few short weeks until me and Jess narrow down the field to determine who has the best bread pudding in St. Louis! Of course, we could never make such a huge decision without the help of our readers, so stay tuned. You’ll be involved in this too. Smile

This week I went to this place:

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Eleven Eleven Mississippi. One of my absolute favorite restaurants in St. Louis. I promise a full review will come soon. But today is about one thing and one thing only: Bread Pudding! Let’s hop to it.

According to the menu, the white chocolate and pecan bread pudding would be served with vanilla ice cream and sauce anglaise. (what is sauce anglaise? It’s a type of vanilla sauce. Don’t worry…I had to google it too!)

 

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Oh baby. First of all, the presentation is fabulous, isn’t it? A huge hunk of bread pudding surrounded by a pool of rich caramel sauce and topped with ice cream? It doesn’t get any better than that, trust me. Winking smile

Texture-wise, this bread pudding was perfect. It had that “french toast” consistency that I love. There’s nothing worse than soggy or custard-y bread pudding.

Taste-wise? Another hit! I loved the crunch of the pecans in this bread pudding, and even though I didn’t taste any hints of white chocolate, this was still heavenly. The caramel sauce was thick and sticky, which was different from the thinner caramel sauces at Annie Gunn’s and Remy’s, but still delicious in it’s own way.

Overall, I loved this bread pudding. It’s going to be so hard for me to pick a favorite! Here are my personal standings so far:

1. Remy’s, Annie Gunn’s, Eleven Eleven Mississippi (Yes, that’s a three-way tie! I can’t pick a favorite yet!)

4. Bridge Tap House

5. Harvest

6. Cyrano’s

7. Café Eau

Only a few weeks left of the BP Challenge! I’m going to be so sad when this is over.

So tell me: Have you visited any of the places listed above? Who has your favorite bread pudding?

{ 5 comments }

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 5: Cyrano’s!

by Stephanie on February 8, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Breakfast, Dessert, Lunch

Good morning, bread pudding lovers! Well, I certainly hope you’re a bread pudding lover by now. It’s Week 5! We’re almost halfway through the BP Challenge. The weeks are just zooming by, let me tell you. I’m loving every minute, and I think Jess is too!

Anyway, this week brought me to Cyrano’s, in Webster Groves. This cute little spot serves breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, but they’re most well known for their desserts.

I’ve actually had the bread pudding at Cyrano’s a few years ago, but this was way before I started this little blog, so there’s no photo evidence. And in my world, if there are no pictures, it didn’t happen. So that, along with the fact that a few readers strongly recommended Cyrano’s, meant that I had to return!

Let’s talk about BP, shall we? Cyrano’s offers Caramel Brioche Bread Pudding, which is topped with a cherry bourbon sauce.

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Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

 

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My first impression? While Cyrano’s tried to spice up the presentation a bit (the whipped cream helps!), this certainly isn’t the prettiest bread pudding on the block. What’s that saying about ‘eating with your eyes first’? I’d say that applies.

However, I’m not one to be deterred by looks. I dove right in. The bread pudding was served warm, although the bourbon sauce had sort of a ‘I’ve been sitting under the heat lamp for too long’ sort of thing going on. It was starting to form a weird film on top.

Taste-wise, this bread pudding was average. It’s funny how my expectations of bread pudding have gone up. After trying the delicious BP at Remy’s and Bridge, this bread pudding sort of paled in comparison. It was good, don’t get me wrong. But was it the Best I’ve Ever Had? Hardly. Like I said, the bourbon glaze had started to solidify. And while the outside of this bread pudding was perfect, texture-wise, the inside was approaching that custard-like sogginess that I loathe. I call that built in portion control – I simply stuck to eating the outer edges.

Again, this wasn’t bad. It was decent. But if I had to pick my Top 3 bread puddings in St. Louis, this unfortunately wouldn’t make my list.

Time to update the standings! Remember, 1 is my favorite (so far). There’s so much bread pudding left to consume. This list could change!

1. Remy’s

2. Bridge Tap House

3. Harvest

4. Cyrano’s

5. Café Eau

Note that while Cyrano’s isn’t my favorite, it’s still not as bad as the stuff at dreaded Café Eau. Blech!

See you next week. Winking smile

{ 5 comments }

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 4: Bridge Tap House!

by Stephanie on February 1, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Dessert, Dinner, Lunch

Good morning! Is it February  or is it April? Because the weather in St. Louis is warm warm warm! I’m absolutely loving it. Yesterday’s high was 64, and Monday’s high was 67. This spring-like weather is amazing…I hope it stays like this for a while! Smile

Oh, and tomorrow’s my 27th birthday. I’m excited.

Anyway, on to the food! This is week 4 of the Bread Pudding Challenge, and I went to one of my favorite places: Bridge Tap House and Wine Bar! Remember when I reviewed it before? It was mahhhvelous.

Although I enjoyed my savory dishes last time I visited Bridge (including bacon & gorgonzola bread pudding…oh my!), I was excited to try dessert.

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Say hello to my new friend: Banana Espresso Bread Pudding. Can we take a moment to gawk at how darn pretty it is?

This bread pudding was pretty fantastic. The texture of the bread pudding was just how I like it: firm without being too hard. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s soggy bread pudding (or brick hard BP!).

Flavor-wise, it was perfect. The espresso flavor was pronounced, but it wasn’t overpowering. There was a banana-y finish at the end that I enjoyed. And the caramelized bananas on top? Amazing.

I liked the caramel sauce that was featured in this dessert, and while I love bread pudding that’s drowning in caramel sauce (I’m looking at you, Remy’s!), I appreciated that the banana and espresso flavors were allowed to hold center stage. The caramel was more of a supporting act in this dish, and I liked that.

Anyway, another fabulous bread pudding.

Oh! You’re probably wondering how I’ve ranked these bread puddings so far, so every week, I’ll update you with who’s first place in my mind. The orders may change as the weeks go by, and it will be interesting to compare what my number 1 is with Jess’s favorite. But here’s my list so far, from favorite to least favorite:

 

1. Remy’s

2. Bridge Tap House

3. Harvest

4. Café Eau

 

Remy’s is a solid favorite for me so far, but that could change! I guess we’ll see what next week brings. Smile

{ 6 comments }

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 3: Harvest!

by Stephanie on January 25, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Dessert, Dinner

Good morning, friends! Another Wednesday, another edition of the Bread Pudding Challenge! Who’s ready to talk about dessert?

This week, I went to Harvest. This fancy-pants restaurant is located in the heart of Richmond Heights, and is well known for their bread pudding. So well known, in fact, that when I asked for your feedback on which bread pudding is your favorite, many of you responded with Harvest! The crowd speaks, and I listen. Smile

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I was very impressed with the interior of Harvest. So gorgeous! Warm lighting, gorgeous décor – this place has it all.

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Enough of the scenery; I was here for one thing and one thing only: bread pudding! Harvest’s Warm Brioche Bread Pudding starts with a thick hunk of rich bread. Add a few currants, bourbon sauce, and whipped cream, and you get…well, you get this:

 

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Looks pretty, right? Well, as we all know from last week’s disaster – looks aren’t everything.

Thankfully, this bread pudding was fantastic. Fantastic! Texture-wise, it was perfect. It had the consistency of french toast. Not as firm as the bread pudding at Remy’s, but not custard-like like the stuff at Café Eau. This was right in the middle, and I loved it.

The bourbon sauce was delicious as well! I would have preferred it a bit thicker, but now I’m just being nit-picky. Truth be told, it was quite delicious.

My only gripe? I’m not a big fan of currants. Thankfully, they weren’t in the bread pudding itself; just the sauce. So they were easy enough to pick around. But next time I’ll ask them to leave the currants out.

All in all, this bread pudding was delicious. It’s some of the best I’ve had so far! This competition is going to be tough, I tell you!

See you next week with more bread pudding madness. Smile

{ 8 comments }

Bread Pudding Challenge, Week 2: Café Eau!

by Stephanie on January 18, 2012

in American, Bread Pudding, Dessert, Dinner

Happy Wednesday! How are you doing on this lovely (and freezing) morning? I’m doing really well, and a lot of it has to do with this:

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I’m one of the Riverfront Times’ nominees for Best Food Blog! I found out the news yesterday; the winners will be announced on January 24th. Am I excited? You better believe it! I’m also nervous/scared/intimidated/etc. The competition is stiff! My fingers (and toes) are crossed.

On to bread pudding! As you know, Jess and I are doing a challenge; we’re setting out to find the best bread pudding in St. Louis! Two girls on a dessert-eating mission. Who wouldn’t love that? Winking smile

This week’s adventure brought me to Café Eau. This cozy café is nestled in the Chase Park Plaza in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis. I had dinner here as well (I’ll review that another day, I promise!), but the focus of today’s review is their bread pudding.

Café Eau has gooey butter bread pudding on their menu. I was really excited to try it, since I’m a huge fan of gooey butter cake.

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It looks pretty gorgeous, right? It was served with a generous scoop of french vanilla ice cream, and rested in a pool of chocolate syrup, a bit of caramel, and a side of strawberries. Picture perfect.

Too bad it was pretty awful. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of this bread pudding at all. While it was piping hot (a plus), it was totally wrong, texture-wise. The outside was crispy, and the inside was, well…gooey. It was almost custard-like. Bread pudding this was not.

Aside from the horrendous texture, the flavor of this bread pudding was almost bitter. I almost had to pair each bite of the bread pudding with sweet ice cream and chocolate sauce to mask the bitter flavor of the dessert. It was bad. I could only manage to down a few bites before I decided I had had enough.

I’ll address the other aspects of Café Eau (my entrée, the service, the prices, etc.) during another review. However, based on bread pudding alone, Café Eau will now be named Café No in my book. No bueno.

Can’t win em all, right? Hopefully the next bread pudding spot will be better!

{ 16 comments }