If you’re like most diners, you look at a menu and daydream that perhaps you could just order one of everything. Most never do, and I was among them until the DC Food Bloggers Dessert Tour came along.
Once a month food bloggers from around the area, myself included, converge onto a restaurant and live out the fantasy of dessert before dinner and saying “We’ll have one of everything please!” By the end of the night, we’ll have tried the full dessert menu, pick apart our favorites and quietly gossip about the rest. Last nights tour took us to Againn gastropub on 11th St. NW.
The DC Food Bloggers outspoken favorites were the banoffee pie of bananas, caramelized milk, graham biscuits, whipped cream and gnache, seconded by the strawberry eton mess. I personally preferred the “mess” served in a mason jar with layers of almonds pastry cream, fresh local strawberries, meringue, and crème fraiche. It is a delightful summer dessert reminiscent of the flavors of a fraisier. My second favorite was actually a season dessert: strawberry basil milkshake make with cream cheese ice cream, and served with churros. My only hesitancy is I would have preferred the churros be thick and soft, whereas these felt more akin to the strays of a funnel cake, though no less delicious for it. The slight pepper flavor added by the basil was a grand accent to the strawberries. The only dessert that didn’t get as much love as some bloggers felt it deserved was the sticky toffee pudding with slightly bitter stout ice cream. Sadly it was left half uneaten, overshadowed by a delicious huckleberry galette with a Greek yogurt ice cream.
For those foodies looking to celebrate the royal wedding, Againn is also currently serving two special desserts in honor of the happy couple. You can get a slice of Prince William’s favorite chocolate gnache biscuit cake, which is rich and subtle, or a slice of traditional wedding fruitcake. The proceeds of these desserts will be donated to the Royal Charity Fund selected charity DC’s own Peace Players International.
Againn
1099 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
T 202.639.9830
Jana Erwin is the primary chef and writer of CherryTeaCakes.com, a non-profit venture combining the love of fine desserts and feeding the impoverished in Washington, DC. You can follow her posts on twitter:@cherryteacakes.
