Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo
Ginger doughnuts with coconut sorbet at Tsunami Restaurant.
When someone says they "adored/loved/craved" and are "addicted" to a particular dessert, I need to check out what they're talking about. That's how Leslie Pretsch described via e-mail the house-made ginger doughnuts with coconut sorbet at Tsunami Restaurant.
She and her husband, Bill, raved about the doughnut/sorbet combination at a Christmas party I attended and then Leslie sent the follow-up e-mail. It didn't take me long to get to Tsunami.
I usually order the molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream at Tsunami, but this time I tried the Pretsches' recommendation. It's delicious.
"A former pastry chef of mine came up with that six years ago," said Ben Smith, Tsunami chef/owner. "It's been in and out of rotation for at least six years.
"I've always loved beignets, good old New Orleans beignets. When this dessert was proposed to me ... it gave sort of a Pacific Rim spin. ... That's what we do a lot of. We take common or classic dishes and put an Asian or Pacific Rim spin on it."
They use a "ton of fresh ginger" in the batter, Smith said. "The fresh ginger and the coconut, the whole juxtaposition of that and the cold and crispy and soft ... (It's) just a good yin and yang dish that really works."
I ate my doughnuts and sorbet without eating anything first. I asked Smith whether he thought the dessert was a good complement to a dinner. "Your typical meal at Tsunami is not a heavy, cloying, dense, stick-to-your-ribs kind of a meal," he said, adding: "It's a good followup to what your typical meal would be at Tsunami."
As for the doughnuts, Smith said, "It must be the Southern in me, (but) something fried is always a good way to finish a meal. Again, that could be coming from the 'fryer belt.'"
Tsunami Restaurant is at 928 South Cooper; (901) 274-2556.
Michael Donahue: (901) 529-2797; donahue@commercialappeal.com
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