Flaming Chartreuse liqueur is poured over the top of the Baked Alaska // Photo by Aaron Job
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler.
There are few rosters in modern dining that are as worthless as the dessert menu at a steakhouse. As if your wallet hasn’t been gouged enough, and your gullet weren’t already stuffed full of salt, starch, and buttery steak, here comes a parade of sad brownie sundaes and unfrozen cheesecake at an outrageous markup. It’s remarkable to come across a steakhouse dessert menu item that’s so good it necessitates maybe downsizing from the King’s Cut to the flatiron to save room.
So it is with the Baked Alaska ($18) at P.S. Steak, the new steakhouse by Jester Concepts (Parlour, Monello) that’s recently opened in the 510 Groveland building in the footprint of the legendary La Belle Vie. And sure, “baked Alaska at a steakhouse” seems about as en vogue as brandy Alexanders and lobster in aspic. But this rendition has been modernized and balanced out with a couple key ingredients.
Usually, baked Alaska is sweet on sweet on sweet—ice cream and sponge, maybe a jam or other filling, topped with torched meringue. P.S. Steak manages to keep things balanced all the way through—a sponge with the bitter aftertaste of coffee, a salted caramel ice cream, and the coup de grace, a saucepan full of flaming Chartreuse liqueur, drizzled on the meringue by chef Mike DeCamp himself. (He has so far managed not to burn off his trademark fiery philosopher’s beard with this tableside display.)
The Chartruese is the winning addition—it blankets the meringue with a mentholated crunch, adding some levity to what could be a dense motherlode of a dessert. The layers actually taste like layers—from bitter and sweet, to salty and herbal, to sweet and toasty, and back again. At $18, you’d be hard pressed to get through it with two people. After filling up on ribeye and potatoes aligot, this thing could be a dessert for six.
The Dish: Baked Alaska, $18
The Place: P.S Steak, 510 Groveland Ave., Minneapolis.
The Reason: It’s a lovely contrast between sweet and bitter, it feeds an army, and it features flaming Chartreuse
About John Garland
