Puesto is built on the idea of elevated Mexican street food. So it makes sense that when it came time to overhaul the dessert menu, new executive pastry chef Erik Aronow pulled from his own recent experiences with the restaurant’s founding executive chef in Mexico City.
“Chef Luisteen introduced me to a common street snack called tostilocos, which is any variation of chips, candies, nuts, and fruit all dressed with hot sauce, chamoy, or Maggi Jugo. It hit all my favorite notes—sweet, salty, spicy.”
Aronow turned that memorable meal into the Chocolate Mango Crémeux, a sweet and sour mango-Jamaica cream hidden under a dark chocolate shell and surrounded by crunchy, salty pepitas. It’s finished with a spicy mango chamoy coulis. “The playfulness comes from the interactive component,” he says. “Guests get to crack open the chocolate dome to reveal the creamy mango interior.”
789 West Harbor Drive, Downtown; 1026 Wall Street, La Jolla eatpuesto
Sweet Spot: Puesto’s Chocolate Mango Cremeux
