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Tuesday Jun 07, 2005.     By Jessica Herman

Food Feed

Growing up in southern California with frozen yogurt as my staple comfort dessert, I imagined that my adult-onset rice pudding obsession was an anomaly. However, a trip to New York led me to believe that I am not alone in my love for sweet, glutinous rice: In the heart of New York City I arrived at the palace of pudding, the Basket Robbins of arroz con leche, Rice to Riches. (Diehard fans of rice pudding will be pleased to know that Rice to Riches offers mail orders. Visit ricetoriches.com to peruse the list of twenty-plus options.) While the grocery store brand pudding, Kozy Shack, has found a home in my fridge at least once a month, I was inspired to find the local eateries doling out my dessert of choice.

Angel Food Bakery
File under: Polka dot puddin' good
Skip a few blocks east from the L and you'll find the cutest little thang there ever was. Stepping across the linoleum floor, past the lime green tablecloth covered tables, with mini vases touting beaded flowers, this place is love at first sight. A touch kitschy and a tad 1950s-style cutesy, Angel Food Bakery retains a strong sense of originality, flaunting polka-dotted lampshades and cotton candy pink treats with names like "humdingers." And despite the glass case worth of indulgences, pastry chef Stephanie Samuels claims that she keeps the charming rice pudding on a pedestal.

After receiving my order, a chunky scoop of sour cherry rice pudding, Samuels joined me at the table, wearing her cat-eye spectacles and a chocolate-stained apron. She explained that she makes her concoction like a risotto, cooked slowly on top of the stove with milk, vanilla bean, cinnamon and sugar, with dried sour cherries that turn the pudding a little bit pink and give it a chewy and tangy kick. One bite later, I was sold. Keep your eye on this one because Samuels plans on putting a twist on the recipe by using ingredients like purple or black rice and goat's milk.

Erwin
File under: Sweet home Americana
Entering Erwin from the back alley felt oddly suspicious. I had called just a half-hour earlier asking if the owner would agree to play my game and received prompt orders to meet him around the back at 3 p.m. A gaggle of assistants opened the screen door and ushered me through the kitchen to the grand master chef, who crouched in front of a thickly stacked refrigerator to find the coveted goods. He pulled out a deep tray and lifted the plastic wrapping to reveal a few inches-dense smear dusted in an opaque layer of cinnamon.

Fitting in with Erwin's comfort foods fare, Chef Erwin Drechsler's rice pudding is a relatively traditional rendition of this "homespun dessert." He prepares it as he would a basic custard, cooking the Arborio rice in whipping cream, egg yolks and milk with golden raisins and split vanilla beans. After scooping the meat of the cooked vanilla bean into the mix and tossing out the skin, he bakes the pudding in a warm water bath, stirring every 25 minutes. He serves it with whipped cream and maple syrup drizzled on top and a ginger snap on the side. Dreschler recommends pairing the pudding with similarly fruity drinks, like a late-harvest Riesling rather than a rich port, to top off this perfect blend of fine dining and comfort food.

Vermilion
File under: Sugar and spice and everything nice
Like her colleagues, Maneet Chauhan describes rice pudding as a basic comfort food reminiscent of her childhood in India, a treat that she now savors on her days off from churning out Bon Appetit-worthy recipes. But including the dish on her restaurant's menu not only satisfied her own appetite; acknowledging the influence of Latin American cuisine on her Indian-fusion dishes, Chauhan notes that rice pudding is a particularly popular dessert in Mexico. However, in true Vermilion style, the chef's version is a far cry from ordinary. Served in a martini glass, with a banana leaf at the base, the pudding is coated in ripples of kahlua and espresso ganache and topped off with toasted coconut, a sprig of mint and a papaya and mango Pico de Gallo.

"I don't let anyone touch it," she says, explaining that the rice takes at least three hours to make, from cooking the rice in milk to eventually adding coconut milk and coconut flakes, a touch of saffron and cardamom powder to the mix. Tingling on your every taste, it is at once bitter, sweet and tart. The ingredients, particularly the ganache, make for a rich, multidimensional dessert, more like a rice pudding sundae. Chauhan recommends pairing the dessert with a Grand Marnier, a glass of cognac or her current favorite, German Riesling.

Ann Sather
File under: Tastes like bread pudding
If you're accustomed to cold, gelatinous scoops of rice pudding, Ann Sather's Swedish version will catch you by surprise. The dense, yellow square, browned on top like a creme brule, is served warm out of the oven, with breadcrumbs, butter and eggs providing an edible glue and raisins adding a smattering of chewy texture. Appearance alone does not distinguish this batch from the rest; it is the overpowering taste and texture of egg that defines Ann Sather's dish, resulting in its overall bread pudding-style panache. Dig an inch deep and you'll find a sufficient glob of rice granules on your spoon, but don't expect anything less than an intensely eggy dessert.

Pegasus
File under: Plain Jane
Sitting at the bar pre-dinner hour rush, Pegasus' manager, who just happens to also be a chef, describes this cheaply made dessert as standard Greek fare. The key is cooking the rice on a low temp and stirring constantly for about a half-hour, then sticking it in the cooler before it's finished thickening. Compared to the rest of the puddings, Pegasus' dish is the smoothest, and tastes most like a vanilla pudding with rice added for texture. Take it with a cup of coffee, or better yet, a glass of the Greek brandy, Metaxa, for a relaxing afternoon snack. It will neither overwhelm nor underwhelm but leave you blissfully sugared for remains of the day.

Hilary's Urban Eatery
File under: Zest to the test
Compared to the rainbow sprinkle-coated carrot cake and the jars of jelly beans on the tables, an order of rice pudding may seem like an colorless option. Hilary, however, challenges that hypothesis. Served in a bowl large enough for two hungry diners and topped with fistfuls of whipped cream, this eatery's dish is all about the orange zest. Even if you're a fan of the flavor, the citrus tends to overpower the pudding near the top layer; stir it around before scooping up your first spoonful. Overall it has a moderately clumpy consistency, like oatmeal, with enough milk to create soupy puddles that loosen the batch. Fortunately, plump golden raisins, fattened from the milk, add a nice texture to an otherwise overwhelming mound of milky, sugary rice. Seat yourself in the back patio with two spoons and a friend with a sweet tooth and scoop away.

Orange
File under: Bon apertif, rice-style
While this citrus-theme brunch spot does not serve a traditional rice pudding dish, its frushi, fruit sushi, has made a name for itself around Chicago. Often served as a brunch appetizer, an order of frushi includes one roll, one nigiri and a simple fruit salad. After cooking the rice in a rice cooker, the chef mixes in sugar and fresh fruit juice, anything from grape or cantaloupe to the customer favorite, coconut. The flavored rice is then wrapped around slices of fruit and accompanied by a strawberry or mango coulis. The nigiri follows suit, with a single slice of fruit topping off a pile of tinted tropical rice.

Just like high quality sushi, this stuff melts in your mouth, and successfully showcases the natural flavors of a few raw ingredients. Paired with a glass of champagne or a mimosa, it's a healthy means to satiating your sweet tooth. However, despite the points Orange deserves for novelty's sake, frushi isn't much more than a creative fruit salad.