Park Avenue Winter

33. Park Avenue Winter
100 E 63rd between Park and Lexington

Park Avenue Winter will only be around for another few weeks, as the restaurant’s name, menu and décor change seasonally in an effort to offer only seasonal food items in an environment that reflects the associated time of year. I had read about TONY’s affinity for the apple pie from Park Avenue when they awarded the Pie in a Box top prize in their New York’s best apple pie bake-off back in November of 2008.

This dessert certainly doesn’t look like a traditional apple pie, as the filling is encased by a hard outer-shell made from white chocolate that keeps everything looking pristine. Fork in hand, I pierced through its protective casing to reveal carefully constructed layers of whipped mascarpone, diced apples, and thin pie crust atop a sponge cake base. Sweet, tangy, creamy, with a little bit of crunch; I was ready to eat the entire serving myself (servings are meant to be shared). What really worked for me was the fact that the pie itself wasn’t too sweet so when combined with the white chocolate shell there was a contrast between the tart flavor of the apple, and the sugar from the chocolate.

Even without the casing it’s up there as a top restaurant dessert, though it doesn’t come without a slight bit of sticker shock at $24.00, though if you do some cost analysis within the context of a nice restaurant where desserts typically cost $12 each and recognize that the pie in a box is meant for two, then it’s really on par with any other dessert course, and considerably tastier than most. Next time the dessert options at dinner look uninteresting, the pie in a box from Park Avenue Winter is worth checking out.