Actually Pretty Awesome

Actually Pretty Awesome: ‘Fruit Loops’ at Chambers Eat + Drink

'Fruit Loops', featuring a foam made from cornflakes and lemongrass that tastes like leftover cereal milk.
’Fruit Loops’, featuring a foam made from cornflakes and lemongrass that tastes like leftover cereal milk. Photo: Grub Street

It’s been about eighteen months since Chambers Eat + Drink opened at the Phoenix Hotel, and the rock-and-roll-themed restaurant and bar seems to have found its footing with good cocktails, a great burger, and cocktail-friendly snacks (see more on the excellent smoked grit fries below), along with larger plates that show off the bigger ambitions of chef Trevor Ogden. One stand-out dish for us was actually a dessert, concocted by Ogden along with sous chef Rachel Stobel (most recently at Range), that’s a playful and haute spin on the flavors of Fruit Loops cereal.

As Ogden tells us, “I’ve always been intrigued by how certain ingredients taste like Froot Loops, and when my sous chef, Rachel Stobel, came to me with a lemongrass-basil sherbet she’d made, we tasted it and that was the first thing that popped into our heads.” They decided to take the idea further, playing with the rainbow colors of the cereal, and adding other elements to the plate. It seems that the secret to that Fruit Loops tang, which is something like candied lemon and crisped rice combined, is lemongrass.

Along with the green sherbet they added a lemongrass-golden beet sponge cake (yellow), kaffir lime-prickly pear gelée (red), Satsuma mandarin suprèmes (orange), lemon-basil macerated pink lady apples, and violet flowers (purple). “And to top it off,” Ogden says, “We make a foam infused with cornflakes and lemongrass that tastes like the leftover milk from a bowl of Froot Loops.” Trust us: It does.

It’s a totally successful dessert, and in keeping with the kinds of high-end plays on the grocery store candy aisle that are so trendy these days.

And just for good measure, because they’re also pretty awesome, see the fried sticks made with smoked grits and served with Early Girl tomato aioli below.


Earlier on Actually Pretty Awesome:
Smoked Pulled Goat at Southpaw
Manti Dumplings at Troya Fillmore
Flaming Sea Bass Roll at Elephant Sushi
Black Risotto With Uni and Egg at Prospect
Seared Salmon and Mussel Mashed Potatoes at Bisou
The Meatloaf at Jamber
Carrots at Commonwealth
Turducken at Honor Bar
Beggar’s Chicken at Betelnut
Lobster Bread Pudding and Smoked Cod at Maverick
Sand Dabs at Bar Jules
Green Farro-Sausage Risotto at RN74
Vegan Charctuerie at Gather
Pickled Eggs at St. Vincent
Beef Tongue at Namu Gaji
Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken at Brasa
Green Garlic Bread at State Bird Provisions
A Dinner of Small Plates and the Duck Confit Salad at Frances
Duck Fat Chex Mix at Truck Stop Café
The Lamb Tongue Salad at Txoko
The Branzino and the Cucumber and Scallops at AQ
Dinner at Local Mission Eatery
Suckling Pig Sandwich at Sweet Woodruff
Crudités at Saison
The Roasted Broccoli Sandwich at Split Pea Seduction
George Mendes’s Partridge in a Pear Tree
The Buffalo Burger at Double Decker
A Preview of Dishes at Haven
Alicia’s Tamales Los Mayas
The Cocktails at Outerlands
The Meatball Gigante and the Honey Pie at Tony’s Pizza
Three New Gins from St. George Spirits
The Date Night at Sneaky’s BBQ
Crab and Dumplings at Pican
The Fried-Chicken Sliders at The Lookout
The Tripe and the Pickles at Bar Tartine
Fried Chicken and Cornmeal Doughnuts at Beast & the Hare

Actually Pretty Awesome: ‘Fruit Loops’ at Chambers Eat + Drink