SWEET DREAMS
My culinary peregrination has me dreaming in spun sugar. I wake up looking for the first cookie of the day. Or cake. Or whatever sweet addresses my addiction.

I live by the credo: a day without pastry is a day to forget. And like other sweet-heads, I confess that I navigate life from one pretty profiterole to the next tempting tart.

In the interest of keeping up my grades for a sugary Honor Roll, I offer my top six sweet stops where you will enjoy one of their tantalizing best. Each will fit the maxim, “Nothing exceeds like excess.’’

Unless you don’t value your arteries, do not rush out to enjoy all six at once.

BERN'S STEAK HOUSE
1208 S. Howard Avenue • Tampa, FL • (813) 251-2421

Anything attached to Bern’s name offers panache. Bern’s has always been the place for steaks, but you should pace yourself, for this kitchen believes in having one’s cake and enjoying each crumb.

Just picking dessert is thought provoking because Executive Chef Jeannie Pierola assembles at least 50 every night.
My favorite, Banana Cheese Pie, stands out as a winning blend of banana cream mousse, fresh banana slices and fresh whipped cream, nestled in an almond-praline crust. Tuck into this slice of heaven for $7.50.

Gert Laxer created the treat about 50 years ago and it has dazzled customers ever since. Even with Bern’s many menu offerings, the kitchen serves four to five banana pies every weekend night, keeping the pastry team busy. Actually, the cooks are always reinventing the wheel. The late Bern Laxer once said they were working on a white cake, and were testing White Cake No. 261 – just searching for the perfect recipe.

I have suggestions for other dreamy desserts here. Chocolate Cheese Pie (a crisp crust swathed with a rich chocolate cream cheese mousse), Chocolate-Chocolate-Chocolate (a chocolate cheese pie rich with satiny chocolate) and King Midas (a dense, carrot cake gilded with Valrhona chocolate sauce) rate raves. So does a dreamy Dark Brazilian Snow, a favorite ice cream jumping with roasted Kona coffee beans.

Whether or not you dine at Bern’s, you can always go there for desserts. Some have cocktails and sweets only upstairs at Bern’s’ Harry Waugh Dessert Room. New treats may show up on future menus, but the Banana Cheese Pie remains a legend.

CAFÉ PONTE
13505 Icot Blvd., Suite 214 • Clearwater, FL • (727) 538-5768

Please, do some extra crunches or jog around the block before tasting the decadent creations at Christopher Ponte’s restaurant.
“I love a banana split,’’ says Ponte, who fashioned an opulent still life in color and creativity. Be prepared for a Banana Split Sundae epiphany when you discover this deluge of delights laden with candied pecans, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse, and a chocolate tuile. Caramelized bananas, caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream flank the treat. Quite amazing, the dessert, which costs $10, serves one.

Ponte, who opened his restaurant a few years ago, worked three months on this fruit feat. Pastry chef Shane Schaibly finds the split takes hours to prepare its components, but he puts the order together in minutes.

Customers cap the night with this crowning touch. Some visit after nine for a cognac or cordial, and don’t split without a Ponte Split. “They do it all the time,’’ adds Ponte.

CRAZY CONCH CAFÉ
1110 Pinellas Bayway S. • Tierra Verde, FL • (727) 865-0633

Guests have accused restauranteurs Michael Peel and Sally Herb of using stage names. The two are real and so is the food at this eatery you would be crazy to miss. Peel’s depth of culinary knowledge intrigues visitors with his lively spin on favorite ingredients from cities, states and countries that border the Gulf of Mexico.

Favorites include a snappy Shrimp and Grits and Uncle Bernie’s “Jones’n For’’ Crab Cakes among his Southern, Mexican, Texan, Cuban and Key West foods.

Then there are Peel’s acclaimed sweets. Will guests enjoy a gooey apple crisp with vanilla ice cream or mango sorbet and rum cake tonight? It is the pretty, pristine Chocolate Terrine that wins me over.

One bite of the dense, moist, almost wicked, Scharffenberger chocolate dessert is nothing short of luscious: a real chocolate fancier’s fix. The talented Peel creates this 14-egg dessert, then garnishes with raspberry coulis and cream Anglaise. The chocolate dream first made friends at the Greenhouse restaurant in Captiva. More than 10 years later, customers insist it stays on the menu. It costs $7.50.

One regular, who found it missing during one visit, has never let the staff forget it. Her first words upon entering Crazy Conch: "Where’s my chocolate terrine?’’

MASSIMO'S
31876 US 19 North • Palm Harbor, FL • (727) 784-1881

Chef Massimo Patano ruled the menu at Armani’s in Tampa, but his expertise is probably more welcome in Palm Harbor.

His considerable talent and bold imagination makes this the birthday, special occasion or Thank God It’s Friday kind of place.

I can make dinner here a lingering affair. This cozy, 75-seat restaurant, which opened about two years ago, serves a wonderful porcini and pappardelle dish, rack of Lamb and fragrant seafood.

I devour its three-cheese cheesecake, which Patano created for a local gourmet event for the Chaine des Rotisseurs Society about five years ago. Now, no one will let him take it off the menu. However, few can guess its ingredients. A secret addition to the traditional macarpone and ricotta impastata is a deeply-veined gorgonzola cheese. Massimo believes the rich cheese gives the dessert just the right twist, and imparts more Italian flavor to his specialty.

About 60 percent of Patano’s customers order dessert, and of these, about a fourth order this $6.50 treat. “We sell 40 to 50 servings a week,” he says. One happy customer reserves 10 servings to go. We wonder if she is really taking these to friends or passing it off as her own?

Patano bakes it in individual molds, adds charm with Grand Marnier, covers with rich chocolate ganache and plates with a kiwi and raspberry sauce. Talk about a wonderful presentation. Looks like the jewel the dessert is.

No surprise, he adds, “Everybody loves it.’’

ROY'S
4342 Boy Scout Blvd. W. • Tampa, FL • (813) 873-7697

Roy Yamaguchi opened his first restaurant in Hawaii, and I couldn’t wait for Tampa to be among its 31 locations.
Dining can be the whole nine yards, but did you know you can choose an abbreviated dinner while seated at the bar. You still enjoy fresh fish, high-quality ingredients, great presentation and good service.

“Roy’s has the world's perfect dessert: a luscious Chocolate Soufflé with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream,’’ says Rachel Long Mattox, of Tampa. She and her husband Robert discovered the treat in Hawaii and they always order the dessert in advance. When the hot soufflé arrives, it quickly melts the ice cream. “The dessert is a recipe for addiction,’’ Mattox adds.

Executive chef Rand Packer knows the elegant dessert is the recipe for romance. On several occasions, he has helped a nervous groom-to-be make the dessert part of an unforgettable evening. Yes, the cherry on this dessert has been a sparkly diamond engagement ring.

Year after year, Packer boasts that he is never tired of the dense, chocolate perfection. After nine years with the company, Packer claims, “I still eat one every night.’’

ISLAND WAY GRILL
20 Island Way • Clearwater, FL • (727) 461-6617

The restaurant resonates an arty, refined setting, showcasing a terrific marina setting. Executive Chef Tom Pritchard overseas a kitchen that perfects fresh Florida seafood with a sassy Pacific Rim accent.

“We didn’t want Island Way to be a Salt Rock North,’’ he says about the inventive tasty treats at the eatery he and Frank Chivas own. Football greats Mike Alstott and Dave Moore are part of the ownership too.

After a succulent sushi, conch or soft shell crab dinner, you don’t have to think long about dessert. The one to get is the Chef’s Dessert Trio.

Pritchard’s ginger Crème Brulee showcases fresh grated ginger, dried ginger and an unusual, Australian sweet ginger on top. Warm Molten Lava Chocolate Cake offers oozing chocolate in this elegant sweet with an exotic tea twist. And Key Lime Pie tempts taste buds with a crunchy macadamia nut and Lorna Doone crust. The trio is a guaranteed girdle-buster. Pritchard sells about 35 of these combos every night.



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