Since I've been away from my blog for several months (did a stint in Malaysia, Thailand and a couple of US trips), I thought I would post 2 entries for today. My last post was "The 1200 Challenge" - eating less than 1200 calories in one day. I think it's only appropriate that my second post of the day be on the other end of the caloric spectrum!
I love strawberries. Even a childhood stint working as child manual labor on my great-aunt's strawberry farm, which left my arms swollen with various bug bites and scratches, could not put a damper on my love of strawberries!
Living in Florida- which has more strawberry growing seasons than most parts of the US - is a great place to be when you're a strawberry lover. I'm originally from the Midwest where strawberry shortcake was either yellow sponge cake or pound cake. But now I am in "the South" where more of the strawberry shortcakes tend to be biscuit-based. I am a lover of all types of strawberry shortcakes, but my preference is a cake-based one (although I'll take angel food cake over pound cake) with a pureed strawberry sauce (none of that red artificial glaze gel goop stuff), large fresh berries and a generous dollop of whipped cream. I am not crazy about ones that incorporate ice cream - just give me the whipped cream!
I find that most of the places I go to, do not have a strawberry shortcake on their regular menu. But since it's summer, it seems like I am seeing strawberry shortcake everywhere! One of the many reasons I took "The 1200 Challenge" today is because I have been indulging way too much with treats like strawberry shortcakes!
I'm starting a "Restaurant Duels" section in my blog to compare the same dish from various different restaurants. Here is "A Tale of Three Shortcakes" - three different strawberry shortcakes - one from an inexpensive chain restaurant, another from my local "comfort food but with a gourmet flair" restaurant and one from one of my favorite high end restaurants. From the pictures, can you figure out which shortcake is from which restaurant?
Strawberry Shortcake #1:
Strawberry Shortcake #2:
Strawberry Shortcake #3: (strawberry sauce in a sauce boat not pictured)
Have you figured out which shortcake belonged to which price range restaurant? I'll tell you at the end of this blog, but first a little more about the shortcakes ...
Shortcake #1 is a biscuit-based strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberry ice cream and whipped cream. The biscuit was decent and I liked the presentation. The sauce was basically a pink strawberry flavored sugar sauce. It seriously tasted like simple syrup. Blend a few strawberries in there, please! I believe the strawberry ice cream was homemade at the restaurant and it was good, however the strawberry chunks were too big so there were these huge frozen ice chunks of strawberry that were off-putting in the very creamy ice cream. I would have rather thrown out the ice cream, plopped more whipped cream on it and made a better strawberry sauce.
Shortcake #2 is also a biscuit-based strawberry shortcake, but you'll have to trust me on that since this bowl was overflowing with strawberries that the biscuit was completely hidden. The berries were very fresh and the biscuit was still slightly warm as if it had been freshly pulled from the oven. Although I suspect it may have just been slightly microwaved! The biscuit was moist, dense enough to hold up against the rich strawberry sauce but still fluffy. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Again, with my purist shortcake views - I could have done without the ice cream. But this mighty bowl of strawberries was delicious!
Shortcake #3: Holy tower of CAKE, CAKE, CAKE! This is a pound cake-based strawberry shortcake. A tower of layers of cake, whipped cream and berries with a pureed strawberry sauce on the side. First, I have to say that I love having the strawberry sauce on the side. I don't like my food drowning in sauce. I like to be in control! I wanted to love this incredible tower of shortcake. The presentation is great and I am a girl who loves a generous portion of whipped cream. But sadly, this shortcake was not great. The pound cake was dense as a rock, completely dry and tasteless. Had I been the pastry chef and realized the pound cake was dry, I would have cut the pieces much thinner and grilled them. It would have added more flavor. The whipped cream, berries and strawberry sauce were terrific.
I like to think my palate prefers expensive restaurants to inexpensive chain restaurants, but when it comes to Restaurant Duel: A Tale of Three Shortcakes - I found the inexpensive chain restaurant to have the best overall strawberry shortcake.
Favorite Overall: Strawberry Shortcake #2 I am shocked that my overall favorite in A Tale of Three Shortcakes came from the inexpensive chain restaurant. Strawberry Shortcake #2 came from Bob Evans Restaurant in Lady Lake, Florida. Sometimes the inexpensive, simple desserts are the best!
Second Runner-up: Strawberry Shortcake #1 This biscuit-based shortcake came from Bailey's Restaurant on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida. Bailey's has a new menu each week. In my opinion, their cuisine is "comfort food with a gourmet flair." While their shortcake was not my overall favorite, I have several favorites from their comfort food menu.
Sorry no prize: Strawberry Shortcake #3 This one came from one of my favorite restaurants in the world, The St. Paul Grill in the St. Paul Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. Even though I found your dry, tasteless tower of shortcake lacking - I'll be back for your other much tastier dishes!
I think the pound cake vs. sponge cake vs. biscuit debate for a proper strawberry shortcake will go on to the end of time. But give me a slice of fat free angel food cake, fresh berries, some pureed berries and some fresh whipped cream with almond extract and that's my idea of heaven ... That would bump Bob Evans' version right off the map!
Do you have a favorite version of strawberry shortcake? Leave me a comment!
I love strawberries. Even a childhood stint working as child manual labor on my great-aunt's strawberry farm, which left my arms swollen with various bug bites and scratches, could not put a damper on my love of strawberries!
Living in Florida- which has more strawberry growing seasons than most parts of the US - is a great place to be when you're a strawberry lover. I'm originally from the Midwest where strawberry shortcake was either yellow sponge cake or pound cake. But now I am in "the South" where more of the strawberry shortcakes tend to be biscuit-based. I am a lover of all types of strawberry shortcakes, but my preference is a cake-based one (although I'll take angel food cake over pound cake) with a pureed strawberry sauce (none of that red artificial glaze gel goop stuff), large fresh berries and a generous dollop of whipped cream. I am not crazy about ones that incorporate ice cream - just give me the whipped cream!
I find that most of the places I go to, do not have a strawberry shortcake on their regular menu. But since it's summer, it seems like I am seeing strawberry shortcake everywhere! One of the many reasons I took "The 1200 Challenge" today is because I have been indulging way too much with treats like strawberry shortcakes!
I'm starting a "Restaurant Duels" section in my blog to compare the same dish from various different restaurants. Here is "A Tale of Three Shortcakes" - three different strawberry shortcakes - one from an inexpensive chain restaurant, another from my local "comfort food but with a gourmet flair" restaurant and one from one of my favorite high end restaurants. From the pictures, can you figure out which shortcake is from which restaurant?
Strawberry Shortcake #1:
Strawberry Shortcake #2:
Strawberry Shortcake #3: (strawberry sauce in a sauce boat not pictured)
Have you figured out which shortcake belonged to which price range restaurant? I'll tell you at the end of this blog, but first a little more about the shortcakes ...
Shortcake #1 is a biscuit-based strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberry ice cream and whipped cream. The biscuit was decent and I liked the presentation. The sauce was basically a pink strawberry flavored sugar sauce. It seriously tasted like simple syrup. Blend a few strawberries in there, please! I believe the strawberry ice cream was homemade at the restaurant and it was good, however the strawberry chunks were too big so there were these huge frozen ice chunks of strawberry that were off-putting in the very creamy ice cream. I would have rather thrown out the ice cream, plopped more whipped cream on it and made a better strawberry sauce.
Shortcake #2 is also a biscuit-based strawberry shortcake, but you'll have to trust me on that since this bowl was overflowing with strawberries that the biscuit was completely hidden. The berries were very fresh and the biscuit was still slightly warm as if it had been freshly pulled from the oven. Although I suspect it may have just been slightly microwaved! The biscuit was moist, dense enough to hold up against the rich strawberry sauce but still fluffy. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Again, with my purist shortcake views - I could have done without the ice cream. But this mighty bowl of strawberries was delicious!
Shortcake #3: Holy tower of CAKE, CAKE, CAKE! This is a pound cake-based strawberry shortcake. A tower of layers of cake, whipped cream and berries with a pureed strawberry sauce on the side. First, I have to say that I love having the strawberry sauce on the side. I don't like my food drowning in sauce. I like to be in control! I wanted to love this incredible tower of shortcake. The presentation is great and I am a girl who loves a generous portion of whipped cream. But sadly, this shortcake was not great. The pound cake was dense as a rock, completely dry and tasteless. Had I been the pastry chef and realized the pound cake was dry, I would have cut the pieces much thinner and grilled them. It would have added more flavor. The whipped cream, berries and strawberry sauce were terrific.
I like to think my palate prefers expensive restaurants to inexpensive chain restaurants, but when it comes to Restaurant Duel: A Tale of Three Shortcakes - I found the inexpensive chain restaurant to have the best overall strawberry shortcake.
Favorite Overall: Strawberry Shortcake #2 I am shocked that my overall favorite in A Tale of Three Shortcakes came from the inexpensive chain restaurant. Strawberry Shortcake #2 came from Bob Evans Restaurant in Lady Lake, Florida. Sometimes the inexpensive, simple desserts are the best!
Second Runner-up: Strawberry Shortcake #1 This biscuit-based shortcake came from Bailey's Restaurant on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida. Bailey's has a new menu each week. In my opinion, their cuisine is "comfort food with a gourmet flair." While their shortcake was not my overall favorite, I have several favorites from their comfort food menu.
Sorry no prize: Strawberry Shortcake #3 This one came from one of my favorite restaurants in the world, The St. Paul Grill in the St. Paul Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. Even though I found your dry, tasteless tower of shortcake lacking - I'll be back for your other much tastier dishes!
I think the pound cake vs. sponge cake vs. biscuit debate for a proper strawberry shortcake will go on to the end of time. But give me a slice of fat free angel food cake, fresh berries, some pureed berries and some fresh whipped cream with almond extract and that's my idea of heaven ... That would bump Bob Evans' version right off the map!
Do you have a favorite version of strawberry shortcake? Leave me a comment!
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