The Dish

First Look at Dominique Ansel Kitchen’s Flaming Meringue Heartbreak

Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

In June, Dominique Ansel will launch U.P. (short for “unlimited possibilities”), the after-hours eight-course tasting menu at his new West Village bakery. Here, at an eight-seat chef’s table that descends from the rafters on thick wire cables into the middle of the prep kitchen, Ansel and executive pastry chef Karys Logue will debut all sorts of high-concept composed desserts, with drink pairings by Don Lee. (U.P. will deploy the Tock prepaid ticketing system; two seatings a night Friday through Sunday.) The inaugural tasting is all about “firsts”: word, kiss, etc. With its ice cream and flaming meringue, First Heartbreak riffs on baked Alaska, but Ansel imbues the scorched petals of the bloom-shaped course with greater significance: “Something that beautiful collapsing,” he says. “That’s heartbreak.”

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On the tasting menu at U.P. at Dominique Ansel Kitchen, $75 (plus $35 cocktail pairing); 137 Seventh Ave. S., nr. Charles St.; dominiqueansel kitchen.com/up.

Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

*This article appears in the May 18, 2015 issue of New York Magazine.

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