Saturday, September 11, 2010

Extraordinary Desserts - San Diego (Little Italy)

Since I brought dinner, I asked lil' sis where she was going to take me for dessert. :P


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She suggested Extraordinary Desserts. And after looking at their website, I started whining,

"When are we gonna go get dessert?"

"When are we gonna go get dessert?"

"When are we gonna go get dessert?"

Oooh! What desserts indeed!


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Want!


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Want that too!


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And that too!


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Oh! And that!


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Not that. Pretty. But I make really good Meyer Lemon Shortbread Bars so no need to buy.


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These cakes look like hats to me.


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Know how much "Falling in Love" costs?


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$30!

For that little tin of tea. Geez, who can afford to fall in love at those prices?

After about a 15 minute wait, our table was ready. The space was really large and airy.


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Which made the acoustics terrible because I could hear the rattling of plates and cutlery and murmurs and voices.

And the prices! The desserts sure were pretty but most of them cost $8.95.

To which, lil' sis asked that oldest nephew and I quit complaining about her pick and just enjoy our outing. Sorry lil' sis! We will try not to rain on your parade.

She picked something called la bete noire. Mmm. Chocolate cake with a chocolate and a cream layer.


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Her friend ordered a chocolate crust tart with fruit and chocolate shavings.


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I ordered a chocolate pecan tart, but the waitress brought me a chocolate hazelnut tart. Lil' sis insisted on returning it so I could get what I ordered, but it looked so pretty!


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I'll eat it anyway.

But it's not what I ordered she insisted. And it just looked like a big pile of chocolate cream. My pick was studded with pecans and was a bigger tart. I was thinking of my dessert to dollar ratio when I ordered.

Besides, it's got hazelnuts. That's Oregon's state nut you know.

Apparently, lil' sis and oldest nephew did not know.

They didn't know hazelnuts were also called filberts.

Or that Oregon's state bird is the Western meadowlark.

Or that Oregon's state tree is the Douglas fir.

Or that Oregon's state flower is the Oregon grape.

Geez! How can you call yourselves Oregonians?!

Oldest nephew asked what the beaver is then.

Oregon's state animal.

Oh yeah, so about the desserts.

The four of us couldn't quite manage to finish it all. American desserts just have too much sugar. The first few bites are good, then I fall into sugar overdose. And the two guys next to us ordered two desserts and two drinks EACH. Crazy!

Very pretty desserts. Very expensive desserts.

Extraordinary Desserts
1430 Union St.
San Diego, CA 92101
619-294-7001
Monday to Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Friday 8:30 a.m. to midnight
Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight
Sunday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

*****
1 year ago today, House of Many Windows - Mesa Verde National Park - Colorado.
2 years ago today, one of my most popular posts, 100 Vietnamese Foods to Try.
3 years ago today, 3 of 7 random things about me meme: I make my own Homemade Body Scrub.

19 comments:

  1. I keep hearing about this place but yikes, $8.95 is a lot. That's like ordering dessert at fancy restaurants!

    On the other hand, $30 seems cheap for love? :P

    And filbert, really?

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  2. Ha! I remember Extraordinary Desserts as extraordinary in looks & price... but the taste felt more like "extra ordinary" (not bad, just not WOW)

    I did enjoy the drinks there . . .

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  3. I used to be a huge fan of ExDes in college, but it's become way too sweet for me. I never figured out what changed, the desserts or my palate. $8.95 is steep, but their pavlova is totally worth it.

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  4. hi wc - i like ED too. the little italy location is really nice and much larger than the one uptown (up 5th avenue before hitting hillcrest). the desserts are really pretty but super super sweet. i love how they plate their desserts with fruit pureers and sometimes decorate with gold or silver flecks. their prices haven't gone up that much in the past 15 years. at the original location, the average price of a slice of cake was about $7.95. my fave is the passionfruit ricotta torte.

    yay for beavers!!!!!

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  5. I think I just got hyperglycemic from staring at all those photos!

    I've never had ED before, but they look like they would be decadent. :)

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  6. I am in awe of all these pretty desserts. How do you decide?

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  7. I've never been because I suspected most things were chocolate. :P

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  8. I love their use of flowers for a fresh look. And I'm totally with you on too-sweet desserts. I like your conclusion over the tea prices: "Geez, who can afford to fall in love at those prices?"

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  9. Never knew that about the Oregon grape, but the rest I knew :) Yes! Plus 1 for the wannabe Oregonian :) Those desserts look yummy, I want to make your lemon bars now :)

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  10. GP,
    I think Extraordinary Desserts considers itself a fancy restaurant. Ha! $30 to fall in love is expensive. Now, $30 to have someone fall in love with you would be cheap. :P

    HC,
    Drinks were expensive too!

    Moowiesqrd,
    I thought of getting the pavlova, but since it's basically a meringue, I can do that myself. Same as the lemon bars theory.

    CC,
    When you put it like that, desserts were really expensive when it started out then! I did like having the gold flakes, but I'd sacrifice not eating gold in exchange for $1 less in cost. :P

    Diana,
    Definitely. The first half of the dessert is good, the second half was way too sweet.

    Daphne,
    It was hard! I wandered back and forth many times before picking and I didn't even get what I picked. Oh well.

    WeeMo,
    But they did have several non-chocolate items too in case you want to visit.

    Nikki,
    I wondered if the flowers were edible and organic? If they're using florists' flowers, ack! But that does give me ideas on raiding my sad little garden for decorations.

    Anna,
    Haha. You know more than the native Oregonians then. :P

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  11. Extraordinary Desserts has always been expensive, but the presentation of the food is so pretty. Everything looks so good, it's hard to make a decision. I've never been to the Little Italy location, but I understand it's got an industrial look, hence the bad acoustics. The original Hillcrest location is like a cottage.

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  12. I love this place. It is definitely something I reserve for out of town guests and special occasions. Like CC, I love the passion fruit torte, I also like the noire, the first one you got. The prices are steep, I agree, but the desserts are so beautifully presented and the cakes are quite complex, so I think it's worth the indulgence every once in a while.
    The flower decorations are edible.

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  13. I am going to San Diego this weekend. I think I will go there and try one of the beautiful desserts. You should try the Buon Apetito restaurant at Little Italy when you go there next time. It's really good. I blogged about it on my blog if you're interested to read it.

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  14. Is someone going to point out that Bitte Noir translates to ''black d*ck* in French?!

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  15. Sandy,
    A cottage. That sounds cute. I actually like the modern look of this location, but the high ceilings and concrete floors sure don't help with the acoustics.

    Kirbie,
    It was a special occasion -- I was in town. :P

    FC88,
    I'll keep that restaurant in mind next time I'm down.

    O_o,
    Haha. So apparently, the cake is really called "la bete noire." My quickie non-existent French completely massacred that name. "The black beast" not *ahem* what you said. Bwhahaha! I got such a laugh out of that. Teaches me I should double-check to make sure when I deal with foreign words. :P Thanks for the correction!

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  16. I wish I had metabolisms like those guys next to you. Ahh, to enjoy two desserts each and not gain an ounce would be a dream come true! ;)

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  17. Food Gal,
    Those guys ended up taking home leftovers too. Two of these desserts was way too much, even for them.

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  18. I was thinking of taking my husband there for his birthday, as he doesn't have a sweet tooth, he has sweet "teeth", but since I don't like sweet stuff, he didn't want to go there and eat while I wouldn't order anything for myself. So we ended up buying something different, also very sweet, but not that pricey.

    I did stop by there with a friend who ordered something to go a couple of years ago, and I really like the way they decorate their cakes. It's so beautiful! Maybe that's why their price is so high as it certainly takes time to do a great job like they do.

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  19. Co Toan,
    There's less sweet desserts you could try. Or just eat a few bites of his dessert and sip tea. All those flowers must cost a bundle to decorate so that's where most of the cost seems to lie.

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