50 Favorites: Desserts
Each fall Birmingham Restaurants awards the 50 Favorites, best restaurant dishes found by B-Metro magazine and BirminghamRestaurants.com's food writer, Jan Walsh. Categories include 50 Favorite Appetizers; Sandwiches, Soups & Salads, Entrees, Desserts, and All Time Favorites, which are tried and true, memorable dishes that are repeat favorites for many years
Beignets - Cafe Dupont
Cafe Dupont's executive chef and owner, Chris Dupont grew up making beignets. As a boy he loved the beignets at New Orleans' restaurant, Cafe Dumont so much that he decided to try making them himself. Dupont’s beignets originate from an old New Orleans recipe. “I went to a used bookstore in the quarter and found an old cookbook, chef Dupont recalls. “It was old and brown. And it did not have measurements in it but used terms like ‘lumps of,’” he laughs. Dupont has since spent several decades perfecting the dish and no longer needs a recipe. “I make them from memory,” he explains. Dupont shares not only his learned techniques of handling the dough but also the original recipe.
Click here for Chef Dupont's recipe and techniques.
Butterscotch Cake - Highlands Bar and Grill
I did not think that Frank Stitt outdo his Sweet and Salty Chocolate Cake, so I ordered it and the Butterscotch Cake. Never hurts to have a back up... But the Butterscotch Cake is incredible! Three moist, airy layers are topped with a honey colored frosting, with chantilly Cream and candied pecans along side it. The cream adds another layer of decadence, and the pecans add crunch. And I have a new favorite cake at Highlands Bar and Grill.
Chocolate Fondue - The Melting Pot
The Melting Pot offers many chocolate choices for dipping and swirling. My pick is Amaretto Meltdown with silky white chocolate swirled with Amaretto and flambéed tableside. Select among the tray of dippers—fresh strawberries, bananas, pineapple, graham cracker coated marshmallows, bites of cheesecake, pound cake and brownies. And the brownie swirled in this chocolate pot is a chocoholic’s dream.
Chocolate Pecan Pie - Ocean
This dessert tastes as good as it looks! A lovely chocolate pecan tart is paired with Grand Mariner ice cream and caramel sauce—sweet!
Chocolate Pot De Creme - Chez Fonfon
At Chez Fonfon the first thing I see each time I enter the door is dessert. Fresh baked tarts, a towering cake and other specialties of the day line the antique, wooden server and the small, white marble-topped table beside it. But one dessert chilling is out of sight, chilling in the frig—Chocolate Pot De Creme. This silky chocolate custard arrives in a chilled, white, coffee cup resting on doily-lined saucer. A chocolate biscotti rises from the top of a cloud of whipped cream. And bite after bite, Chocolate Pot De Crème is heaven on spoon.
Cookie Dough Egg Rolls – Jackson’s Bar & Bistro 
Chocolate chip dough flash-fried in pastry with a chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. This has been a Jackson’s favorite since they opened. What is not to love about fried chocolate?
Peanut Butter Pie & Praline Cheesecake - Veranda on Highland
Some chefs are savory chefs. Others are dessert chefs. And 
some are equally talented at both, such as Veranda On Highland's executive chef Thomas Robey. His desserts are as 
delicious as the savory dishes they follow, and this makes selecting only one of his desserts impossible. I stopped making peanut butter pie when I tasted this salty pretzel crust, with warm chocolate ganache and a crust of house made brittle. New Orleans Style Praline Cheesecake. The luscious and creamy cheesecake is filled with little crunches of his pralines and topped with a praline sauce. And this synthesis of cheesecake and praline candy is a Birmingham original.
Homemade Ice Cream - Bottega Cafe
Bottega Cafe’s dessert menu is not printed. True to Italian Trattoria style it is found on the bar’s chalkboard: Pumpkin Cheesecake, Guinness Stout Cake, 7-layer Coconut Cake, Pear and Almond Tart and homemade Ice Creams. We order and share the homemade ice creams: luscious Maple, creamy Vanilla, and deep, dark Chocolate Jack Daniels. This dreamy trio is served with a homemade warm, coconut macaroon and a crisp checkered chocolate and vanilla cookie—making another sweet memory of Bottega Cafe.
Tirmmasu & Cannoli - Nabeel's Cafe
Tiramasu achieves perfection in its balance of cake, cream, cocoa and espresso. And the cannoli’s light, flaky crust is filled with fabulous creamy center. The Cannoli is crisp, light and dreamy.
Trio of Doughnuts - Hot and Hot Fish Club
What can beat a hot doughnut? Three hot doughnuts. This Trio of Doughnuts dish on the dessert menu at Hot and Hot Fish Club is a must. Three beautiful doughnuts: Pistachio Glazed, Blueberry Jam, and Chocolate Orange Glazed are hot, moist and light. And each have their own individual flavors, making it a divine dessert in itself! Find the recipe in Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook: A Celebration of Food, Family and Traditions, pages 257 – 259.