show me the sugar

Hey friends! Stephanie here. So you read my overview of the Bread Pudding Challenge this morning, right? Now it’s time for my buddy Jess (and her blogging partner in crime) at Show Me The Sugar to share her thoughts! Thanks again, Jess, for doing this challenge with me — it’s been so much fun to get a different take on this amazing dessert.

With no further ado, here’s Jess’s take on the Bread Pudding Challenge, as well as her top 3 picks.

After ten weeks of tasty Bread Puddings all over town, our heads are spinning in brioche, whiskey sauces and whipped creams!  For those of you who don’t know, we over at Show Me The Sugar do NOT normally share our opinions on desserts, we just try to describe them as objectively as possible so YOU can be the critic.  But today we are taking off the “objective hat” just for a tad to share our honest opinions of some of St. Louis’ most popular bread puddings.  Though I should note there are probably tens if not hundreds of puddings we haven’t tried, so in no way is this the conclusive list.  But without further ado we present our synopsis of yum. In the order we tried them.

Remy’s

This one was a strong bready classic.  We loved the hardened brandy sauce, though I wish it were stronger in flavor.  Also our bread pudding didn’t arrive warm enough to melt it, so we were eating chunks of it.  It had lots of apples and raisins, which translates to “Stuff-in-the-stuff” for me personally.   It was very cinnamony, not too mushy, and a solid traditional.

Café Eau

I apologize for the confusion in advance.  Because if you read Steph’s opinion of this you have a clear picture painted and, it isn’t pretty.  Then here I come with the following…  “We loved it!”  Now I will admit, I didn’t think it was the greatest representation of Bread Pudding, in fact they could’ve called it something else entirely and I wouldn’t have thought of bread pudding at all. Also for those who hate the creamy custardy texture, you wouldn’t like it. That being said it was smooth and creamy and tangy and just crisp on the outside, and we devoured it.

Harvest

Definitely on the more bready side of bread pudding, but not dry. Like BREAD pudding.   Firm and filling. Good brioche base and we liked the sauce (though it could’ve been stronger).  The currants didn’t add much or take away, but I personally liked that there were no add ins. This was the kind of bread pudding I would serve to a friend who had never heard of Bread pudding, so they could start with a good basis, simple and classic.

Bridge Tap House

This was another case of, “if they’d called it something else…”   If they called it a banana bread cake, I would’ve really liked it.  Very moist and dense, but I didn’t really get the “Bread Pudding impression” as I ate it.  Very banana-y flavored, and it had the caramelized bananas on top.  The coffee flavor scared me (not much of a coffee drinker) but it wasn’t strong at all.  It wasn’t bad, but I must say the whole team LOVED the brownie and the chocolate cake there.

Cyrano’s

It’s a restaurant famed for its dessert.  This cute café is home to a bread pudding that’s a lot more on the pudding side. Like bread PUDDING.  Very buttery and “caramelly” and the cherry Bourbon sauce was a nice addition.  No other add-ins, but lots of fresh fluffy whipped cream.

Annie Gunn’s

All I can say is I swear they are not paying me for this. Maker’s Mark caramel sauce…a lot (of both sauce and booze).  Moist, thick, rich, dense, whole slices of bread (rather than pieces). Well balanced flavors and generous sizing made for a great treat the next day too! If you hate bananas, they didn’t go crazy with them, but I love them so booze-soaked bananas were a plus.

Eleven Eleven Mississippi

We missed the white chocolate on this pudding.  But we really thought the caramel sauce stood out here. Like the caramel sauce on popcorn, unique and yummy.  This was a bready pudding that was moister on the outside.

McCormick & Schmick’s

This was a smooth creamy chocolate Bread Pudding.  It had to be good to make Stephanie break her “no chain” rule.  This was worth breaking rules and diets alike.  It reminded me of what would happen if you combined bread pudding and chocolate soufflé.

Herbie’s Vintage 72

This was crispy on the outside, and melty and moist in the inside. It was generously spiked with Bailey’s.  It had no sauce, but just a drizzle of chocolate.  Not too dry, not too soggy.  Yum…just yum

Frazer’s

We liked that it was crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.  The sauce was pretty thin and not very strongly flavored, but the pudding could stand on its own.

Overall I think our top 3 are

Annie Gunn’s

Herbie’s Vintage 72

And I’m torn between Café Eau and McCormick & Schmick’s, neither is a very traditional version, but new and different.  I think I’ll say McCormick’s for number 3.  And I’ll give Café Eau a shout out for most unique take.

There you have it St. Louis, that’s our take, what do you think? Who wins the crown of “best BP” in town?

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