The Last Candle

For my 24^th Day o’ Birthday on this fine 31^st of Mai, I decided a little indulgence was order. “A little” was the plan, at least…but when the menu includes a Donut Sundae from Zingerman’s Roadhouse, the involved consumer has left Littleville far behind, blown straight through Middlesex, and finally finding a tidy parking spot within a Lardtown lot. <p/> The assailant at large: <p/>

<p/> Looks fairly nondescript, really. It sure didn’t taste that way, as the Donut Sundae included:

• Roasted peanuts. Freshly roasted, I think, or at least warmed up a bit, as the meats were still hot when I was putting the thing together. That’s why I order from Zingerman’s, of course: they keep the nuts hot.
• JACK DANIELS’ LIQUOR SAUCE. No, really — it’s the golden stuff. Okay, I’m probably not fooling anyone: There wasn’t any alcohol in the sauce, but it really was purported to be chez Jack D. Still, the last time I tried bourbon, it didn’t taste like sugar mixed with honey mixed with cinnamon and butter and maybe powdered seahorse. Then again, I’ve never had Jack Daniels.
• Whipped cream. Good whipped cream, too, not that fake stuff they give you at Big Boy, which is probably closer to whipped margarine with a touch of water.
• Vanilla gelato. Oh, it’s in there, colluding with the cream and the Jack sauce. For those who don’t know what gelato is, it has the texture of ice cream with none of that subtle slightly-crunchy milk/water crystal feel that ice cream has. And more creamy, but that’s probably Old Man Zingerman’s doing, as he was never one to skimp on the cream.
• A donut. In a deft move to coordinate with the heated peanuts, the donut was warm, too, and deep-fried, if the crunchy quarter-thick crust was any indication. And yeasty and buttery and migod.

But you know what’s missing? The fargin’ cherry! No wonder the dish looks a little drab — it’s missing that essential aesthetic red button on the spire. The lack is a little sad: Zingerman’s will preheat the peanuts, but completely whiff on the cherry, a staple of ice cream-style desserts since the Battle of Sundae, Rome, 500 BC. Truly.