You need to try Claudia Fleming’s Fig Phyllo Napoleon (above). • Photo courtesy of North Fork Table & Inn
The Eat: The new fall desserts at the North Fork Table and Inn.
The Place: Southold’s very own NoFoTi.
The Story: Claudia Fleming never disappoints, and this year is no exception. Now that the season has changed, so, too, have Claudia’s desserts at Southold’s North Fork Table & Inn. Embracing all that is fall-specific, chef Fleming has done it again. And by “it,” I mean: Made me committed in my resolve always to eat dessert, sometimes even first.
The updated dessert menu includes a fig phyllo Napoleon. Wafer-thin phyllo is stacked between layers of cream and, of course, fresh figs, that fall favorite fruit. Garnished with pistachios and a fig compote, this crunchy, creamy, slightly salty dessert hits all of the right notes.
Not to be outdone, the caramelized apple tart also shines like a diamond. Each tart is the size of a halved, caramel-brown apple. Those tartin-esque apples, by the way, top each tart, along with a handful of ruby-hued raspberries.
The new menu, of course, is not the only Claudia Fleming news that dessert lovers need to hear this week. The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern has been re-released this month, an acclaimed, 175-recipe book that cemented Fleming in the annals of pastry stardom. If you missed the North Fork Table & Inn’s meet and greet with Fleming, a three-course meal with book signing, you can still enjoy her food in the privacy of your own home, armed with her recipes.
Of course, nothing really beats the real thing, so get over to Southold and get your hands on a fig phyllo Napoleon and a caramelized apple tart before the season of figs and apples is behind us. Because, really, there’s no such thing as too much dessert.
