Our first gathering featured a Fleming's burger and a Finale dessert, on a Wednesday, no less. If I had a picture of the burger, it would probably get blogged in this post, but I'll have to content myself with telling you all about a new item at Finale that combines two of my favorite things. This, dear readers, is Finale's peanut butter pie!
This immense dessert consists of a thin cocoa-peanut crust, one thick layer of peanut butter mousse, a thin chocolate ganache layer interspersed with peanuts, another thick mousse layer, and a substantive frosting-style topping of chocolate ganache. Garnishes include crumbled peanut brittle, chocolate gelato, and a creamy peanut drizzle.
The pie's crust is unremarkable. A dry blend of cocoa powder and peanut flour, it has less flavor than you would expect, and it crumbles too easily. The mousse itself is interesting, but not substantive enough to be the core, defining component of the dessert. It is extremely light and fluffy, with a very faint peanut butter flavor. It's more of a sturdy whipped cream than any mousse I've had, so I could more easily see it as a garnish on a cake or tart. The ganache layer separating the mousse layers is delicious, albeit too thin; fortunately, the topping makes up for that! The peanuts sounded like a nice touch but were actually disappointing. They had become too soggy in their proximity to the moist mousse, and as you may know, few dessert items are more unpleasant to me than soggy nuts. Moving on up the cake, we end with a gloriously thick topping of that chocolate ganache. Smooth, dense, and bittersweet, it is the perfect opposite to the airy, sugary mousse.
The garnishes are complex and interesting. The gelato, a chilly burst of bittersweet Valrhona chocolate, packs enough chocolate punch to compensate for any bites of pie lacking ganache. The peanut drizzle, seen at the tip of the pie, is boldly nutty and heavy with cream. The dessert as a whole benefits from the assertive peanut flavor; I only wish there was more of it on the plate! I do not recommend the peanut brittle, seen at the far side of the plate. Nuts, salt, sugar, and condensed milk do not make for a dessert, in my opinion, though the powdered brittle would be an interesting topping for the gelato or the ganache.
I'm not sure if I would order this pie again, but I appreciate Finale attempting a flavor pairing that is near and dear to my heart!
The Crew's next outing found us dessert-ing at an unexpected location. Firebrand Saints serves all manner of meats - the options include, and go beyond, mind-blowing burgers - in a bustling industrial space near Cambridge's Kendall Square. (I'm totally obsessed with the Kendall nightlife renaissance, btw.) I came to FS for the burger, and stayed for the cherry pie! They serve pies made from local fruits; we could choose from pear-cranberry, cranberry-nut, or cherry pie, to be served with chocolate or strawberry ice cream. The cherry/chocolate combination sounded the most appealing, and wow, did we make a good choice. Look at this beauteous slice, with its plump fruit, thick crust, and generous scoop:
The cherries were a delight, so tangy and juicy and bursting with flavor. I detected a hint of citrus in the filling, most likely to brighten the taste (as I have done with apples), and maybe even a faint nuttiness, though I saw no nuts. The crust was really unusual, giving me even more encouragement to try making a crust from scratch. It was simultaneously flaky and substantive, something I've never encountered. The surfaces browned so nicely, and you could taste the warm butter in every chewy, mouth-coating bite. The ice cream was a bit too dense on its own, but that became a non-issue when it was left to melt over and into the pie.
I would guess that FS switches up their pies based on whatever fruits are available on any given day; so, I'd love to go back and see what other varieties they serve. In the meantime, I have a renewed appreciation for fruit pies, particularly the cherry variety. I usually overlook that genre when considering what dessert to order or make, but I now have some compelling evidence to change my ways!
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