The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens aren’t nice to walk around in when it’s raining, but the Chile Pepper Fiesta was happening rain or shine, so I didn’t really have any choice in the matter. It’s been six years since the last time I was at the gardens, and I’ve never been to a Chile Pepper Fiesta (or any other event surrounding the chile pepper, for that matter), so I had no idea what to expect. What I didn’t expect was Rogue Brewery Chipotle Ale, or Kumquat Cookery’s chocolate-chili cupcakes or chocolate-chili brownies from Mari’s New York. But I was very pleasantly surprised by all three.
The first stop I made was the Rogue Brewery table, which had the longest line of any. Unfortunately I got there too late to try the chocolate stout, but figuring that it was only 2 o’clock and I didn’t need an entire meal in liquid form, I decided to just get the Chipotle Ale. At first it tasted more or less like the Dead Guy Ale, made by the same brewer. It had a full-bodied, sweet flavor, but with a crisp taste that took away some of the heaviness. The real kick, though, came at the end, when the smokiness of the chipotle hit the back of the tongue, and gave it a spicy, almost cinnamon flavor. I was sold: usually I could take or leave an ale, preferring something a bit lighter in color and flavor, but the extra smoky kick at the end set this apart from other ales, and the hoppy sweetness complimented it perfectly.
Feeling quite contented as I strolled around on the wet grass, craning my neck to fit under my friend Ansley’s umbrella, we set off to see what other interesting flavors this chili pepper extravaganza held in store. Directly across from the Rogue Brewery tent was a mini-cupcake table where representatives of the Kumquat Cookery were sampling their chocolate-chili concoctions. As I am a bit of a sample maniac—I will try almost anything as long as it’s cut into small pieces and free—I was drawn to their table like a moth to a flame. (Actually the metaphor is quite apt: had I eaten enough of these delicious cupcakes I could have died just like the poor moth in the fire…) In any event I’m glad I was drawn to it, because the cupcakes were very unique: they were surprisingly fluffy and the tanginess of the chili brought out the savory flavor in the chocolate, which doesn’t happen often e. What brought it all together, though, was the chocolate icing, which was creamy without being heavy and added a layer of sweetness without overpowering the balance of savory chocolate and tangy chili.
At this point it was raining somewhat torrentially, but far be it from Ansley and I to be deterred by a little bit of rain, so we headed over to the next chocolate stand, which happened to be Mari’s Chocolate. Apparently Mari specializes in brownies, and, after tasting her brownies I’m thinking that we need more brownie-ologists in the world. Only someone who has spent a long time thinking about how to make them could have put heat so effectively into such a small square of brownie. About one-inch by one-inch by one-inch, the little cubes were the perfect amount of fudge to cake ratio: dense without being too heavy, moist without being too greasy and chocolaty enough without being too fudgy. Their only downfall was their price; $5 for two small cubes of brownie is too much, even if they are “artisanal brownies” sold at Barney’s and Bergdorf Goodman’s. I tried the “heat” and “caramel sea salt” versions, which were both delicious. Both accompaniments, ancho and chipotle peppers (for the heat ones) and sea salt (for the caramel-sea salt ones), gave distinctly different flavors to the chocolate, which made for an interesting comparison between then two.
As we slid away from Mari’s table, wrapped in a cloud of beer and chocolate and pepper induced calmness, we decided that it was raining a bit too hard, and we were a bit too full, to take any more advantage of the Great Chile Pepper Fiesta of ’09. We walked happily back through the rain to the subway, and rode back uptown, the blunted smokiness of chipotle and ancho and cayenne still lingering on the back of our tongues.
So, make chili-chocolate brownies or cupcakes or beer, not war.
And now, to bed.
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