A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

There are a lot of food events out there, but not a many that let pastry chefs flex their culinary muscles. I had the opportunity earlier this year to attend the Sugar Rush event, but the Donut Rise and Rumble is the only other dessert event I have heard of. This is the fourth year for this event, and I asked myself, ‘why haven’t I heard about this sooner?’ The event took place last month at Post 390 in the Back Bay. The line once you got in was a bit long, and after you got the pairings, there wasn’t a seat to be found, but even scrunched and standing in a corner, we savored every.last.bite.

So for $35, attendees got to sample some delicious donut and ice cream pairings and the ticket price also included access to the brunch buffet and coffee and espresso bar. It was nice to see people of all ages attend this event: groups of girlfriends, families with young children, empty nesters, and people on brunch dates.

So who were the chefs at the event this year?

Team 1: Craig Williams, Williams Family Baking Company & Aaron Cohen, Gracie’s Ice Cream
Team 2: Meg Thompson, SRV & Jacqueline Dole, Parlor Ice Cream Co
Team 3: Ellie Wallock, Puritan & Co. & Tyler Whitehorn, Rancatores Ice Cream
Team 4: Lauren Kroesser, Honeycomb Hamilton & Kristen Hanlon, Honeycomb Creamery
Team 5: Joshua Livsey, Harvest & Ice Cream from Picco
Team 6: Christina Larson, Bar Mezzana & Deena Jalal, FoMu
Team 7: Danica Lockett, Post 390 & Vince Petryk JP Licks
Team 8: Jaime Schick, Johnson and Wales & Valerie Nin, Grill 23 & Bar

What kind of things did we see this year? Honeycomb Creamery and Honeycomb put our a mocha nut crunch pairing: a fried brioche donut dipped in a brown butter honey glaze and sprinkled with sea salt. Topped with a rich chocolate and coffee ice cream and garnished with a wedge of honeycomb candy (ooooh that honeycomb candy was delicious!!!). Harvest had a yeasted doughnut with a cinnamon apple filling and a cranberry glaze (check out the center photo – how cute are those?). Picco had a Tahitian vanilla ice cream with a salted maple syrup sesame swirl. Parlor Ice Cream Co. had a passionfruit ice cream with coconut crunch that I was absolutely in love with. Jaime Davis Schick from Johnson and Whales University and Valerie Inn from Grill 23 put together “The Nutty Professor”, a jalapeño donut with a peanut butter glaze and candied peanuts that was paired with a Thai basil lime ice cream. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the flavors in this one, but was seriously impressed when I tasted it. Puritan and Company and Rancatore’s paired a sticky toffee pudding donut with a burnt caramel ice cream.

I was really impressed with the quality of the pairings and am eager to go again next year!

So who reigned supreme this year? Best Donut went to Harvest Restaurant, Best Ice Cream went to Honeycomb Creamery and Best Donut and Ice Cream pairing went to The Parlor Ice Cream Co. and SRV Boston.

Disclaimer: I was invited as a guest to sample the donut and ice cream pairings at the Donut Rise and Rumble event. All opinions are my own.

 

Tags: dessert, events, hosted