Sep. 18, 2007 - Issue #622: Horns Up !
Life is like a buffet of chocolate
But you know what you're gonna get at the Sutton Place Hotel
When I’m in this kind of mood, I take my love interest to the Chocoholic Buffet at the Sutton Place Hotel. Strawberries dipped in chocolate await me in the Central Park Lounge, pining for my touch.
A dipped strawberry is the ultimate example of a chocolate seduction. The fruit’s firm flesh beckons with turgid ripeness, inviting me to coat it in that thick, warm chocolate bath. I probe with my tongue and teeth, and then drive through in a huge thrust that breaks through the chocolate barrier and treats me to an eruption of tart-sweet flavour into my mouth and down my chin.
We found ourselves under palm trees that soar to the ceiling’s skylights, with wrought-iron railings and an indoor garden providing a buffer between us and the lobby of the hotel. On the last Thursday of each month, a live jazz trio provides soft background music to chocoholic fun. Of course, it’s always in the back of my mind to book one of the hotel’s rooms if our chocolate seduction gets carried away.
I like to begin with the fondue, where I can dip thick wedges of tart pineapple into a vat of dark Callebaut chocolate. When we’re back at our quiet corner table, I’ll gently suck the still-warm chocolate from the fruit.
The latest light of my life prefers the chocolate pecan tart. The burly construction worker claimed that the combination of crunchy nuts, flaky crust and chewy brownie makes a chocolate treat more suited to the He-man type. “Men aren’t meant to like light, fluffy chocolate,” he said as he picked up his plate for our first trip to the buffet.
This meant that he left the chocolate mousse in stem glasses for me. They had a creamy texture and a delicate tap of chocolate taste, rather than a chocolate uppercut. “A man’s got to be prepared to take the punch,” he declared and headed for the Black Forest cake.
I dared him to be the first to attack the mountain perched next to the cakes. A stack of miniature cream puffs was drizzled in rivers of chocolate and sprinkled with icing sugar snow. When he was done separating pastries from their perch, his hands were sticky with chocolate and cream. I whispered my offer to lick his fingers clean. He agreed, but only if I let him watch me suck the chocolate off the fondue fruit: that was the idea anyway, and we returned quickly to our cozy seats.
The $16 buffet included a drink, but we stuck to water and coffee to cleanse our palates in between rounds of chocolate. When we were ready for our second tasting of yummy desserts, we opted for the crepe station. Sally, the buffet’s resident crepe maker extraordinaire, spread the batter, flipped and folded the crepes as we waited.
(Sally, incidentally, used to write about food. One day, she realized that she liked writing about food because she loved working with food, so she went back to school and became a chef.)
When the crepes were done, Sally sprinkled them with Grand Marnier. My favourite was a subtle combination of almonds, strawberries and white chocolate shavings, while my beau favoured a high-octane mix of bananas, whipped cream and butterscotch chips. He teased me about needing the extra energy to keep up with me all night. I wasn’t sure if he meant my chocolate consumption or the way I planned to work off the calories later on.
I accompanied my crepe with a slice of white chocolate mousse cake and found the light white cake a nice contrast to the strong taste of the one dark treat I chose: a petite mocha chocolate mousse cup, complete with a crunchy chocolate boat filled with a whipped cream and chocolate mix and boasting a chocolate pipe sail.
The combination of caffeine, sugar and flirting had us both feeling reckless, but we tried to keep control. At a nearby table, a couple was holding hands, toasting with champagne and sharing a single piece of cake. While we lustfully enjoyed the passionate associations of chocolate, others associate chocolate with love and romance.
I predicted that our restraint wouldn’t hold as we made our third trip to the buffet. Loverboy had his eye on a new creation—chocolate pizza—while I aimed for the flourless chocolate cake. It was a light-tasting cross between brownie and mousse, topped with whipped cream and delicious strawberries. I always finish with this cake, which I consider to be the best of the buffet’s desserts.
The chocolate pizza had a thick, cake-like base, raspberry sauce, chunks of pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon, all topped with a chocolate crust. He declared it to be another man-friendly dessert.
After spending time at the sumptuous buffet, I felt rather man-friendly myself. If I had written the refrigerator scene for 9 1/2 Weeks, I would have made it all about the chocolate. V
Thursdays and Fridays 5 -10pm
Chocoholic Buffet
Sutton Place Hotel
10235 - 101 Street
428.7111
More info about Chocoholic Buffet →
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