{"id":43983,"date":"2023-10-06T18:46:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T18:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/06\/how-one-chef-makes-infinite-yes-infinite-desserts-every-night\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T18:46:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T18:46:19","slug":"how-one-chef-makes-infinite-yes-infinite-desserts-every-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/06\/how-one-chef-makes-infinite-yes-infinite-desserts-every-night\/","title":{"rendered":"How One Chef Makes Infinite (Yes, Infinite) Desserts Every Night"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Every night at Valhalla<\/a>, a restaurant with a $188 tasting menu located on the mezzanine of a crowded food hall in Chicago\u2019s West Loop, Tatum Sinclair prepares infinite desserts. Infinite as in unlimited\u2014all you can eat\u2014desserts.<\/p>\n

Unlike the breadsticks at Olive Garden, Tatum\u2019s desserts are curated and customized to each diner\u2019s preference. In theory, the concept is simple: Tatum will make you as many desserts as you\u2019d like, so long as you finish what\u2019s in front of you. The execution is more complex, as she preps, makes, and plates each dessert\u2014which includes sorbets, ice creams, cakes, pavlovas, and something she describes as \u201cthe center of a cinnamon bun\u201d\u2014entirely by herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you need all this experience to pull off what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Tatum told me. \u201cYou just have to be organized and really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Tatum<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>
\n Tatum with her black marble pavlova<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by Veronica Nu\u0144ez<\/span>
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Speed and organization are especially important at Valhalla these days, too, as interest in the restaurant\u2019s infinite dessert offering\u2014which is exclusive to its tasting menu\u2014recently peaked following the publication of a TikTok<\/a> highlighting Tatum\u2019s work. Since being shared on August 16th, the video has received more than a million views.<\/p>\n

\u201c30 to 40 percent of people are coming in from seeing the TikTok,\u201d Tatum said, \u201cWe used to do a 50\/50 split\u2014in terms of tasting menu and a la carte\u2014now it\u2019s 80 percent tasting menu.\u201d<\/p>\n

While virality attracted new diners and expectedly increased the kitchen\u2019s workload, the new wave of TikTok-influenced patrons initially presented their own set of challenges. \u201cWe got people that were younger\u2014inexperienced diners that don\u2019t know how a tasting menu works,\u201d said Tatum. \u201cThey fly through it. They don\u2019t want to do any add-ons. They just want to come and eat as many desserts as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Per Tatum, the TikTok, which was made by Jacob Potashnick\u2014a well traveled chef who will soon open his own tasting menu restaurant<\/a> in Chicago\u2019s Ukranian Village\u2014misled its viewers and resulted in at least one bad review<\/a>. \u201cHe essentially was saying we had 40 different options\u2014or 40 different bites. That\u2019s just not true. I don\u2019t have forty. I\u2019ve never had that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Some of Tatum’s desserts<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by Veronica Nu\u00f1ez<\/span>
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Instead, Tatum has roughly 20 different dessert templates (an ever changing lineup of confections, pastries, crumbles, etc.), most of them consisting of anywhere from three to ten customizable components. Prior to beginning their dessert course, Tatum requests that diners inform her of two things: When they\u2019re ready for their last bite and what flavor profile they\u2019d like it to be. \u201cIf someone asks to finish with something fruity, I\u2019ll ask if they want citrus, tropical, non-seasonal, or seasonal fruit. I have all those on hand,\u201d she said, \u201cThe idea is to never say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some of her items will repurpose components of desserts from the a la carte menu, others are unique to the infinite offering. \u201cHaving liquid nitrogen, I can pretty much make an ice cream base within 10 minutes,\u201d she said. \u201cIf a guest wants something super specific\u2014say someone asks for horseradish ice cream\u2014I can make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While making that horseradish ice cream, Tatum must also execute her more technically demanding and time-consuming a la carte desserts, like black marble pavlova and pineapple \u201cseven ways.\u201d And before preparing any of her infinite desserts, she\u2019s responsible for planning the dessert programs at Valhalla\u2019s sister restaurants, S.K.Y.<\/a> and Apolonia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When naming her dessert concept, Tatum was inspired by the galactic look of her black marble pavlova. \u201cIt looks like a planet,\u201d she said, \u201cand the infinity stemmed from that.\u201d If planet-like dessert doesn\u2019t immediately appeal to you, that\u2019s the point. \u201cI\u2019m not like the traditional pastry shop where the aesthetic is pretty,\u201d Tatum shared, \u201cI want someone to say, \u2018That\u2019s so weird,\u2019 or \u2018That\u2019s so cool.\u2019\u201d Good news: Infinite desserts are both.<\/p>\n

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