29 June 2026
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When temperatures climb, few things are as satisfying as a cold, creamy dessert. But at these MICHELIN Guide restaurants, pastry chefs take them far beyond the expected. From a masa-based riff on a ChocoTaco and a cereal-inspired ice cream sundae to a gelato-filled sphere with a hidden surprise inside, these five desserts deliver equal parts nostalgia, creativity and relief from the heat.
Alpine Strawberry Sphere
Quince
San Francisco, California
For Pastry Chef Jennifer Felton of Quince, the inspiration for her alpine strawberry sphere arrived in the form of a delivery from Middleton Farm in Healdsburg, just north of San Francisco in Sonoma County.
“It was a flat of alpine strawberries so intensely flavored and brilliantly colored that I wanted to build an entire composition around them,” she says.
She created a sphere of multiple flavors of gelato, served with lemon verbena cream and finished tableside with strawberry consommé and lemon verbena oil. The goal: maximum flavor, vivid color and a surprise inside.
“The sphere itself is a study in layers: herb gelato made from six fresh herbs (tarragon, mint, chervil, dill, cilantro and basil), followed by strawberry gelato, followed by white chocolate and vanilla,” Felton says. “When the strawberry consommé and lemon verbena oil are poured at the table, the first color surprise is revealed. When the guest cracks into the sphere, the second color surprise arrives. The reaction is consistent and entirely satisfying to watch...guests lean forward, then go quiet, then want to know exactly what they are eating.”
“It is both a celebration of a single farm and a reminder of how much a California summer can hold,” she says.
ChocoTaco
Suerte
Austin, Texas
At Suerte, the Austin restaurant celebrated for its masa-centric Mexican cooking, Pastry Chef Derrick Flynn found inspiration in an unlikely source: the Klondike ChocoTaco. The nostalgic treat — a waffle cone taco filled with ice cream, dipped in chocolate and coated in chopped peanuts — was once a staple of convenience stores, ice cream trucks and even Taco Bell before its discontinuation in 2022.
Flynn wasn't ready to let it disappear. In a flash of inspiration, he realized the shell should be made with masa, just like a real taco. After a week of testing, his version was born.
“From the start, fresh masa had to be the star — not a waffle cone or store-bought shell. We built everything from the shell up,” he says.
Flynn mixes fresh-ground masa with cocoa powder, sugar and other ingredients before pressing and frying the tortillas. They're then filled with peanut caramel and cinnamon semifreddo and frozen. To finish, each shell is dipped in milk chocolate and coated in toasted peanuts.
“It definitely scratches that nostalgic itch. It’s become the must-order dessert on our menu. It can never leave,” says Flynn.
Cinnamon Toast Sundae
The Bar Room at The Modern
New York, New York
Anchoring the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown Manhattan, The Modern offers both a refined dining room and a more casual Bar Room. It is in the latter that Pastry Chef Charlotte Brecher serves her playful cinnamon toast sundae.
The dessert was designed to tap into a sense of nostalgia. “For a lot of people, cereal is one of those things,” says Brecher. “We knew we wanted to pay homage to the best parts of a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal while adding a bit of balance and depth to the dish.”
To make the sundae, Brecher begins by steeping milk with corn flakes and burnt cinnamon sticks before churning it into ice cream and setting it atop corn flakes glazed with brown butter and golden syrup. A crisp tuile made from paper-thin slices of brioche, brushed with cinnamon syrup and baked until golden, adds crunch. The sundae is finished with the brioche tuile, lemon caramel and a sprinkle of flaky salt.
“There is something about familiarity that cannot be beat," says Brecher. “You're not just consuming that dish, you're reliving the memories you have associated with those flavors.”
Lemon Poppyseed Ice Cream Sando
Bayonet
Birmingham, Alabama
Pastry Chef Candace Foster designed Bayonet’s ice cream sandwich to evoke a sense of Southern comfort and familiarity. Inspired by a classic lemon poppyseed muffin, she created tender lemon poppyseed cookies that remain soft with every bite, avoiding the overly firm texture that can plague ice cream sandwiches.
The cookies are filled with silky olive oil ice cream, which Foster says provides a “‘fatty ‘butteriness’ without making it too heavy.” Lemon streusel adds crunch, while slow-roasted Chilton County strawberry jam brings a pop of color and fruity flavor.
Foster offers a simple comparison: “Think fresh muffin slathered with butter and fresh strawberry jam.”
Nutter Butter Ice Cream Bar
avec
Chicago, Illinois
A dressed-up riff on a classic Nutter Butter bar has been a favorite on the menu at avec for years. The dessert layers chocolate, caramel ganache, peanut butter and feuilletine (crisp, buttery flakes) finished with a thin layer of chocolate ganache.Pastry Chef Natalie Saben wanted to riff on that fan favorite for the rooftop opening of Bar Avec. “I was convinced that ice cream bars would make the most sense there, so I started working on turning the famous avec Nutter Butter square into an ice cream bar.”
The dessert begins with freshly churned peanut butter ice cream, which is scooped into flexible bar molds and frozen. Once set, the bars are unmolded, drizzled with salted caramel and returned to the freezer for an hour before being dipped in Magic Shell — a quick-setting chocolate coating — and finished with a sprinkle of sea salt.
The ice cream bar is a fitting creation for Saben. “I have always loved ice cream. One of my favorite memories as a kid was hearing the ice cream truck and begging my parents for money so I could run outside and get something.”
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Hero image: Cinnamon Toast Sundae © Kristen Hubby
