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How sweet: 12 desserts to indulge in

By Pam Kragen
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If sugar’s going to be in the mix, get your sweet fix (before New Year’s Day dieting begins) at these 12 San Diego restaurants. Indulging in festive and heartwarming over the holidays - dozen it feel good?

Rustic Root

Dark chocolate doughnuts

Every Monday night, Rustic Root rolls out its decadent, bittersweet doughnuts, handmade with buttermilk, cinnamon sugar and warm chocolate glaze. Enjoy some with a glass of red wine in the rooftop lounge.
535 Fifth Ave., Gaslamp, 619.232.1747, rusticroot.com

Urban Solace

Sweet potato and pecan pie

Chef Matt Gordon’s seasonal winter pie is made with sweet potatoes, brown sugar, toasted pecans and a topping of whipped crème fraîche. The three-layer baked pie has a hand-rolled dough crust; a creamy sweet potato and pumpkin pie-spice layer; and a light, caramelized sugar and pecan top layer. Available by the slice or the pie.
3823 30th St., North Park, 619.295.6464, solacerestaurants.com

Pillbox Tavern

Apple crumb brandy cheesecake

This dessert starts with a graham cracker crust made with chopped walnuts and pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon. The cheesecake is flavored with brandy and layered with a baked apple crumb topping. Not a cheesecake fan? Consider Pillbox’s caramel apple crisp with pumpkin spice ice cream.
117 W. Plaza St., Solana Beach, 858.436.7016, pillboxtavern.com

Barleymash

Grilled s’mores sandwich

This holiday warmup offers one of the county’s most unique takes on campfire s’mores. House-made slices of molten vanilla bean marshmallow and warm bourbon chocolate ganache are sandwiched between fresh-toasted slices of cinnamon swirl bread and served with a scoop of cinnamon crunch ice cream that’s decorated with a Christmas tree-shaped graham cracker cookie.
600 Fifth Ave., Gaslamp, 619.255.7373, barleymash.com

The Cork & Craft

Sweet potato clafoutis

Pastry chef Brenda Gonzalez creates desserts for every season. This fall’s offerings include a sweet potato-based clafoutis (a baked French dessert that mixes fruit with a flanlike batter). This cake is served with a dash of purple sweet potato puree, cranberry sauce, spiced meringue crumble and panforte ice cream.
16990 Via Tazon, Rancho Bernardo, 858.618.2463, thecorkandcraft.com

Jsix

Fig and brie tart

Almost too pretty to eat, this sweet and savory baked tart is made with creamy French cheese and sliced figs seasoned with herb-infused local honey and the spicy leaves and flowers of the anise plant.
616 J St., East Village, 619.531.8744, jsixresaurant.com

BiCE

Beeramisu

The classic Italian dessert is usually made with ladyfingers soaked in espresso, but BiCE’s San Diego-inspired take marinates Italian pavesini biscuits in a stout beer reduction. The cookies are then layered with sweet mascarpone cheese and served with a stick of peppermint-striped white chocolate.
425 Island Ave., Gaslamp, 619.239.2423, bicesandiego.com

Le Parfait Paris

Bûche de Noël (Christmas log)
This classic French patisserie rolls out as a traditional Christmas log for the holidays. The rolled cake, designed to serve six to eight people, comes in two flavors: chocolate hazelnut, where a rolled chocolate cake is frosted with hazelnut and praline cream and then frosted with a chocolate hazelnut icing; and framboise, a white chocolate cake rolled with white chocolate.
555 G St., Gaslamp, 619.245.4457, leparfaitparis.com

Extraordinary Desserts

Pumpkin cheesecake

For the holiday season, master chef Karen Krasne is serving a baked cheesecake made with pumpkin, spices and a touch of cranberry on a buttery ginger cookie crust. It’s topped with spices, whipped cream, cranberries, pecans, orange rose petals and a sprinkling of edible gold leaf.
1430 Union St., Little Italy, 619.294.7001, extraordinarydesserts.com

Bottega Americano

Nutella crostata

The fresh pastries at this Italian food hall in East Village are always changing, but one of the best for the cooler winter months is the classic sweet pie made with the beloved chocolate hazelnut spread Nutella. A pastry crust is layered with Nutella and sprinkled with chopped nuts, then baked to perfection.
1195 Island Ave., East Village, 619.255.7800, bottegaamericano.com

Tasting Room Del Mar

Bruléed apple custard tart

The newly opened wine bar and bistro in Del Mar Village is now showcasing this petite apple pie topped with oat streusel and a scoop of eggnog ice cream, served with an accent of apple cider caramel on the side.
1435 Camino Del Mar, Ste. D, Del Mar, 858.461.0124, tastingroomdelmar.com

Bleu Bohème

Pain d’epices

Culinary legend has it that the pain d’epices, a dense, honey-infused quick bread, dates to the Brittany region of France in the late 1500s. This modern French restaurant has adapted the recipe into a gingerbread loaf. Slices are served warm with strawberry confit and a scoop of caramel ice cream.
4090 Adams Ave., Kensington, 619.255.4167, bleuboheme.com

Magazine
Pam Kragen

Pam Kragen is the arts and entertainment editor, as well as the chief theater, dining and opera critic, for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She joined the Union-Tribune staff in October 2012 after 27 years at the North County Times, where she served as the Arts & Features Editor, as well as the paper’s longtime arts writer and theater and opera critic. She is the co-founder of the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from San Diego State University and completed fellowships in theater criticism at the University of Southern California and opera-classical music criticism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. And in 2022, she was chosen as one of the fellows in the prestigious National Critics Institute, run by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterf, Conn.

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