SUGAR HIGH
The Next Generation of Portland Dessert Classics
Portland's pastry chefs push the boundaries of sweetness—with help from surprising savory ingredients.

Le Pigeon's Whoopie Pie by pastry chef Nora Antene.
Image: Stuart Mullenberg
Le Pigeon's Whoopie Pie
Pastry chef Nora Antene throws a few thunderbolts at a cult Amish sweet, making us wonder: why aren’t roasted red peppers in all chocolate desserts?
Building Blocks: Instead of the usual whipped cream, Antene’s soft, super-dark chocolate cookies bracket a cloud of mascarpone cheese—Italy’s sweet thickened cream.
Crushed Hazelnut Praline
Candied Red Pepper "Twizzler": This nabs our Most Inspired Garnish award: a mock licorice stick fashioned from red peppers, charred, dehydrated, candied, then brilliantly twisted. Fooled us!
Chocolate Sauce
Romesco (Spanish red pepper and nut sauce): The improbable moment that vaults this dessert into our hall of fame: dragging a forkful of whoopie pie through chocolate sauce, then landing in a lake of sweet, savory, smoky excitement. This is the wilder side of romesco, with roasted peppers, sure, but also ground-up cinnamon bread ends, caramelized tomato, and creamed sherry. There’s no going back.
Chocolate hazelnut tuile: A crackling, paper-thin cookie hides inside—a Le Pigeon–style “Easter egg.”
Maurice's Chocolate Box

Image: Stuart Mullenberg
On top: Some possibilities: toasted, bitter-nutty Woodblock cocoa nibs, or crunchy Valrhona dark chocolate pebbles
Cake: Could be either coffee-scented devil’s food or dark, toasty black sesame seed cake
Chocolate mousse: Lusciousness defined: yolk-rich, two kinds of chocolate, and a tang of crème fraîche
Banana mousse: An intense mix of ripe fruit whipped with cream
Castagna's Potato Skin Meringue

Image: Stuart Mullenberg
These smoked-sugar meringues look like the last gasp of fall leaves and smell like a campfire in the snow. Crack into always-inventive chef Justin Woodward’s creation to find icy pebbles of buttermilk granita perched over a potato-skin ice cream that revels in malty tones and creamy extremes. It’s a root cellar gone luxurious, a poetic ode to winter, and, in any season, a triumph.
Three Mind-Blowing Thai Desserts at Langbaan

Image: Stuart Mullenberg
Duck-egg ice cream sundaes
This Bangkok market specialty holds glistening chunks of salted corn, peanuts, caramelized sweet potatoes, strawberries—and a moan or two of well-earned pleasure.
Yok Manee
Earthy-sensual, coconut-shrouded clusters of herby tapioca, pounded corn, and mashed chestnuts cloaked in the heady whiff and smoke of Thai dessert candles.
Kanom Mor Gang
Intensely concentrated cashew/pistachio/almond-paste custard tarts adorned with crispy fried shallots, like a miraculous hybrid of pecan pie and Mom’s green bean casserole. Dessert selections change monthly.