What is most interesting about strawberries, a favorite on the American fruit parade, is how infrequently they are used. Not that they are absent from the standard bakery tart or cheesecake, the rosters of ice cream, or pots of preserves, but many chefs these days have begun to see them as a seasonal fruit, at their best in late spring and summer, instead of as a year-round staple like bananas.
And right now is when strawberries are blooming all over dessert menus. For a good indication of this trend, there are the menus served at James Beard Foundation dinners. There were no strawberry desserts at all this year, until May, when five chefs prepared them, and June, when six of the desserts involved strawberries. Among those featured were Chino Farms strawberries and basil ice cream with white-chocolate mousse; matcha green-tea granité and pistachios from Aterra in San Diego; and the mousses of strawberries, shiso, black sesame and chocolate from Sumile Sushi in New York.
But the most popular preparation remains the classic shortcake, or some cunning variation on the concept. The strawberry shortcake is as straightforward as can be at the Sono Baking Company and Café in South Norwalk, Conn.
Martini House in St. Helena, Calif., pairs its strawberry-rhubarb shortcake with buttermilk ice cream and mint syrup.
BRestaurant and Bar in Oakland, Calif., has an orange-blossom-scented strawberry shortcake served with mint, sherry and whipped cream. Commander’s Palace in New Orleans serves Ponchatoula strawberry shortcake.
On the roster of seasonal desserts at The Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton, Conn., there is a strawberry Napoleon with rhubarb sorbet garnished with rhubarb crisps. A dinner at the James Beard House last month ended with strawberry cream pie and strawberry sorbet.
At Poste Moderne Brasserie in Washington, D.C., chef Robert Weland opts for wild strawberries to layer in a rhubarb and buttermilk parfait. Marseille in New York adds strawberries and strawberry-champagne granité to its crème brûlée.
An all-strawberry dessert, Le Fragole, at Maestro in the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner in McLean, Va., consists of strawberry sorbet, strawberry rice paper, a strawberry and wildflower honey coulis and mascarpone, and a strawberry martini alongside.
Essencia, a new Peruvian operation in San Francisco, garnishes a guanabana mousse with fresh strawberries. At Norman’s in Los Angeles, a warm bittersweet chocolate and local strawberry phyllo parcel comes with candied orange-vanilla ice cream and a chocolate and honey mousse.
The brunch menu at Goblin Market in New York includes lemon-buttermilk pancakes with a compote of vanilla-braised strawberries and baby kiwis. And as can be expected, chocolate-dipped strawberries have not been ignored. Lola’s on Harrison in Hollywood, Fla., serves the perennially popular item.