National Culinary Review - September 2011

But his Banana Cheesecake Churros ($9) has become a surprise star, and one that’s guaranteed to remain on the menu throughout the fall and winter months.

Describing it succinctly as being like a fried
spring roll, Quiroz says the preparation is
easy but the results are memorable. “I bake
a banana cheesecake, and break it up into
pieces of about 4 oz. each. Then I wrap a
flour tortilla around the pieces, freeze, then
fry in a deep fryer for about 4-5 minutes
until golden brown, so it’s nice and crunchy
outside but soft inside.” To finish, he tosses
the stuffed/rolled/fried tortilla in a mixture
of brown sugar and cinnamon, cuts it on
the diagonal, and plates both slightly oozing
halves with berries or sliced seasonal fruit.

Quiroz first bakes then freezes vanilla-flavored
sponge cake for his tres leches, making it a
bit firmer than usual. Then he mixes together
2 oz. of each of the three milks—condensed,
evaporated and whole—along with a generous
splash of Kahlúa. “I pour the mixture on top
of the still-almost-frozen sponge cake, and
let it soak up the milk until it becomes ‘soggy
sponge cake,’ and even the cake tray on the
bottom becomes wet. I put a portion on a
plate with a bit of that wet mixture around the
bottom, berries or sliced fruit, plus deep-fried
mint leaves for a nice crunch and great aroma.”
Most every Mexican restaurant worth its
salsa menus tres leches, no matter the
season. Why not yours?

New York-based award-winning journalist Karen Weisberg has covered the issues and luminaries of the food-and-beverage world— both commercial and noncommercial—for more than 25 years.

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