If you don’t pay close attention to this dessert’s name — mocha espresso bread pudding — at Ibiza Food and Wine Bar (2450 Louisiana, 713-524-0004), you’re going to be sure the waiter made a mistake when he brings it to your table. Instead of the usual light beige color, this chunk of bread pudding is a chocolate brown and looks more like a cake. Paired with handmade French vanilla ice cream and a Jamaican rum caramel sauce, the combination of flavors is mesmerizing. There were four of us at the table sharing two desserts. The other dessert, a lemony thing with raspberries on the side, was appropriately tart and lovely, but all of us kept returning to the unusual bread pudding. Who could have thought something so delicious could have been made out of leftover bread?
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2008.
