Those who read the blog regularly know that I rarely write about anything more than once. Whether it's a restaurant, a shopping destination, a museum or a special event, I'm generally a one and done kind of girl.
For the past two years I've broken that rule with Rosa Mexicano. I normally don't repeat restaurants unless the place is offering some kind of new menu or experience. Well, in the case of Rosa, they are always offering new menus!
Last year I was able to attend the Rosa Mexicano Ice Cream Festival and sample my way through the entire menu (read about that decadent experience here) and this year, the team invited me back to taste all their new frozen confections.
With zero hesitation I put on my baggiest sun dress (thinking ahead to my food baby) and headed to their location in the Seaport.
When I arrived on Sunday afternoon there was a chalkboard sign right at the hostess stand advertising the Ice Cream Festival menu.
The weather was beautiful so we sat outside on the patio, overlooking Boston Harbor. Our very friendly waitress arrived with the Festival menu.
In addition to each of the signature desserts, there are also special ice cream flavors you can order by the scoop like the abuelita (cinnamon-chile spiced chocolate) or the cajeta y sal marina (sea salt cajeta).
We began with the guacamole helado. I had this dish last year, but since its debut they've made some excellent modifications. The base is avocado ice cream. Though the idea of avocado flavored ice cream might seem gross, it's actually very creamy and serves as a great foundation for a myriad of toppings.
The Rosa version of this dish takes savory guacamole and spins the idea into a sweet one. Instead of tomatoes you have raspberries, instead of cilantro you have mint, instead of chopped onions you have white chocolate pieces. They also toss in roasted coconut (which they roast in house).
I was a bit nervous that all these flavors mashed together would be overwhelming, but they sing in perfect harmony. The fresh mint is really the stand out of the garnishes.
In addition to the play on guacamole ingredients, the dessert version also comes with chocolate sauce for drizzling over the top. Because the ice cream is so cold, as is the molcajete it's served in, the chocolate stiffens immediately like Magic Shell. It's awesome.
Who could resist this cute frozen face?
Next we were presented with the empanadas de manzana (apple turnovers). This version has apple, pineapple and cherry and is topped with vanilla-chocolate mole swirl ice cream.
It is well documented that I hate fruit dessert, however, in the spirit of trying new things, I broke off a piece of the empanada.
The crust was super buttery. If you like this kind of pastry, you'll love the flaky texture and buttery-heavy taste.
The mole swirl ice cream was very interesting. It tasted fine when you first took a bite, but had a very jarring after taste.
We followed the empanadas with the tamal de chocolate (molten chocolate cake). The cake is served on a corn husk and paired with sweet corn ice cream and candied pecans. I love this presentation!
The chocolate cake was very moist, but not sweet at all. The corn ice cream was surprisingly great, with the same nostalgic taste you love in summer corn. When the ice cream was dipped in the cajeta sauce it tasted just like caramel popcorn. Yum!
The candied pecans were so addictive. Though they were only meant as decoration, we made them disappear.
Post-molten chocolate, we moved on to the bunuelos rellenos (fried ice cream!). This plate had two snow balls of ice cream fried in a cinnamon bunueo crust. It was served with a side of churros and three dipping sauces - chocolate, raspberry and caramel.
Yes, people, fried ice cream and churros on the same plate. Why choose?
The fried ice cream came in two flavors: the sweet corn and a Mexican chocolate. Both were out of this world delicious. One could develop an obsession with these!
As always at Rosa, the churros were excellent. They were the ideal ratio of sugar coating, crispy exterior and warm, soft center. Dunking them in the tart raspberry sauce helped to break up the sweetness of the rest of the dish.
For the grand finale, we received a plate of the crepas de cajeta (caramel crepes). The dish is a row of folded crepes topped with a rich caramel sauce and two scoops of ice cream. They usually serve it with sea salted cajeta ice cream, but they were all out, so ours were topped with vanilla.
I'm used to crepes being stuffed with something - Nutella, strawberries, etc. - but these were empty and as a result, lacking any bold flavor.
I am a major chocolate person, so I wasn't into the vanilla scoops, but my dining companion gobbled it right up.
At this point, I was patting myself on the back for having the foresight to wear loose fitting clothes. We were so full! It's not every day you eat five desserts in a row.
If any of these frozen treats have you drooling, you're in luck. Rosa Mexicano will be serving this special Ice Cream Festival menu through Sunday August 24th.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
