Great Street Cafe -- Sweet Surprise!

Folks...

I've been going to the Great Street Cafe at the Renaissance Hotel for lunch for several years. I's a buffet and as hotel buffets go, it's not bad. You can order the salad side or the main entrees plus salad for $22 (not sure how much just the salad is). There are nicely made pasta salads, grilled and roasted vegetables, hummus and pita, occasionally delicious sliced meats and always good cheese and fruit as well as three or four main entrees (a meat, a chicken, a fish/seafood and a vegetable medley and pasta). It's almost always fresh and kept up by a good and attentive waitstaff and you never want for beverages. It's a bit pricey for a lunch but occasionally, I want to sit and enjoy their airy space and eat something more interesting than a Potbelly's sandwich. It's a treat.

However...lately there's something major going on here. There is always a dessert selection for after you eat as much as you can -- they've always been, for the most part, minatures of cake, cookies, puddings, etc. and pretty decent tasting but nothing to write home about. In the last six months, however, things have changed. The first time I noticed it was about 2 or 3 months ago with a little mousse in a little glass. It was divine. Like...one of those special little chocolates at Canady Le Chocolatier that look so pretty and then are just a little taste of heaven. Normally I would have a little taste of this or that just to augment the fruit I'd have but now...the dessert is the main event. I've asked the waiters about the pastry chef but none of them have been very forthcoming -- they have told me that someone came on board about six months ago -- but the improvement in the dessert selection and execution is like going from a good local artist to a Manet. This woman (i've been told it's a woman) is a friggin' genius. Today the selection was cupcakes, mandarin orange mousse, chocolately fudgey brownies, little oatmeal raisin cookie sandwiches and green tea creme brulee. I tried 3 of the cupcakes -- chocolate with a bittersweet chocolate ganache, lemon with the lightest lemon buttercream you've ever tasted and a sublime orange vanilla cupcake with a crumb so delicate and light that it practically flew into your mouth and melted there. The orange mandarin mousse came in a little cordial glass with a tiny little spoon and it was topped with a bright orange and bright tasting orange gelee, a lighter foamy orange mandarin mousse, a slice of mandarin orange and a creamy yogurty filling to smooth out the bright citrus notes. It was simply incredible. I must have looked like the woman in the throes of passion, LTH...i was seriously transported. The best of all were the little sandwich cookies. The cookies were slightly chewy and almost, it seemed, warm. Not too sweet, with raisins and walnuts (i think walnuts -- the crunch was a nice plus) and sandwiching a yummy marshmallowy creamy vanilla filling. I would buy them by the score if I could. But...i shouldn't be eating any of this stuff. I couldn't, however, help it.

So..if you're in the mood for a major treat and a decent salad --I'd hightail it over there and check it out. I wish this woman would go open a bakery and let me know about it. I can't honestly say I've ever been this taken by dessert -- something that honestly made me speechless with its excellence.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else out there has had the same reaction as me.

Shannon