Come for Dessert. Stay for Dinner.

Maureen says:
The progress we made this week was stunning. No longer do I have tilt my head to one side and squint my mind's eye to see the vision: what once was potential is actualized. Tom's been on the opening of no fewer than four restaurants; Z makes the fifth. And while he's told me over and over that the rate at which things come together increases exponentially during the last couple of weeks, it was a challenge to stand there, surrounded by materials, tools and staging, and believe him.

So we've got our own version of March Madness going on here and the brunt of it's being taken by Tom; the pace of my full-time job has picked up as well, making it more difficult for me to support him. When the end of the day comes--and it's coming later and later--we're done. Spent. Kaput. Hence why Tom hasn't been back to the blog to a) announce that dessert is the winner for this week's menu preview and b) post the chosen dessert.

But you? You all will soon get your chance to partake in one of Z's signature sweets. It wasn't easy to choose just one preview, but the one we've chosen is guaranteed to please.

Creamsicle Crème Brûlée

The exact culinary origin of this classic is apparently contested, with various European countries taking credit for it. Sometime toward the end of the 19th century, however, the French trumped them all with their translation so that today we know it as crème brûlée.

Z's version was inspired in part by Tom's challenge to create a signature crème brûlée that honored the Italian tradition of the restaurant he worked for in the 90s. Enter Tuaca.

Like crème brûlée, Tuaca's origins are also unclear. According to tuaca.com, this premium liqueur with hints of citrus and vanilla has been said to have been created for Lorenzo the Magnificent, an Italian ruler who was a patron to Michelangelo and Botticelli. American servicemen, the site says, discovered Tuaca during WWII while stationed in Livorno, Italy, but couldn't find it upon their return home. Then, Tuaca came to the United States in the late 1950s, but it is and has always been crafted by the Tuoni family in Italy.

Z crafts its crème brûlée with this unique liqueur and the result is one, Tom said, that when he first tasted it brought him back to his childhood when his grandfather, who worked for a dairy, made sure there was always plenty of ice cream to choose from and enough creamsicle ice cream to go around for everyone.

Creamsicle Crème Brûlée is served with candied citrus peel and druken orange sections.