Dessert is the perfect opportunity for whimsy: Even serious restaurants like the Four Seasons and Le Cirque use the course as a chance to serve up pink cotton candy and miniature chocolate pianos, respectively. Now, Bodega Negra at the Dream Hotel, an outpost of the London Latin sensation that opened in February, is making an end-of-meal impression. Its whimsical egg-themed dessert, Don Huevo, is causing an Instagram frenzy.
Chef Michael Armstrong, who moved from Tao in Las Vegas, and pastry chef Mauricio Santelice, who formerly cooked privately, were trying to come up with a signature dessert. They wanted it to match the buzzy new restaurant’s playful atmosphere: dark wood is offset by mirrors, copper finishes and a disco ball made from pennies, which all reflect the evening’s festivities.
“We wanted to make a simple chocolate cake exciting, and everybody seems to have a rich dark chocolate cake on the menu, so it can be a little played out,” explains Armstrong. “We were brainstorming in December, and the hotel exterior’s circular mirrors and windows made us think of something round. Mauricio brought up the idea of topping the cake with a chocolate dome, and it looked like an egg so we started referring to it as the Egg.’’
They wanted the shell to open up and reveal the cake for a little interactive theatrics, and the Mexican atmosphere influenced their choice of catalyst. “We talked about using cajeta — a warm caramel sauce made with goat’s milk to melt the white chocolate shell.’’Everyone has been filming it. As soon as it gets presented, the phones come out.
- Chef Michael Armstrong
Before the Egg was white, the chefs experimented with a range of shades. “We tried milk chocolate, then dark chocolate, and then, a swirl, but white was the most dramatic,’’ recalls Armstrong. They also experimented with the cake’s chocolate before settling on Valrhona 66 percent. “It had the right balance of richness with a little bitterness,’’ he notes.
The cajeta was abandoned in favor of a caramel sauce made with Negra Modelo, a Mexican dark beer. “We thought the goat’s milk might alienate some people, and the beer adds depth and cuts the sweetness when we cook it down,” explains Armstrong.
Initially, the dome was adorned with a scorpion, inspired by Aztec and Mayan drawings. That image soon got the heave-ho. “We tried painting it on and spraying it on with a gun, but we couldn’t get it right,’’ he says.
So they attempted a series of other designs. They avoided anything intricate, since it would quickly melt anyway, and settled on a mustache, inspired by Santelice’s own facial hair. “I was always making fun of Mauricio’s mustache, so I drew this little chocolate replica on the mold, and it just worked,’’ recalls Armstrong. “It quickly became a joke in the kitchen and fit the mood of the place — we don’t take ourselves too seriously.’’
The dish was dubbed Don Huevo ($14), by the chefs, because it looked like an egg, but also had a little personality. The scorpion crept back into the picture in the form of a little piece of chocolate perched on the plate’s edge. When the cake comes out of the oven, it is immediately covered with the hollow white chocolate dome. The edges of the plate are swiped with bittersweet Valrhona dark chocolate, and the moustache is painted on. “It’s a quick process — it has to go out immediately,’’ says Armstrong. “Sometimes Mauricio comes out and pours the hot sauce.’’
A scoop of horchata ice cream, made from the Mexican rice drink, sits on top of the cake. “You can see the display from other tables, so everyone has started ordering it.’’
Bodega Negra has started distributing adhesive mustache tattoos to guests. (Clearly, these have made their way onto social media.) Orlando Bloom, Naomi Campbell, Nigel Barker and Krysten Ritter have all visited the restaurant, and “1st Look” host Audrina Patridge was spotted with the dessert. “She seemed excited,’’ noted one restaurant employee.
And Don Huevo has become a star in his own right, on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. “Everyone has been filming it,’’ says Armstrong. “As soon as it gets presented, the phones come out.’’